My mom has been obsessing over her nails. She files them every day, several times, and buffs them for 20 minutes at a time. It is driving me crazy!!! When it's not her nails, she seems to find something else to obsess over. Her hair is thinning, and she's obsessing over that as well. We tried Rogaine and several different shampoos. The doctor said that it's not due to medication, checked her thyroid again, and thinks it just aging.
Keys. I once had to Fed Ex him a key to his car. Now I found at least 10 duplicate keys to that car around the house.
My comment concerns the use of Ativan in the elderly. It is widely used for anxiety in hospice patients young and old. The dose is usually very small to start and gradually increased if the response is positive and more is needed . If the agitation increases which sometimes it does another medication is tried. Elderly people do tend to metabolize medications slower than the younger population so caution with dosage needs to be exercised. The worst effects of Ativan can lead to coma and death. Also with any new medication the drug interactions need to be checked before giving a dose this also includes herbal remedies too. On another track inserting a catheter is pretty pointless and in my view assault if the patient refuses. She will just pull it out anyway, this happens all the time. It must be remembered that no drug is 100% safe for 100% of the population but the risk is usually worth the result. Who wants to die in pain when medications are available even if in an addictive class. Some people require unbelievable amounts of narcotics at the end of life but hospice is not described as comfort care for nothing
So now she's in a memory care home and sits complacently in her wheel chair with her hands folded in her lap. I'm guessing that now she's stimulated without having to make her own activity.
friendofnature: Isn't it a shame that your mother, now confined to a wheelchair,
does nothing for herself?.......a waste of her final years.
How 'bout magazines? Picture books?, sewing?, jewelry making? You didn't say how old she is. Hopefully, there's TV where she is.