My 85 year old mom lives with me and my husband. She has acquired some odd paper product habits.....One day I noticed she had a folded stack of paper towels on her coloring tray that was over an inch high. I discovered that every morning, after fixing her cereal, she was getting a new paper towel.
Solution: Hide the paper towels. :-)
Toilet paper use is also an issue. Some mornings she will tell me she's afraid to flush. I thank her for telling me because the toilet bowl was so full of toilet paper, etc., it would have clogged. Once it was so full that I had to get a shovel to scoop everything out. I found that it's so full because when she goes overnight she doesn't flush. She's being thoughtful and doesn't want to wake anyone. Then she goes again in the morning. She also folds it and uses her toilet paper multiple times. Yuck!
Recently while in my basement I heard rushing water. There was a 'waterfall' coming from the first floor into our basement. I ran upstairs to find mom standing in a flooded bathroom with a continuously running toilet. Turns out she flushed and held the flush lever down in instead of releasing it. Thank goodness for insurance!
Solution: Turn off the water and remind her to go easy on the toilet paper.
So what's up with all the use of paper products in the elderly? Is this a generational issue?
She would also see tiny bits of grass on the floor and go to great lengths to pick it up (was using a cane and then walker at the time). She also was really into the picking her skin during this time. We had to have the paper towels out of sight due to inappropriate use and fear they would get contaminated. At one time, it seemed I was driving to Costco on a regular schedule for large quantities of TP, paper towels, paper plates and depends.
Inlaws did the folding of bags, napkins, etc. When we cleaned out their home, found hundreds of white paper bags from the pharmacy, tucked away neatly.
Generational issue? I suppose it could be where earlier generations were/are more mindful of resources but my mom didn’t do this. No dementia.
The other three all had dementia. In-laws were always incredibly tidy so it was just a bit more excessive as they got older.
My Husband never did that.
Each person with dementia, just like those without are individuals and "quirks" will be different.
If she is into folding rather than the paper towels can you give her kitchen towels to fold? Or face cloths, sorting socks or any number of things.
If you have "baby wipes" or other types of wipes in the bathroom I would remove them. Even the ones that say "flushable". You do not need her putting them down the toilet.
(side note..holding the lever down should not have caused the toilet to over flow, it is possible that there was a clog that started the process)
If you are up to it, want to have the expense if this is a long term arrangement there are high powered flush toilets. It might be worth looking into just in case she puts more into the toilet than a "normal" one can flush. (If you change it out I would make it an ADA height one with an elongated bowl for ease of use. )
It also sounds like mom needs to have more supervision in the bathroom. I realize this is an extra step in loosing privacy and possibly some dignity but as declines happen more supervision is necessary.