OBSESSION

[Auddonz]

Does anyone find that the person they are caring for with psp, obsess on one particular thing and can't seem to stop?

[busylizzy2]

Yes my Mum obsessed with the believe that my stepfather was poisoning her and that a man was going to come into the house and kill her. This went on for months. Mum has also been obsessed with eating caramel bar chocolate. I suppose the biggest one has to be with wanting to go to the loo all the time, this one has been ongoing for the past couple of years now, good for exercising and I suppose counteracts eating all the chocolate

[vlh4444]

Yes definitely! It seems as though D wants to cling desperately to an idea in case it sort of slips away from him. I suppose it is a way of keeping a bit of control. The trouble is he asks me to do things that really are not very important (well to me anyway!) and gets very cross if I don't do it. If it is fairly simple and not too difficult it is not too much of a problem as I can just do it to keep him happy, but some ideas are either very difficult, time consuming or actually impossible to achieve and it upsets him a lot that I don't do them!

Vicki

[Auddonz in reply to vlh4444]

Me to Vicki

[jzygirl]

Most people with psp do tend to suffer with ocd in one form or another just another trial just to keep us on our toes. Janexx

[Auddonz]

TY Jane, Didn't know that. Another thing for me to learn.

Audrey (aka auddonz)

[Georgepa]

Tell me about it - it drives -me barmy . Underlines all the programs in the Tv times she is not going to watch which is most of them. Fiddles endlessly with tucking in her bed which is next to her chair and has between five and ten hankies on the go at any one time except when we go out and she says she hasn't got one( except she has got them really as they are tucked in every possible place to tuck them !)Sometimes I feel like one one of those magicians who pull hankie after hankie out of their sleeves as I retrieve them . And there's more ---- but that's enough to be going on with for now .

[Auddonz in reply to Georgepa]

His obsession is just one but it is driving me nuts.

[NannaB in reply to Georgepa]

The night before last, Colin's night carer was making sure he was comfortable after we had both got him into bed. She laughed out loud with a little squeal and he hum laughed. As she had bent towards him, he had grabbed the neck of her top and put his handkerchief down to her chest. One of the places he tucks it on himself. I gave him a hug and told him she will be charging him with assault if he isn't careful. It was a happy end to the evening.

X

[coyle51]

Hi

Yes my mum would obsess over wanting to buy something and even buying it was not enough to stop the obsessing. We ended up with multiples of the oddest items, letter racks, ornamental bird cages, and matching mirrors, etc!

[NannaB]

Yes, handkerchiefs like Georgepa's V. When he could walk and talk it was the pressure gage on the boiler and water tank. Several times an hour he would have to inspect both. The boiler is in a walk in cupboard and many times I found him leaning precariously against a wall as he had fallen but couldn't go anywhere because of the size of the cupboard. The tank was worse as it was upstairs so I had to go with him if I realised he was on the move.

X

[Amilazy in reply to NannaB]

Yes tissues and hankies, must be on hand anywhere and demands I give it to her even though on table in front of her or in her pockets. Her other ocd is her glasses constantly wanting the other pair especially while I am driving meaning a stop about every 10 min to change pairs or put her seat belt back on which she has undone, too tight. I am concerned over this when I get a WAV and M is behind me in the car. OCD seems to change as PSP develops. Best of luck Tim

[NannaB in reply to Amilazy]

Isn't it scary when they take their seat belt off when the car is moving. When C was next to me during a trip from Suffolk to West Kent, whilst doing 70 on the M25, C suddenly flopped right over, nearly to my side. He had taken his belt off. I had to drive many miles before I could stop, push him upright and put it back on again. Now he travels behind me, he can't reach the seat belt as it fixes on an arm quite low and further back. He did undo the strap attached to the chair at first but when he is in the car I twist it where it is attached so the buckle is towards his body. He can't press the button when it's that way round and as the strap isn't touching his body at the twist, it isn't uncomfortable. For long journeys I had shoulder straps fitted to the chair and higher arm rests to stop him flopping over. He also has a small cushion under his arm on the side he flops. Getting him in the car isn't a quick job.

X

[Auddonz in reply to NannaB]

NannaB, D knows we are not going anywhere until his seat belt is on and wouldn't dare take it off. But getting out of the house takes a while, not to mention getting out of bed in the morning and getting dressed. Good idea putting him in the back seat.

XO

[NannaB in reply to Auddonz]

Two years ago C couldn't get into the front seat any more. After a struggle I got him in but had to get help to get him out. Now I just wheel him up the ramp into the back. I've got used to sitting on my own in the front now but do miss having him beside me. I know what you mean about the struggle to get him out of the house and I have to have help to get him out of bed in the morning. It doesn't get any easier does it?

X

[Auddonz in reply to NannaB]

D seems to be in a relatively calm place now. He does pretty much for himself, which is surprising me. He does tell me maybe they misdiagnosed me and I have a virus. It just came on so suddenly when he was in the hospital for something else. Came home not being able to move. That was some time in Feb. Weird! Of course I don't trust many Dtrs so.....

XO

[NannaB in reply to Auddonz]

That does sound strange. I noticed symptoms for about four years before C was diagnosed.

X

[Auddonz in reply to NannaB]

I didn't except for some slips off a step stool which I thought was due to his age. He is 78 but the whole thing is so weird. Afraid to take him off the sinemet because it made him almost completely normal.

X

[gypsywoman1947]

Yes , it's definitely a little like OCD, when he was able he would rearrange items I had placed in the dishwasher , but now it's something different each day, he gets something in his mind and hangs onto it and milks it with all he's got. Next day it's never mentioned.

[Auddonz]

The diff with Don is it never changes same thing every day, grrr

[BarbR]

I didn't realize that the OCD was a side effect of my late husband's PSP . Before I learned about the terrible tricks this disease plays on the minds of its sufferers, I used to get exremely frustrated. The poor man was trying to learn to use his gorgeous new Apple computer, a Christmas gift from his children. (He'd always used a PC while I'd used an Apple.) As soon as we'd sit down to work at our computers, it would start. "Barbara, help me!" This would continue every time that I sat down to work. It would go on like this all morning. He was obsessed with learning to work the thing, but couldn't master even how to sign on. This man who had a doctorate iin biochemistry got so frustrated he tried to throw the Apple off the balcony of his office. One night he woke me up twenty-one times at five minute intervals to "tuck him in properly." This was all before his PSP diagnosis at which point a psychiatrist explained his OCD to me. It was then easier - still not easy - to live with. Now recalling this time, as I write this, I would welcome the chance to help him with his computer or to tuck him into bed.