My DH is obsessed with the news

michiganpat

My DH is stage 4 by my guestimate. He is obsessed with the news. He talks about it constantly and gets himself all worked up. I try to change the subject and it works for a few minutes but then he turns it right back to the news. He watches Fox and Cnn several hours a day and even tapes some of the late talk shows to see in the morning. He will be watching one of the talk shows and call me in to the living room to see watch something "important".  I try to tell myself he can't help it but it is so difficult. I do like to watch the evening news but it is so difficult as he is constantly making comments through it. I get so frustrated. When I get home from shopping he carries in groceries for me, talking the whole time about what he has watched while I was gone. Some days he is so good but other days he can't seem to stop talking. I get so frustrated. Just venting.

LadyTexan

Good morning MichiganPat and welcome to the forum. 

My husband watches an opinion channel disguised as news ALL DAY LONG. He has always been a news junkie. Watching the news helps him feel connected to the outside world. It calms him. 

DH is now late stage 6 and I don't believe he comprehends much of what he is watching now. It is part of his routine and he is used to the programming. The weekends are challenging for me because the programming schedule changes and he is restless and agitated when he does not see the regular programming. 

The news has a tendency to upset and depress me, so I tune it out. When I ask DH what's new on the news, he usually says "nothing".  Its frustrating.

My mom, who lives in the same town, has dementia. She watches the same "news" channel as my DH. She is always worked up and tells my dad what the stories are. It is making him crazy. He is frustrated too. 

Know that you are not alone in the craziness. 

Mint

I understand your frustration.  It is hard to deal with some days.

Michael Ellenbogen

Thats me and I can not stop it as I always did that all my life.

abc123

I'm sorry this is happening to both of you!

Lady T, Is it possible to record a couple hours of DH's programs during the week without him knowing and play them on the weekends for him? Just a thought. 

jfkoc

We talk bout the news here all day long....some really great discussions...I have developed a keen interest in the law.

Does your husband get out? Can he run erranands with you? Participate in a senior program...maybe together? What are his interests? Can  you get him involved in something, even volunteering together?

Just thoughts.

Iris L.

I haven't watched the evening news in years.  I find it disturbing and repetitive and did I mention, disturbing.  If there is an earthquake or other local disaster I will turn it on for reports.

IMO, watching news and drama shows is too stimulating for PWDs.

Iris

michiganpat

Reply to jfkoc: These are all really good ideas. But I have tried them all. He is a retired dairy farmer and never had much time to get out. He really prefers to just stay home now. I tried to interest him in volunteering at one time. We did get a puppy a year ago. He is an animal lover and it is the best thing we could have done. She is his baby. It is hard to have a discussion about the news as he keeps saying the same thing in a bunch of different ways. It is like he doesn't want to listen so much as talk. It is hard to reply to the same things over and over. I just tell myself he can't help it. When he makes a comment I might say  "yes, you said that" but he still needs to repeat the same story in detail again. I can handle this better on some days than others. I have the book "Understanding the dementia experience" coming. It gives insights into how the dementia person sees things. I really want to understand his perspective. Thank you for your thoughts. I really appreciate it.

jfkoc

Glad they were good...sorry  none worked ....I found that "understanding" helped but I can still remember the frustration. Will a hug help?

michiganpat

Jfkoc. A hug always helps. I am incredibly sad that my dh has this awful disease. Our son found this support group for me. I am just starting to do posts and figure this site out. Hopefully I can help others as I get the support I need.

Paris20

My husband watches the news non-stop. Since he is at about stage 5 AD, he forgets each story he hears. At some point, I tell him it’s time to watch something else. Occasionally he’ll yell at me saying he just turned the TV on and he needs to know what’s happening. He could see and hear the same story 100 times but each time is the first time for him. At some point I grab the remote, switch the TV to something more light-hearted, and DH is OK since he cannot recall what he had watched before that.

I read and subscribe to two newspapers. I read them online daily. I also check several other news websites that allow outsiders to read articles. DH has stopped reading. He still can read but doesn’t seem to have any interest in doing so. Going anywhere with him is a challenge because he wanders off, has poor balance, falls, has incontinence problems, and does not behave well in strange places. So we sit at home a lot and debate how many times a day the news is on. I say countless and he says one.

