repetitive behavior

Davegrant

New behaviors from my DW always send me looking for advice and my spouse repeats the same question(s) every day, "who is coming here today? " I am very familiar with this. But she has been having problems with her hearing aid and I made an appointment for tomorrow to get it repaired. She came in the tv room and sat down and said that the batteries on her hearing aid were not working, so she went to the other room and tried all the batteries we have and none of them worked. about two hours later she repeated the same thing and again the third time she went through the whole process.  It did keep her busy for a long time. I am familiar with the verbal repetition but had not experience the physical activity related to repetition. Any thoughts on this. 

Thanks

Dave

M1

Just that I saw it too, Dave, a lot.  As long as it's not something harmful, probably nothing to do about it but be glad she's occupied.  With us it was repetitive vacuuming and going through old bills and papers (had to watch for trying to pay old bills that had already been paid).  The repetitive feeding of the cats (including wandering downstairs without lights on at 2 am) was what got unmanageable.

Rescue mom

In my experience with DH with Alzheimer’s, and reading here, it’s pretty common. As long as she’s not hurting anything, most say let it go. At least she’s busy, and not causing problems. 

My DH would fold things, and rummage through the same small pile of paperwork and junk mail, over and over. And over. And again. I’d try to divert him, thinking he was bored or something, but he was fine just doing (whatever) for hours, for days. Better that than “sorting”neighbors’ outdoor trash or trying to “fix” faucet handles…

Arrowhead

My wife spends her days wandering the house, moving things from one place to another. At least once a day, I go through the house putting those things back where they belong. That's not too bad as it keeps her busy. Recently, she started turning lights on during the day. Having to turning them off is all the time is getting to be annoying.

toolbeltexpert

I am with everyone who said if it's not harmful it is cool. Like m1 my wife would feed the cats multiple times. There are several things along with the repetitive questions.

ThisLife

What I've noticed with my H is that he discovers something that needs to be fixed. Looks for the solution. Material to make repair is not available. Gives up. A bit later he discovers the issue again and repeats. Sounds like she is discovering the hearing aides don't work again and again.