Tissue and toilet paper maniac. Anyone else?

We went through this period, hid the toilet paper in hall closet, mom would put her money rolled in toilet paper, keys, rings, coin, sometimes became a very often thing, started going to the bathroom giving her paper and making sure we cut back not putting a lot in the toilet . with her each time checking pockets before washing clothes, try not to get frustrated and enjoy the time you have, my mother is last stage of alz. 22 months hospice, 3 years 3 months as a caregiver, at the last part of her journey, take time to keep healthy, pray if you are a spiritual person, play her favorite music, and treat each day as it is her last day with as much comfort and love, prayers for you and family. I found digging weeds, for my moms garden is the best way to exercise and distress and use pick axe, i sleep, walking is good i would put her in wheel chair and giver a ride around school area.

I have been telling my hub about all the answers to this question I posted and let him know of the responses...and he says we are way luckier that some of you who have septic systems...so maybe we will complain a little less

Yup! M-I-L goes through at least a roll each day between the two bathrooms and panics if there aren't 6 or 8 new rolls stacked on the back of the toilets! We're resigned to having to pump the septic tank about twice as often as we would otherwise. Clogged toilets are common, and we haven't been able to convince her that flushing a clogged toilet REPEATEDLY is not going to make the problem any better!

Litldogtoo…i just totally get you…i for one dont want to put either of my daughters through this…i have been trying to quit smoking for some time…i will quit but might take it up again if i live to 80….sick thought but..

For Susie Q...Google Nose running in the elderly. I believe I read somewhere that this happens because the nose hairs disappear. Not sure. My mother has the same problem and I am constantly telling her to blow her nose, thinking this will cut down on the inane tissue use, i.e., she'll 'wipe' her nose, won't blow it, and throw the tissue out. Gotta go, she's in the kitchen now getting a plate...God only knows what for!

OMG! Another one!!!! I thought MY mother was the only one. I've done everything to stop her from using tissues just to wipe water off her face after she's taken her pills (there is NO water!). She's got wastepaper baskets filled to the wazu with wads of dry tissues! In each room of the house! Tissues. If there isn't a tissue box next to her bed/couch/bathroom, car, etc., it's top of the list on the supermarket list with food coming second.

Toilet tissue????? I put up a new roll and she goes in there ONE time, half the roll is gone!

Thank God, thank God, for this forum. Because quite frankly, when I 'lose it' it's here I come to see if anyone is losing it.

I swear when the time comes, I'm going to put tons of tissues in the casket with her!

As to wondering how we will be? I've come to the conclusion I could never 'be' this way. I'd rather DIE from whatever it is that gets me first than go through being elderly with dementia (my mother has vascular dementia with paranoia (which is now being helped by medication that the insurance company is now telling us they will no longer pay for two times a day, only one, because 'they' feel two aren't necessary. So much for the doctor's opinion, huh?

Stress!

This is going to seem very rude, but I'm going to write it anyway because I'm sure someone else is thinking it -- years ago people died from normal diseases that affected the elderly. They didn't spend their 80th decade being put back together (my mom has had open heart (83); knee replacement (85) cancer's removed (which probably didn't need to be) ; She's on at least ten meds that are keeping her alive, oh, and did I mention the diabetes for which she is currently receiving insulin? Oh, wait, there's also the stage !V kidney failure (which apparently happens to all the very elderly in that their kidneys just can't handle the numerous drugs they are trying to process, plus the foods, etc.

I want to die a natural death. Not be someone's burden. And not have to have someone remove impacted feces (as I had to do the other day because she called me from the bathroom, crying).

Today I am stressed. Everyone thinks I'm such a 'good daughter'. I'm not!

For Snoozi,
My mother has a runny nose also. What did the doctor find out that was causing her nose to run? Allergies?

alpha..we also has the tissue cleaning of the sink with my mother…constantly….we would tell her not to and yet i would find wet wads behind the faucet….she denies everything though…so of course it not her doing it…that has seems to stop though and we havent had a 20,000 sheet week in quite some time

I had this trouble too. (MIL w/alzheimers). So I locked the door on our only bathroom and put a commode chair (on wheels with padded seat) in her room. When she complained the bathroom door was locked, I told her it was broken and she needed to use the commode chair. That way, I had control over what went into my septic tank. These days, she is bedbound and goes in her depends. It's actually easier this way......so in my case, she got easier when she became bedbound.

