Talking non-sense and obsessing with clothes

[carters]

I wanted to hear about other people's experiences and get a sense for this..

My mum has stages of talking nonsense. By which I mean that when she speaks the words don't fit. For example, she might say: 'Black, black, black <look with her eyes at me as if trying to communicate>, red, red, ' and so on. The other day when I visited, this only lasted a short while but has lasted a whole weekend before.

This leads me on to the other thing. She is obsessed with wearing matching clothes. All of her clothes, including shoes and gloves have to be the same colour. Again.. any similar stories out there?

Mum is 68 yrs old, she has early onset which was diagnosed about 9 years ago. There has been quite a lot of changes in the past couple of years and now in the past months.

 

[Beate]

It's so hard when they are trying to communicate but can't make themselves understood, isn't it? My OH used to tell long stories, now he's mostly silent as his word-finding capabilities have gone down the drain big time. In your mum's case she might try to tell you the colour she wants her clothes to have? Only guessing here. If he gets too muddled up, all I can do is nod and reassure him that everything is ok. I don't know how helpful that is...

 

[sinkhole]

Personally, the way I deal with situations where it is impossible to fathom what's being meant is to try and lead the conversation in another direction.

Sometimes, trying to guess the meaning behind what sounds like disconnected nonsense, will just make both of you frustrated and possibly lead to agitation and distress!

 

[carters]

Thanks though.. I appreciate your reply and also it's just good to hear that I should appreciate mum's communication as much as possible while she still has some word-finding capabilities. I too try to reassure as much as possible. We try when we can to have a laugh too... all the best to you

It's so hard when they are trying to communicate but can't make themselves understood, isn't it? My OH used to tell long stories, now he's mostly silent as his word-finding capabilities have gone down the drain big time. In your mum's case she might try to tell you the colour she wants her clothes to have? Only guessing here. If he gets too muddled up, all I can do is nod and reassure him that everything is ok. I don't know how helpful that is...

 

[carters]

Thanks very much. She's often pretty determined and single-minded but I agree this is a good method to try where possible. Much appreciated and all the best!

Personally, the way I deal with situations where it is impossible to fathom what's being meant is to try and lead the conversation in another direction.

Sometimes, trying to guess the meaning behind what sounds like disconnected nonsense, will just make both of you frustrated and possibly lead to agitation and distress!

 

[Ash148]

Carters, my mum has mostly stopped talking in the last six weeks and I miss the nonsense conversations so much! I used to try to pick one word, any word, from a nonsense sentence and use build my side of the conversation around it e.g. Red and black do go well together don't they. Ladybirds are red and black, I love ladybirds. You wore a beautiful red dress to ()'s wedding didn't you? And so on.

 

[chrisdee]

clothes obsession

My Mum too was obsessed with clothes. she had been really, all of her life!
Taken to a shop she favoured anything blue, sometimes I used to buy it if it fitted in and was not expensive. When she was at home, she regularly emptied her wardrobe onto her bed, it drove us crazy, but I think was a self-soothing, rummaging type mechanism.
If you can go along with it, then do.