Kenzie56

My DH was like this at an earlier stage - totally obsessed with the news for about 5 years. I would take him on walks or with me to run errands, but he always wanted to get back home to watch the news. He slowly stopped understanding the news and I think he just liked it in the background out of routine. He would stare off in the distance and I realized he wasn't really "watching" it. (Same with the newspaper - he just turns the pages as he can no longer read) When he stopped being able to use the remote, I purchased and saved several favorite movies on our streaming service, like Sound of Music, etc., and will switch over to a musical or old sitcom when he falls asleep in his recliner. (He has watched these old favorites 1,000 times, but as you probably have experienced - they are always "new" to him.) When he wakes up from dozing...he seems content with watching the show. I know every line by heart - but so much better than the depressing news. He forgets he was once watching the news. The oldies seem to bring him back to an earlier time and he is happy - plus the music is soothing. It seems to be working for now - but as you know...every day is different and no solution seems to stick for very long.

Joydean

My DH used to watch the news all day! Then a few months back he decided he can’t stand to hear it. He can’t follow what is being said, their voice gets on his nerves, so thank goodness it is not on. He loves the old gun smoke shows! He can’t use the remote anymore, so I now have to work that for him too. But I’m so glad not to have to hear news all day!

michiganpat

Hearing other stories has made me realize I am not alone and that helps. My dh and I are at the beginning of a long journey.

OhDear

My DH is obsessed with CNN but brings the events into our life. A just reported active shooter situation has stopped our plans to go because he believes it is dangerous in our upstate NY home when shooter is in NC. So frustrated that he believes he has to go down to jury duty for Trump every time a case is mentioned. When he is really upset, he accuses me of leaving him - thinking that now I am someone else. Physically he is fine and no doctor has diagnosed him after he walked out of a neurologist's office 1.5 years ago. I'd really like some help or knowledgeable info, but still searching!!

SDianeL

My husband 78, Stage 5 going into Late Stage 5 watches military shows and WWE. He also reads the Sunday paper cover to cover but I'm sure he doesn't understand or retain anything he read. It's comforting to him because he's always done it. Probably same as the news your DH is watching. When they chatter it's to calm their stress. My DH does it in the car. Continuous chatter. Makes me so nervous. He no longer talks about what he watches on TV. Which actually made me sad when I realized it. When my DH was in Stage 4 he became obsessed with the trash actually taking the trash out of the trash can, arranging it before he put it back in the trash can, and he kept reorganizing the cabinets over and over and over. I mentioned his behavior to his PCP and she said if it wasn't hurting anything just let him do it. I should have known something more was wrong but didn't press it. Until COVID and I started seeing more behaviors. Repetitive behaviors and chatter seem to soothe him. Maybe you could get blue tooth ear buds so at least you won't have to listen to the news. Nothing you can do to stop the chatter unfortunately except medications or wait until he can no longer remember what he watched. 😪

harshedbuzz

@OhDear

This is an older thread, so you might not get much traffic around it.

That said, this behavior is not all that unusual. BTDT. My dad had major issues with TV-- either he inserted himself into the storyline of mom's guilty pleasure crime dramas or he believed all "news" to involve him in some way. It was weird, he was unable to remember if he'd eaten lunch, but he could recall being kidnapped and murdered by the bad guys on last night's Law & Order: SVU. He could be complaining one moment that I moved him from Florida and in the next warn me about a hurricane happening right this minute while looking at his sunny Pennsylvania backyard.

This was upsetting dad and, TBH, mom didn't love the TV blaring non-stop. I put parental controls (it's why they call them parental controls, I guess) on the TV to lock him out of Fox News, TWC, CNN as well as the channels that carried the crime stuff. When he couldn't find his channel, I told him the satellite must be experiencing difficulties. Rinse and repeat.

HB

michiganpat

I wrote this Dec 2021 and my husband is still obsessed with the news, taping late evening talk shows to watch the next morning! The only thing that has changed is me. I just let him do his thing. I keep music on mostly all day and when he's relaying all he heard, with his opinions, I concentrate on the music. He pretty much rinses and repeats his opinions and doesn't seem to notice I have tuned out. I know he can't help it and keep telling that to myself. It helps most times. The music really helps. I have a favorites list of soothing music. When he's repeating his many stories I have my escape. He is really into his own little world. It is sad.