We installed a bidet to cut the wiping time and tissue use. No effect. My husband still takes 30 minutes at each bowel movement and uses a toilet roll every other day. We have a septic system so he understands that his toilet paper has to go into a bucket next to the toilet, which I clean constantly. He no longer uses towels but dries his hands with tissue paper and then takes lots of tissue paper to wipe in and around the wash basin. Uses a box a day. I cannot break this habit which he developed progressively 2 years ago. His reasoning ability and short term memory is practically gone so I have decided to take it in good humor to save my sanity. So I would say, just make sure there is another container for all that tissue and then grin and bear it!

Yes my Aunt who lived with us did that too, wore Depends, had a pad on top of that and also stuffed her underwear with toilet paper. I tried all kinds of things, but she told me she was afraid of smelling bad. It was a challenge. My MIL and Nana also HAD to have a tissue or handkerchief in their hands at all times.
So as to the TP, I just rationed her by only having a small amount on the roll. It, like everything else about caregiving was exhausting. Rationality did not help. I was going to try baby powder as an alternative to the 'smell' issue but she went into care and then it wasn't an issue for me any longer. Good luck!

If clogging the plumbing is a concern, I wonder if she would consider this alternative. Consider getting an empty plastic paint tub with a lid. They are available at hardware stores. You can line the paint tub with a plastic bag. She could discard the used toilet paper in the lined paint tub then cover it with the lid. When the paint tub is full, the contents can be discarded in the garbage.

Whippedat56 How about an egg timer that dings when her time is up.? Say 20 mins? If you have a basement maybe you can set up the potty chair for other family members to urinate in ? Holding your bladder is not good.

If it involves dementia and Alzheimers, there is also a component to the disease process of repetitiveness and picking, rubbing etc on the body... which could be part of this. If it's being overly concerned about BMs, perhaps having the baby wipes to finish off the cleaning would help. Scott's (I think!) make a brand that is flushable. Might be less TP usage with a wet wipe ability as the end of the wiping? My mom sticks squares of TP and Kleenex all over the house too....uses and reuses for her nose. Always has done this though, and I thought it was a depression era thing....as she says she doesn't want to 'waste' the Kleenex when it can be used over after it dries!! She does the same with paper towels in the kitchen. She will tear off corners, to wipe down the counter....and it's too little to actually clean, but there's no telling her a thing...so I get this. She is getting worse in this area with her own dementia too. Every time I go down to visit for a few days, I find more and more of it....little OCD patterns developing....along with new 'storage' areas. Not as bad yet as you all are describing. This is such a hard disease to cope with!

My Mom does the same. She has her own bathroom and she goes through a roll of toilet paper faster than the other 5 of us in the house! When I asked her about it, she told me that she only uses 4 squares at a time. I had to laugh and think to myself, "then you must use the bathroom 50 times a day!" I know this may only get worse as her Alzheimer's progresses....something to look forward to...oh boy!

she wears depends for urinary incontinence…im thinking its a bowel movement issue of wiping wiping wiping...

Thanks for your response. I should add that when you started to talk about the plumbing problem you have I had to laugh. I am dealing with the same issue here. Get depends on her. For your own sanity. It is apparent that she wishes to be clean-yes? Depends are most helpful.

