destroying anything

[durhamlass]

I've had a bad time as my husband who has had vascular dementia for over 6 years now has started destroying all sort of things in the last few days and I don't know why. Is it he needs things to do on a repetitive basis? We don't have any conversation now and when he does talk it doesn't make sense. this is my first post and I would appreciate any advice on how to deal with a variety of problems I am coming upon on his dementia progresses.

 

[Pumpkin12]

Hi there welcome to TP have yu had ur husband checked for a UTI as this can sometimes cause lots of different behaviours then normal or another infection of some sort maybe get a drs appointment hope you find TP helpful I certainly have the last few months since joining take care


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[Kevinl]

Hi Durhamlass and welcome
Seems like destroying things and throwing stuff out are one side of the coin, hoarding is another, there is no logic in it it's the nature of the illness.
I think a trip to the doctors is the best thing here both to check for a UTI and to maybe get him reassessed due to the sudden changes in behaviour.
I hope it's nothing you're attached to he's wrecking, so sorry.
K

 

[bluejag69]

Hi, my dad has vas dem too and he went through this phase too. It started with shredding then this led to throwing everything in the bin, cutting up things especially with wires on, this led to cutting wires off electrical things, phone tv, sky box , everything. It was like anything he couldnt work or didn't understand hehad to destroy. We hid all scissors and sharp knives. He moved around the house emptying rooms of stuff and palming stuff on us or in the bin,he threw my mums wedding rings away! I tried jigsaws, wasn't interested.

Anyway one day he just said right I've given everyone what I needed to give them and he stopped.

Just a phase, if you can distract him in anyway, do you still go out? If so go out more,tire him out.

Good luck, but it won't last.

Jackie x

 

[Tin]

For a while mum, with scissors in hand cut up everything. A friend of mine whose father has Vascular Dementia too, did the same and also liked to take things to pieces so she collected at lot of broken things like mobile phones, chargers, anything around the house put it all in a big box and gave it to her dad with the instructions to fix what he could. Seemed to satisfy his need. I did a similar thing with mum especially as she liked to cut things I gave her a lot of old clothes to cut and turn into rags.

 

[durhamlass]

Thanks

Thank you everyone for the advice. I don't think he has a UTI but will get him checked just in case. Seem to be in a real decline at the moment which I know is usual for vascular dementia but as its arrhythmia based we haven't had that just a slow decline over the 6 years. We go out every day and I try to do as much as possible with him. He does attend day centre 2 days a week and it may be that over Christmas his routine has been upset and we haven't been out and about as much as usual so here's hoping that with the return to our usual routine things may get a bit better. Anyone any advice about night time aggression? My OH needs help in finding the toilet,(doesn't recognise it very often when drowsy) but he is very aggressive when I try to guide him. Try not to push or even touch him but he lashes out if he disagrees with my urging to pee in the toilet and not on the floor! Not hurt me much yet and don't want to resort to medication at night but any advice would be welcome.

 

[jaymor]

My husband went through a stage of breaking things. I think it was more a case of not knowing why something was as it was, e.g. he pulled the stands off the back of photo frames and broke the arms off numerous pairs of glasses by pushing the arms out instead of in when he took them off.

 

[jeany123]

My OH needs help in finding the toilet,(doesn't recognise it very often when drowsy) but he is very aggressive when I try to guide him. Try not to push or even touch him but he lashes out if he disagrees with my urging to pee in the toilet and not on the floor! Not hurt me much yet and don't want to resort to medication at night but any advice would be welcome.

I wonder if your toilet seat is white and against the white of the toilet and background he can't make it out, I read on here that a coloured toilet seat can help especially red, http://forum.alzheimers.org.uk/showthread.php?76452-Colours&highlight=colours