Had any of us PSP victims (we need to find a name for us instead of allowing our disease to define us!) developed a compulsive obsession with knowing the exact time in your every waking hour, or is it just me? I have two clocks in my tiny room so I can always see one no matter how I am lying or sitting without moving. I use a digital clock as the screen saver on my phone.
Is this further evidence of my declining mind, or something more common?
Steve my husband obsessed with time also he has recently broke his watch with taking it on and off and is constantly asking me what time it is, he has always been a punctual person though ,but it has got a bit obsessional lately,he got diagnosed with psp in Sept last year. so you are not on your own .
Many thanks. My professional life dominated by my calendar, but I haven't worked in nearly a decade. This behavior began with other early signs of It. Strange, but what a out this isn't?
Steve
Good to know. My faithful Tag gave up the ghost last year and I miss it for for the sentimental reason that it is the only thing the second Melanie gave me that she didn't take when she left.
Steve
My Brian was obsessed with time as well. I didn't think to much about it.... but seems it could be another joy of psp. Jane xx
Too true
It's not really a bad thing, it is aggravating and a very fundamental change late in life. Some judges of my acquaintance probably wish it had started much earlier.
Steve
Yes it does. I guess it's good I'm not alone.
My dads obsessed with the time too! X
Is that good, bad, or just annoying?
The obsessions vary, but obsessions and compulsive behaviors are common.
I understand that now; just bothers this old dog that he has to learn new tricks.
Thanks,
Steve
I wondered what the compulsion feels like, then I realized how addicted I have gotten recently to checking email and certain news sites. I wonder if it is like that? I do it constantly and have to fight myself at work. I know that's a common problem, too, but I do feel lately more and more that I need to get a grip!
And the news is all so depressing that it's making me miserable.
I like this part, though!
Agreed EC. It's just down right creepy to me. Must drive my new roommate crazy. (Yes, I have been moved from what the staff charmingly calls "the dementia floor.) Thank God for small favors.
Alive and struggling in the City that Care Forgot (or is it the City that Forgot to Care?), with best wishes,
Steve
Where do you live Steve?
New Orleans, Louisiana. I was born and raised in Houma, which is about fifty miles away to the southwest.
Steve
Oh I actually meant where do you live that you have a "dementia floor"?
Bein from southern LA , Are you somewhat Cajun?
AVB
I live on the fifth floor of the Uptown Healthcare and Rehab Center.
As to being Cajun, mais oui, I am half Cajun, or, as we refer to ourselves, a Coonass. One of crazy governor's, who famously remarked the only way the federal government could convict him was if he was caught in bed with a dead girl or a live boy, actually got the legislature to pass a bill making it a misdemeanor crime for a non-coonass to refer to a real Coonass as a coonass! Of course, in a state where it's illegal to wrestle bears or tattoo minors, it was business as usual.
Hope you enjoyed that last bit. Much love,
Steve
hahahaah Well I promise I will only refer to your lineage as Cajun....as to where you live , sounds like that might be indeed uptown....gots your own gym and doctors and medical staff!
AVB
I never understood the Uptown/Downtown designation in N.O. until I had lived here a year. Uptown is the western most part of Orleans Parish (think: county). As you travel down the Mississippi River you head east along the East Bank of the river through Mid-City and Central City towards Downtown which contains the Central Business District and the Medical District. Then you reach the French Quarter, then various neighbor-hoods until you reach the Industrial Canal, which separates New Orleans proper from New Orleans East, which should be called the Wild, Wild West for its lawlessness. Got all that? Mix in the damage from Hurricane Katrina twelve years ago and you will know 10% of New Orleans. Maybe that's why it's called the Big Easy. Hah!
Anyway, I don't take offense at being called a coonass although with a name like Stephen Patrick Callahan I have always tended to identify with my Irish half.
All of this is apropos of nothing but it was almost fun to write.
With thanks for lifting my spirits, I remain your comrade in arms,
Steve
By the way, referring to my cardiologist, two GPs, a dozen LPNs and about five RNs as a medical staff is a bit of stretch but Touro Infirmary, where I was imprisoned after my first stroke, is two blocks away from here, with a small mental hospital in between. I am not making any of this stuff up, I swear!
Oh I believe you Steve....I remember taking a field trip in college to some sort of hospital in Little Rock...It was the stuff from which movies are made....