I'm smiling cause it's funny (but not) hearing others go through the toilet paper/tissue problem. I stopped buying paper towels and tissue because she would use them and put them in toilet causing a plumbing back up. TP is the must have in our house. I just have to make sure I keep a roll in every room she uses. Yes she does go through alot but I don't have the tissue/paper towel blockages anymore. Oh yes...she does have a small sinus drainage but not horrendous. I think it's a security thing with her.

ahhhhhhhh it's not just me!!!! A while back there was a cesspool problem. So SIL taught MIL to camp poo? Put it in a bowl in the toilet with a baggy and dispose of outside....She taught her this rather then call the cesspool guy. MIL was so proud of herself. Now that the cesspool is fixed I can't get her to flush any paper at all... she puts it in the garbage can next to the toilet!!! The smell is horrific...She won't put it out the garbage!!!. I tried to tell her that everything is okay and tried to "teach" her like SIL. NO use! She doesn't do this when SIL visits so she thinks I'm making this up for "sympathy" and to justify $ for the caregiving. Thank you! I'm not crazy and MIL is not vindictive....it's part of the process :(

deb we have one but refuses to use it….she so needs her own bathroom but there no place in our house where we can add one really…..and my hub does that for a living…ironic no?

my mom also uses a million tissues..she will be wiping her face with them, her nose, etc....i have figured out its all about comfort......it feels good to her.....so i encourage her to get a soft washcloth and it slows down the need for her to wipe so much.....now her going to the bathroom and then wiping herself with the toilet tissue and putting it in the trash can instead of the toilet is her problem....its a constant reminder we need to give her..........

Whippedat56... Get a potty chair for her bedroom?

i wish she had HER bathroom…we have 1 here….and just getting in there when you need to is a whole other topic…i have had a stubborn UTI which required 2 rounds of antibiotics and guess who had to wear the depends temporarilily….

My mother is the same way. She doesn't overuse the tp but she freaks out if there is not tons of tp in the cabinet that she can see. She has sent the caregivers scouring the house looking for it even if there is some in the bathroom. I always have to check her clothes before the laundry because she always has tissues in the her pockets, in the couch, etc.

Putting a trash can for her TP (with an air tight cover) in her bathroom might be an answer. Emptying it daily would be less stressful than constantly snaking the drain. Good luck!

My aunt HAS to have tissues with her at all times. She stuffs them up her sleves in every outfit. I've always thought it was just her way...but maybe it's an elderly thing or a generational thing...

I gave my father plastic freezer bags(zip lock bags) filled with bounty paper towels which were folded in 4s. I would keep them in his walker, near his bed etc so they were accessible to him. His meds had the side effect of giving him sinus type problem. I had small plastic bags with him to use as trash bags.

For toileting, I ripped bounty towels in half and stacked them in the bathroom.
He would use half a towel when in the bathroom which could be flushed. We did not have plumbing issues.

I used to engage him in the twice a week 'folding and bagging" the bounty towels. It was something he could do while sitting in his recliner and made him feel he was useful. It freed me up to do the chores which needed mobility. He actually enjoyed doing anything to help out. In general, I tried to engage him in any chore he could do or assist me with during the day. Even if it is a small assist which you can do yourself faster, I was not in a rush and he had a better mood with being able to help. I always praised him and thanked him for his help, which reinforced that he was still useful.

Wow. I just thought it was my mother that was like this. This whole topic has been helpful. My mother loves the bathroom. She will go in there for 2 hrs at a time if I will let her. I just thought it had to do with the fact as a child she used an outhouse. I just have her flush the toilet several times during her "visit". It is the perfect time for me to drink a cup of coffee and put my feet up!!

My 90 year old grandmother lives with us and she uses one large box of tissues a week (it would take me 3 months to use the same box). She is obsessed with blowing her nose. If we are going somewhere and I'm getting her in the car, she immediately says "I need a tissue for my nose." She stuffs them in the cushions of her favorite chair, in her pockets and leaves piles of used ones on her table...She will never throw them away unless I do it. She creates a ton a garbage with her tisue obsession! When I give her a napkin with her meals, she will blow her nose with those too. She has a home RN right now who sees her every week, and she says she is physically healthy (not congested and she's nice and clear) but she blows her nose so much that she sometimes gets nose bleeds....I do not understand why she needs tissues so much! I can't imagine what you're going through with the toilet paper added on top of the tissue situation. My heart goes out to you!

My mother also went through a lot of paper products and if I made a big deal of it, that just made it worse. She uses much less now that she's on a Seroquel generic.