He obsesses about when the heat and air come on and go off. As soon as someone throws something in the trash, he takes that bag out and replaces it with another one. He has lost 40 pounds over the past 6 months, but all his tests come back normal. He no longer carries a normal conversation. He is taking celexa, trazadone and ambiem.
Who gave him what kinds of tests that come back normal? Obviously his behavior isn't normal and it could be useful to get to the causes. Maybe a change in his drugs would help. Maybe there is an underlying pathology, such as dementia.
Although annoying to you, these particular obsessions don't seem dangerous. Still, they indicate that something is wrong.
If the medical tests he had were just about the weight loss, perhaps it is time for a more comprehensive geriatric evaluation.
Example: "My Mom asked me everytime she washed hands where's the soap?"
I was glad her hygene was 100% but arghhhh!!! Then after two months I figured out she was not used to liquid soap she was looking for a bar of soap on the sink.
I put a... bar and she never asked again. Sometimes the most nerve racking thing to us has a solution, you just have to "solve the dementia logic puzzle".
Example: My Mom's room was moved, down the hall, it was in reverse, from the one she got used to in NH after a year. She was confused and would go back to the old room to nap. Upon visiting her she was napping and I couldn't find her in her room, she was in the old room. I asked the staff and they said she does that we don't know why! I looked on the name tags on the door entrance to her old room, there was her name. She reads whats on the door so she knows its her room, same with bathroom. After bringing this to the staffs attention all the closets are name tagged in rooms now too, solved many lost item problems too. This may not solve the big picture but hopeful it will help this issue.
If this has been happening over time, he needs to be evaluated for cognitive issues.
Talk to you pharmacist too - they are a great resource.
That's a lot of medicine and the side effects of them can cause problems. Talk to your pharmacist as suggested. My dad was taking a medicine which made his dementia worse and that was a side effect! There was another that was suppose to help his dementia and that was bad news too.
I assume that the doctor who is managing the medications is a psychiatrist. Be sure you keep him or her informed of changes in your father's behavior. And also involve your father's primary care physician.
Science has come a long, long way in understanding the brain, and a long way in determining how to correct malfunctioning. We are still far from mastery of that. One of the huge obstacles is the uniqueness of individuals. Drugs and therapies that work wonders for some patients do nothing for the next patient, and even make things worse for another patient, as newtonjoyce notes. I am sure you are painfully aware, Millie, that treatment of mental illness has a trial-and-error aspect to it that can be very frustrating to all concerned.
You might ask the psychiatrist advice on how to respond to your father's obsessions. Maybe you should just buy stock in a waste-basket liner company, and keep saying calming, It is 8:22. It is 8:25. You can also try redirection. It is 9:33 and I need some company in the kitchen while I make a batch of cookies. Can you crack the eggs for me?
I don't make any of these suggestions as an expert. Having dealt with mental illness in the family, I can say sincerely that my heart goes out to you both, and I appreciate and admire your desire to care for your father.
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