Is this common?(1)

ImMaggieMae

Are obsessive/compulsive behaviors common with different types of dementia? I’m not talking about the verbal repeating of statements or questions, but actions such as rearranging objects over and over again, trying to take the trash bins down to the street every 15 minutes, brushing teeth or cleaning eyeglasses over and over again. My DH would latch on to an activity and repeatedly do it, sometimes throughout the night. Risperidone, which I think is usually prescribed for aggressive behavior, was the drug that calmed these behaviors. He has never been aggressive or threatening. Are these types of behaviors more common with certain types of dementia, or are they common across the board?

jmlarue

I think the obsessive compulsive behavior is common for a lot of PWD, the various ways they express that behavior can be unique. My friend and I were talking about that the other day. Her husband has been gone about 10 years now. She told me about his obsession with making the bed. She'd put him to bed at 10:00, he'd wake about Midnight and try to make the bed. She'd get him back to sleep for an hour and then he was back up making the bed. Rinse and repeat all night long, Sheer exhaustion pushed her to go sleep on the couch, but whenever she would awaken, she'd see that he was still at it. She said this went on about 6 months (maybe a little more) and gradually stopped. I'd say my husband's compulsive sorting and searching behavior lasted about that long and gradually stopped, too. He then became obsessed with mowing the lawn every day.. I finally put an end to that by disabling the mower. While it seems to be common behavior for most PWD, it also seems to be more like a phase they go through.

Joe C.

At one point DW was obsessed about her pursue and what was in it. She kept all the cards/license and rearranging them and sometimes misplace one of the items. Eventually I had to hide all the cards because they would wind up missing & I’d have to search the house to find them.

JoseyWales

My DH was diagnosed with OCD shortly before he was finally diagnosed with dementia. For him, there were several different obsessions throughout the journey. The one that drove me nuts was rock collecting. It started simple enough, but then he'd spend hours walking into the farm field across the street and bringing home all kinds of rocks, of all sizes. From pebbles to rocks the size of a basketball. They're now piled up around trees in our yard. Lots and lots and lots of rocks.

He'd also sweep the driveway for hours. 

Gig Harbor

My husband rearranges dresser drawers and folds Kleenex into small squares. Sometimes I purposely mess up the drawer and then open it and say it needs to be straightened. That can be good for an hour. It is so sad to see how little they are capable of.

ImMaggieMae

I’m asking because the results of scans so far have been inconclusive between Alzheimer’s and FTD. I was wondering if the FTD was the main one with the obsessive behaviors. He is not threatening or aggressive.

Vitruvius

My DW was finally diagnosed with a variant of FTD, Semantic Dementia (SD). A CT and a MRI were insufficient to determine this. It was a PET scan that was the deciding factor for a diagnosis of SD. The actual review comment was "PET scan indicated severe hypometabolism limited to the left temporal lobe (normal parietal)."  And went on to the diagnosis of SD noting that this PET scan result is characteristic of SD. 

That said DW with SD is a compulsive hunter and gatherer. In her behavior otherwise she has many delusions and is beginning to have hallucinations but these do not bother her and she is generally pleasant and calm.

Crkddy

My DW was diagnosed with EO 4 years ago.  She has been exhibiting OCD-type behaviors almost that long, and I've had two neurologists tell me it is common with ALZ dementia.

ButterflyWings

DH started this repetitive behavior around mid-stages of AD. In some ways though, I don't even think of it as OCD so much as he has no short term memory and just forgets he poured the glass of water. So he does it again. And again (and again). I put all but a very few cups and glasses out of sight to help stop that. He went through a period of opening and closing each kitchen cabinet one at a time (which drove me nuts). He wasn't taking anything out, but said he was "looking for something", and would check each one several times. It really was sundowning activity for a couple of months in DH's case, as I recall now. 

Around that stage, he also started checking the doors and windows obsessively and unlocking + re-locking (and then barricading them) at night. We eventually started him on a low dose of Seroquel for that behavior as he was also starting delusions and hallucinations about intruders, causing him to weapon-up. Dangerous.

I am remembering that he was also determined to fold and hoard toilet paper squares for a while. Then would flush it all down the toilet, clogging the plumbing. So, we no longer have toilet paper, paper towels, or kleenex out in plain view and easy reach like we did before dementia. Also I can usually succeed in redirecting him when I see him starting to "loop" some behaviors now (stage 6D).