Hi there,
My Dad's 68 and has a form of dementia called Cerebral Amyloid Angiopathy.
Unfortunately his condition has advanced very quickly and although he is still physically very fit, his dementia is at a stage where he struggles to do almost anything for himself, and spends most of his time regaling us with about 20 very random, and insignificant stories, related to minor incidents in his life.
He is now becoming very agitated (almost autistic) and can get easily worked up about small things. The most significant problem is that he has developed a real problem with going to the toilet, seeing it as a dirty, awful place (this seems connected to a recent time when he had an upset stomach and for a couple of days had a number of accidents). He now refuses to sit down on the toilet, no matter what we try and is prone to soiling himself regularly. If we do get him to the toilet he will just wipe into tissues and put it in the bin, and not into the toilet itself.
We have tried different forms of adult 'nappy' but these just agitate him further, as he keeps saying they are for old men, and old men will need them so he can't wear them. If we do manage to get them on him he spends most of his time clearly agitated and trying to take them off. He has even come prone to taking his trousers down in view of others to try and take it off, which clearly is not an easy situation.
We really are at our wits end with this and don't have any ideas where to go with it. All the professionals have suggested to us it to keep trying the nappy type underwear, but this clearly really upsets him.
Any ideas would be welcome, or just to hear any other experiences, as with all of this one can often feel alone in it all.
Thanks,
Tim
My Dad's 68 and has a form of dementia called Cerebral Amyloid Angiopathy.
Unfortunately his condition has advanced very quickly and although he is still physically very fit, his dementia is at a stage where he struggles to do almost anything for himself, and spends most of his time regaling us with about 20 very random, and insignificant stories, related to minor incidents in his life.
He is now becoming very agitated (almost autistic) and can get easily worked up about small things. The most significant problem is that he has developed a real problem with going to the toilet, seeing it as a dirty, awful place (this seems connected to a recent time when he had an upset stomach and for a couple of days had a number of accidents). He now refuses to sit down on the toilet, no matter what we try and is prone to soiling himself regularly. If we do get him to the toilet he will just wipe into tissues and put it in the bin, and not into the toilet itself.
We have tried different forms of adult 'nappy' but these just agitate him further, as he keeps saying they are for old men, and old men will need them so he can't wear them. If we do manage to get them on him he spends most of his time clearly agitated and trying to take them off. He has even come prone to taking his trousers down in view of others to try and take it off, which clearly is not an easy situation.
We really are at our wits end with this and don't have any ideas where to go with it. All the professionals have suggested to us it to keep trying the nappy type underwear, but this clearly really upsets him.
Any ideas would be welcome, or just to hear any other experiences, as with all of this one can often feel alone in it all.
Thanks,
Tim