Elderly problems...?!
Question: I'm going to warn you guys...this is a strange one. VERY.
So, I take care of my 96 yr old great grandmother and lately she has become obsessed with using the bathroom.
She is constantly telling ppl she is constipated when reality is that she uses the bathroom everyday without fail.
Yet she insists on taking laxatives and fiber drinks daily (that ppl drop off to her)and will cry and scream when i don't give to her.
I started giving her placebos to appease her & of course continues to be regular.
I don't think it's Dementia because she makes vast efforts to lie and try to hide evidence. She has always been a busybody/ troublemaker. But this is beyond wierd.
I've actually caught her on tape admitting things to me then completeing lying to everyone else.
I've tried to tell ppl, but nobody wants to disbelieve and old lady.
I feel like if i quit, she will really get ill.
What to do?
Answers: I'm going to warn you guys...this is a strange one. VERY.
So, I take care of my 96 yr old great grandmother and lately she has become obsessed with using the bathroom.
She is constantly telling ppl she is constipated when reality is that she uses the bathroom everyday without fail.
Yet she insists on taking laxatives and fiber drinks daily (that ppl drop off to her)and will cry and scream when i don't give to her.
I started giving her placebos to appease her & of course continues to be regular.
I don't think it's Dementia because she makes vast efforts to lie and try to hide evidence. She has always been a busybody/ troublemaker. But this is beyond wierd.
I've actually caught her on tape admitting things to me then completeing lying to everyone else.
I've tried to tell ppl, but nobody wants to disbelieve and old lady.
I feel like if i quit, she will really get ill.
What to do?
Hi there:
I work with seniors and this is common. With some it is an attention getting device with others it just becomes a compulsion. I have one lady who tells everyone she never sleeps, yet when I check on her at night she is always asleep.
Do keep an eye on her regularity though. I sent a lady to the hospital the other night who came to me and said she had not had a bowel movement in 5 days. It was discovered that she had a bowel obstruction. The overuse of laxatives too can play havoc with the bowels. After a time they won't work properly without the laxative.
I hope this helps a little. Sounds like you are concerned and wanting to help and that is wonderful. Lots of my people at the home have no one to look out for them.
Bless you both.
maybe it's time to....put 'ole betsy down.
She's 96.
She won't be here much longer.
Just smile and agree.
What could it hurt?