any suggestions ??

[Jess26]

thought I'd try and draw on all you lovely people's experience. Although I don't think there is a solution.

Mum has increasingly become attached, yes literally to the TV remote. She seems to use it as a comforter.(she's not the sort of person to have a cuddly) Constantly having it in her hand, and quiet often she will sit with her finger on one button. We have to replace the batteries on a very regular basis.

She is alone between carer visits some days. She has very poor mobility and the TV is her companion, but quiet often she will press several buttons in trying to change channels and mess the whole thing up so it needs re programing.

help !!

 

[chucky]

Hi, Have you considered giving her an old remote with no batteries in it if shes only using it for comfort. My dad had a thing about keys and he had one on a loop on his finger for years but stopped doing it when he went into care, although they do have a board on the wall at the CH with old keys on it that the residents seem to like fiddling with. He also had a big thing about money and because he thought it wasnt real he used to tear it up. We substituted it with monopoly money. Is it possible to pre set your mums channels through her digibox so that the TV changes itself and give your mum the remote with no batteries and she can happily press the buttons with no effect to the TV. I myself have a habit of holding a cushion. I dont do anything with it, i just hold it and i have no idea why. Ive been doing it for as long as i can remember, and its even got to the stage on the odd occasion i have put it down and someone will joke with me saying wheres your cushion or is your cushion in the wash! I think sometimes we form habits without realising and if your mum gets comfort from holding the remote its pretty harmless. removing the batteries may not work but its worth a try. x

 

[Jess26]

thanks for the reply.

I have no idea how to set the TV to change channels without useing the remote

 

[Cariad611]

Hi Jess. My Dad tends to carry his TV remote around and then 'tidies it away' and it can take days to find it again. In the end, I bought a new remote and followed the instructions to programme it to my Dads TV. (am a complete mess with technology but I managed it!!!) Now I can use the new remote and turn on my Dads TV and arrange autoview for his favourite programmes and then take it with me when I leave.
Must admit that I feel slightly foolish for not thinking to remove the batteries from my Dads remote - a brilliant idea
Good luck xx

 

[vsb1001]

A friend of mine had a similar problem with his Mum and the remote. He covered up all the buttons except the on/off one so she couldn't mess things up

 

[Sarah Reed]

TV remote

Hi Jess
I've only just joined so I know this is a very later reply and you may well have solved the problem another way (I'd be very interested to know how, if you have)...

I'm wondering if your Mum likes the remote because it affects what happens on the TV? or is it more to do with the comfort of pressing the buttons?

If it's the latter, have you tried leaving a mobile phone (without the sim card!) around for her to discover? I think it would be sad to cover the buttons, because that seems that it's them that are comforting for her. And anyway, being on your own with only daytime TV for company every day would drive most of us to distraction!

 

[aalison]

autoview?

Now I can use the new remote and turn on my Dads TV and arrange autoview for his favourite programmes and then take it with me when I leave.

where do you get autoview from? Mum has a sky box and it doesn't have that function. She can't use the remote at all and gets stuck with dreadful programs like Jeremy Kyle!

 

[nmintueo]

Mum has become attached to the TV remote

often she will press several buttons in trying to change channels and mess the whole thing up so it needs re programing.

If she's using the remote that came with the TV, try replacing it with a simplified remote. That should at least make it effectively impossible to mess up the TV settings or channels.

Previous thread:

Simple TV remote
http://forum.alzheimers.org.uk/showthread.php?14246

often she will sit with her finger on one button. We have to replace the batteries on a very regular basis.

Assuming that you do want your mum to have a remote that actually operates the TV, probably not much you could do about that.

However, if you manage to get one of the discontinued Sony RM-KZ1T or RM-KZ1, that might help: it just gives seven favourite-channel buttons, so it really doesn't matter if you hold one of them down. Also, you can disable the volume buttons, so holding them down won't affect the volume (or drain the battery), but she can still change channels.

(I can't find it in the UK any more, though you can still find it on, say, amazon.fr or US sites, but international shipping costs more than the item.)

If money is no object, have a look at this:

Using technology
http://forum.alzheimers.org.uk/showthread.php?47993

Or, as someone has suggested above, some TVs let you schedule programmes on a timer.