My mother is 89, lives at home, still drives, pays bills etc. Her health is basically good except for back pain from the usual sources - disc, nerves etc. She has been taking hydrocodone for 7 or 8 years. She has been careful not to abuse them and takes 6 per day spread out. She constantly complains about pain from her back and sits on ice all the time. She also has osteoporosis. She has gotten more frail and bent over this past year or so. This year she has developed a new issue. Here goes - She fell on her tailbone in February. That was painful and she had to either lay down or sit on a donut cushion. She ate dinner sitting on the toilet seat because that allowed her to sit without pain. She started talking about how she was talking to my Dad. He passed away more than 20 years ago and they had been divorced. Lots of unresolved issues between them so I thought maybe it was good that she was working thru it all. Then the "story" took a turn and she claims that he was in fact a demon and had brought other demons into her house with him. Then she started talking about how the demons were raping her. Now she complains of a burning crotch, pain in the crotch and rectal area, hot poker fire feeling in there. I googled like crazy to find an explanation for this "delusion" and have learned about the pudendal nerve which is responsible for the body's sexual feelings. There is something called pudendal neuralgia where this nerve is constantly aggravated. We have changed primary care doctors for her, been to the emergency room twice, tried chiropractor, people from her church to pray away the demons, and now have a wonderful Urogynecologist. She has a prolapsed bladder which we think is causing some of the issues. Even with all this, I cannot convince her that the demons are not responsible. That is probably my problem I know, but I am so sick of hearing about these damn demons! She is willing to go to the doctors etc. and listens to what they say but then it's like she wants it to be the demons. She gets very, very distressed over the demons. This distresses me because I hate to think of her living out her life fighting these demons. I don't even like scary movies! Is this the way it is going to be? I have read that you cannot convince people like this that their delusions are not real. It is also so embarrassing cuz it's like "How is your mother?" - me - "Oh she's being raped by demons." I feel like I need to protect her dignity.
Then you can remind her that the demons were driven out and all she has to do is call on Jesus and he will be with her, giving her comfort and peace.
Scripture says in The name of Jesus demons will have to flee.
She can do this whenever she feels afraid and by the grace of God it will comfort her.
What a terrible thing for her to have to suffer through.
My dad's delusions centered around a shadowy government conspiracy that was out to get him because he knew too much. I would always tell him that I would never let anything happen to him, that he was always safe because he wasn't alone--he had me. I would always "take care of it." This gave my father peace.
Without participating in her delusion, make sure your mom feels safe and knows that she's not alone in this.
I'm thinking it is Lewy Body Dementia.
My mom suffers from terrible delusions also. Hers are that people are trying to kill or harm her. Some days are better than others, but always He is there, walking us through it on this sometimes long journey, and providing us with His grace along the way.
Since your mom's experience is of a religious nature ie demons, perhaps a religious ritual could be employed to counter it.