Are you a permanent resident ?
AVB
Yes AVB I am since I gave up my apartment to get in here. It was done at the urging of my former psychiatrist, who dumped me here so I would be discharged from his care. I'm glad for this because he saw It as an opportunity to work with my "new brain", as if his mind over matter mysticism would somehow work on a damaged brain. I had no intention of going through all of the hoops and be and barrels of pain management to suffer another crushing defeat on that front.
Anyway, it is late here which means another encounter with the night nurse. Gotta go.
Take care. With best wishes for a better tomorrow,
Steve
John has a bit of an obsession with time but it was much worse earlier on in the disease than now. Xx
My husband too ..
W is constantly looking at his watch even when we are just out for a leusurely drive.
Too strange. Many thanks,
Steve
Sorry about the spelling, just noticed now leisurely was wrong. Predictive text, agggh.
I actually like it Nanny although it sometimes ruins the context of what you are trying to convey. This, in turn, offends my new obsessive compulsive for proper spelling, grammar, and content.
Anyways, I believe you can turn off the predictive text feature on most phones with the feature. I choose not too because anything that saves my having to use my clumsy fingers from typing is a Godsend.
Have a great day and my best to your warrior.
Steve
Thanks Steve. We had friends round for dinner tonight and my 'warrior' thoroughly enjoyed the evening. He even managed to stay up until they left at 11.45pm - normally he is in bed by 9.00pm.
Good for the both of you. Treasure the positive, endure the negative, and above remember that love is watching someone die. I stole that reference from a song entitled "What Sarah Said" by an indie rock band named Death Cab for Cutie. I listen to it every day. It is a beautiful piece of music with lyrics that resonate with my broken heart every day . Maybe I do need the cardiologist after all. With best wishes and all of my remaining love, I remain,
Steve
Must look up Spotify and see if that song is on their listings. Will let you know if I get it. Sending you my love, Nanny857xx
Nanny
It's easy to find on YouTube. I actually have a playlist there titled Music to Die By. It's number one on that list.
With love and hope for peace, I remain
Steve
Thanks Steve.
You are more than welcome. Music does wonders for me sometimes.
Steve
My husband, too. I jokingly call him "Rainman" because he's so focused - and sometimes controlled - by the time on the clock.
I actually laughed out loud when I read your reply. Maybe I need to make a road trip to Vegas. Thanks for helping me get my day off on a humorous note. Best wishes,
Steve
We just got back from AZ ...beautiful...you can see time really etched in the mountains there!
Well you'll never be late ,Steve.....My husband too was a little OCD with time....but hey it didn't ruin our inability to be punctual! As I have experienced it all, This wold not be the thing I wold worry about....Do well take the time you have and be happy . Find stuff that you can and enjoy doing and go do it!
AVB
AVB - you are right as usual and I seek out enjoyment wherever I can find it. As far as punctuality is concerned, I need to find a way to make the nurses punctual with my pain meds. I now have a night nurse who can't count to six (it's on tape) and she makes me wait at least an hour after I request the meds to get them, further disrupting my already crazy sleep patterns. I lodge a complaint every morning and the director of nursing personally apologizes, but she's back every night with a new stunt. They didn't say anything about killing staff when they moved me, so.... Later
Steve
Steve,
You are right, you are not a 'victim' so yes we do need to find a word to describe PSP.
How about I am a PSP fighter?
You have my admiration and respect.
Geoff obsesses over straightening and squaring everything, like wires, things on the coffee table, he listens to audio books and constantly straightens the wires.
So I guess it is connected
Pam x
I love your characterization because we are surely at war with what I usually think of as It, or the Enemy zero lest naming it gives it greater power over me. Thanks and Remember the Alamo!
Later,
Steve
or warrior sa someone suggested
lol jill
xxxxxx
My favorite since we are all being besieged by an enemy who gives no quarter and takes no prisoners for long
Best regards,
Steve
My husband has to be able to see clock at all times, has to be able to touch it in the night also, drives me nuts . X
I can imagine it's quite distressing, especially on a regular basis. Best of luck to both of you.
Steve
First time in hospital for craig
discussing PSP with kids
Is there anything that helps with hallucinations?
Mum just been diagnosed with PSP
How does a hospice help with someone with PSP? 
