Just in the last few months my mid stage hubby has started something new. We have an attached garage with automatic opener.Every night (he never forgets) he turns power off for auto.door.We have two service doors each has a storm door that he locks,then locks the prime doors and if that wasn't enough he puts a prop under each of those door handles.Without fail this is a nightly routine and just before he goes to bed he checks it again.We never had a break in (knock--knock)and we live in what I would call a safe area.But the other day he left the house for a walk and left all doors unlocked with me home alone.
Sometime ago, I posted about my DH locking doors all the time. He has locked me out of the house when I've gone to get the newspaper or take out the trash. He also closes doors and kitchen drawers and cabinet doors, when I'm putting dishes away! I explain that with one arm slightly damaged, I need to have the drawers and cabinets open until the dishwasher is fully emptied. I gave up. He wants everything shut tight and locked tight. Maybe it's a little Obcessive Compulsive Syndrome.
Oh, my. DH was locking doors, 3rd story windows that would take a really tall ladder to get to, and hiding his wallet. Yep! A stage of fear? Or extreme vulnerability to harm?
JeanetteB, my DH is very obsessive and compulsive, last week he spent hours, yes I said hours, looking for the hole in the apartment that ants were coming through to get inside. I can't believe the attention that he can pay to detail when most of the things that happen to him he doesn't have patience. It is like, something goes off in his head that makes him obsess one time and not another.
While on vacation in our Travel Trailer my wife could not figure out how to open the door on the Trailer. She would lock her self inside not meaning too. I went for a walk and came back to the camp site. She had locked herself in and then could not figure out how to turn on the TV. She sat and waited for me to come back. Fortunately I keep a spare key with me.
bluedaze, Guess I should have said I wasn't looking for a logical reason. I had just found myself wondering if anyone else went through this. My thanks to all.This site is a god send,thanks Joan!!
Ann, developing obsessions seems to be par for the course, at least for some of our ADLOs. Jean's husband was driving her nuts for awhile about parking in a certain spot in front of their building. One of the husband's regularly lines up his golf clubs in the garage, then does it again. For many of them it runs its course, which is not to say they won't then obsess over something different. Keeps life from getting too dull. (-:
Ann if anything we know its not to count on anything permanent with AD. :) whats the obsession of the week or day? it can change radically from one minute to the next -as you see many of us have had numerous OCB. -obsessive compulsive behaviours crop up many times during the various stages. dont get too fixated on the door issues sometimes it stays with them then at a drop of a hat its something else fixated on for the time. what is of concern hes not leaving the doors open for security reasons. like everything else its up to us to make sure things are done ourselves. take care, divvi
I guess it would be classed as an obsession. DW will sit for a long time stirring the apple sauce in which I have put her ground up pills. I have to show her how to eat it, although she will eat the rest of her meal without difficulty. Today at lunch she started stirring her ice cream. Then poured her coffee into it and continued stirring. There were a couple of solid chocolate bits in the ice cream ("Moose Tracks") which she removed and put on the plate. She never did eat it. As Folly* said "Keeps life from getting too dull."
This summer I bought new furniture for our sunroom; I thought it would be interesting to put the sofa on the diagonal and put an Asian trunk in front of it as a coffee table. Every single day, my husband moves the trunk (but not the sofa) so that it is sitting straight. I also forgot, when I bought the trunk, that it would give him another place to hide things. So now when the newspapers, toss pillows, tv remote, etc. go missing, I have to remind myself to look in the trunk. I think I should have bought a table instead.
marilyn when I had my psych rotation we had a patient who would "acquire" everything in sight. We gave him a large clear bag to store his goodies. Made it real easy to spot what he had in his stash. Maybe you should swap the trunk for a clear lucite cube :0)
The local VA hospital had a "telephone guy" on the AD floor. Was a career telephone company employee. He couldn't talk, was late stage AD., but anytime he saw a telephone, he'd quickly disassemble it and leave it. Nurses would come on the floor in the morning to find every phone in the waiting rooms, phone booths, nurses stations, patients rooms...in little pieces. They would put the phone at the nurses station down in a drawer if they had to leave for a while. It took them a while to realize who was doing it and it became quite a challenge to catch him before he found a phone. I realize this is terrible, but it is sort of funny too. (To me!! and my wierd sense of humor)
Marilyn - at least if he hides things in that one place, it makes it a lot easier than having to search the whole house. By the way - are the missing pj's in there? :-)
My DH who "always" insisted that every cabinet door and drawer be closed has changed completely. He never closes either! His compulsion now is rubbing his right thumb against his index finger. At first I thought it was because his nail was finally growing out and he could feel it. (He smashed his finger in the car door and lost his nail but thats another story!) LOL! Now the nail is completely grown out and he still does the rubbing thing. I sometimes put out my hand and he'll hold it and it stops for a while. Well, at least it has worked, but each day is different!
We have experienced a variety of obsessive 'collections' etc. too. We have rocks of all shapes/sizes everywhere. However, the GOAT WEED obsession seems to have passed. For the last two or three years, DH has insisted on pulling every goatweed he can find. It has kept him busy and out of mischief for hours at a time. They are growing and multiplying but it seems he's not interested in getting rid of them now. The finger rubbing is something we also were concerned about when we first started seeing it. I went online and found the term 'pill rolling'..that seems to fit the description of what DH does. It looks like he's rolling something between the thumb and index finger. The neurologist seemed to have little interest in this and said it wasn't an indication of anything. (He also didn't see it happening in the office).. It relates to a connection with Parkinsons..I think.. so the Neurologist quite frankly said DH didn't have Parkinsons because he walked just fine. This particular neurologist wasn't interested in doing more than treating a 'feet tingling' complaint. He wasn't referred for AD evaluation or etc..so my mention of the finger rubbing was not in the context of that appointment I guess. At any rate, we can only assume its some kind of anxious habit. When DH is agitated, he may have the finger/thumbs of both hands going at the same time. This is too longwinded.. Sorry.
The neurologist prescribed Lyrica for tingling feet. Said it was a neuropathy kind of thing. I wanted to think it helped.. DH's complaints are random now and he doesn't take the medication any longer. Maybe it would help your DH..The neurologist did some nerve conduction tests and etc.. before he declared neuropathy..