Toilet Behavior

Rojo

My Mother has Dementia, and we are having trouble with her throwing things in the toilet.  We have had to pull the commode several times to clear items out.  We have locked all her belongings in her closet to prevent her from trying to flush them.  If we leave a full role of toilet paper in the bathroom she will use the whole role. It seems like everyday we either have to plunger the toilet or use a snake on it.

We have tried the following:

Leaving out a limited supply of paper

Disconnecting the chain so she can't flush

She has flushed banana peels, glasses, socks, paper towels, underwear and her depends.

Does anyone else have trouble with this.  She also will try to scope out the toilet and put the contents in the bathtub if it does not flush.

Not sure how to proceed other than lock the toilet and get a potty chair.

harshedbuzz

She needs supervision in the bathroom. 

Since she is still continent, it might be useful to put a lock on the toilet itself/bathroom door and put her on a potty schedule every 2 hours while awake.

dayn2nite2

Agree she needs someone in the bathroom to assist.

MN Chickadee

Oh yeah I did a lot of plumbing work during that phase. Everything went into the toilet (and down the sink too.) The only solution was to keep the bathroom locked and take her to the toilet on a schedule as Harshed Buzz suggested. Full supervision and assistance, one of us in there with her at all times. It wasn't 100%, because we only had to take eyes off her for a second for her to find mischief in the kitchen or basement sink. I glued a mesh trap onto the bathroom sink which helped prevent much going down. It's definitely a challenging phase full of so much work and cleaning.

ButterflyWings

BTDT. Yes, yes, yes to everything the others said. You wouldn't let a 3 year old play in the bathroom alone, especially not after the first time. She needs supervision in the bathroom.

I did exactly as the other posters have advised you - probably got the ideas from them in fact. The only difference for us is I had to take the locks OFF the bathroom door. DH was locking himself in and refusing to open it while he tried to manage (and mess up) everything he could find. Even now, the toilet paper is in another room where only I can access it. I grab some and follow him as soon as he starts heading for the toilet. 

Beware she could poison herself if chemicals are accessible like cleaning products, alcohol, or otc meds (or even mouthwash or things in tubes that shouldn't go in mouth or eyes.) Soon after I realized he had to be supervised for toileting, I also cleared the cabinet under the sink and even the medicine cabinet. Even now that I am right there, every time, he will still lean over while on the toilet and rummage through anything he can find under there. Once, he grabbed the hospice toothbrushes (the little spongy things on a stick), and a couple of the gloves, and was putting them into his diaper/pull-ups while they were down around his ankles during toileting. (Why?) I just watched him and then removed them before "we" finished but had I not been there...probably flushed/clogged, etc. 

*Added: I have taken bic shavers (obvious cutting risk, and tubes of cortisone cream, and shaveless cream (like Nair) and even last week, my deodorant from him...he was prepared to use all of the above at different times, as toothpaste. Please watch her closely at all times now.

This is where the description of Stages, with the impossibly young age ranges start to make sense (our LOs look the same but are cognitively like age 2-4, 3-7, etc.). So sorry for this

And welcome. This is a very helpful and wise group of experienced caregivers. Do keep reading, posting, and letting us know how you are.

Rojo

Thanks for all of the replies.  Yes, we try and supervise her.  We have removed everything from her bathroom and between locked doors and baby gates she can't get at much.  She still manages to stash things in her pants and try and flush in the toilet.  I work from home so sometimes it is difficult to catch her in the bathroom and she won't ask to go.  She will go in another room and squat and pee.  Removed the carpet in her room and installed tile.  So frustrating sometimes but we continue to learn and update.  We have Arlo cameras almost everywhere so I'm thinking of putting one in her bathroom too.

CatsWithHandsAreTrouble

Hi Rojo welcome to the forum. I've got nothing much to add but maybe you can look into "escape proof" clothes for her? That might limit the pants stuffing and could prevent peeing on the floor. I've seen others mention such clothing but personally I have no experience in that area.

I hope you can find a solution that works for you and your mother. Maybe try using the search feature on the forums to see if they're anything similar someone in the past brought up?

terei

Well there are locks for toilets.  I think I might install one + also a pressure alarm just outside the bathroom so you hear when she is going in there so you can respond + unlock the toilet seat + supervise

NylaBlue

My HWD has medically diagnosed overactive bladder exacerbated by anxiety. He wears (and uses) a diaper, but still visits the toilet 20 or more times a day and uses a huge amount of TP. If he can’t get in the bathroom he will pee on the floor, the carpet, a trash can, the deck, etcetera, so I don’t lock the door. I trail him back to the bathroom to limit his use of TP and prevent him from tossing any foreign objects in the toilet. I monitor his bathroom trips overnight as well, but before we go to bed I disconnect the toilet flush valve, just in case I sleep through one.