Repeats one word over and over

WednesdayG

I wrote about our plight at an awful RCF in another post, but as a result of that whole mess, my mom has gotten into a mode recently of only saying one word, at the same cadence, over and over again, all day long. Any time she's awake, she'll say "ok" or "ok-oh" with a one or two second break and then say it again all day long. If she sees something on the TV, she'll maybe read that out loud (once, she saw a preview for a TV show called "Handyman from Hell" and said that over and over again for a while...that was pretty weird lol).

She knows who I am, she will answer a question for me and then go back to it... Me "Mom, how do you spell Arizona?" Her "A-R-I-Z-O-N-A... Ok...ok....ok...ok)

Anyway, has anyone experienced this? Why is she doing that? It's like autism stimming (my mom does have autism) but there's literally no distracting her from doing it- it's super compulsive. You even have to time when you put a spoon in her mouth with food because she will say "Ok" with the spoon there. It's so sad. I can't read to her anymore or talk to her about photos because she's so loud at it. I feel badly for her roommate. Has anyone else had this weird phenomenon? Are there meds that might help? If you see my other post, I'm not going for antipsychotics and we've tried an antidepressant with no luck. Hospice says this is just part of her dementia. It's so sad and I can tell she's bored as heck.

Thank you

harshedbuzz

Hi and welcome. I am sorry for your reason to be here but pleased you found this place.

I think this is a part of the dementia, too. I found as my father progressed through the middle and later stages, he exhibited many traits common to people with autism-- he had increased sensory issues as well as developing several speech and language quirks. I have a high functioning son with autism and I feel like these behaviors were driven primarily by anxiety and/or boredom much as they were when my son was a preschooler.

While he didn't have echolalia (repetition of something heard) or palalia (nonsensical repetition of something she said), he did a lot of scripted speech in the form of telling the same story word-for-word for weeks on end. He also subvocalized which involved making sounds and repeat "uh-oh" randomly. Sometimes they seemed to be related to attention seeking. While dad had considerable vocabulary and speech right up until he passed, he sometimes struggled around pragmatics and true conversation. At times he would repeat questions in a way engage socially.

Dad was already on Prozac (an SSRI) for anxiety/depression and we did, under his geripsych's guidance, increase his daily dosage to address the anxiety piece. Later we added a second antidepressant (Wellbutrin) at a very low dose which did reduce the frequency of subvocalization considerably along with responding to the behavior with some 1:1 attention because he could no longer entertain himself. We did add an antipsychotic when these meds weren't enough to keep his delusions, hallucinations, agitation and aggression down to levels that were manageable. Dad took 25 mg of Seroquel twice daily which was enough to calm him so validation and redirection could be effective. We didn't find it at all sedating at that dosage.

Sometimes when trialing an SSRI this first medication isn't a good fit and you need to move onto another. This is inconvenient because the trial process can take a month or more.

HB

housefinch

That sounds incredibly hard, and I’m sorry you and your mom are enduring it. I have 2 kids with autism and I wonder if there is a higher risk of dementia for them someday. I don’t know if people with autism & dementia respond more unpredictably to medications like SSRIs and antipsychotics. People with autism definitely have less predictable responses and more side effects in response to medications for ADHD and other conditions, even though they can still be helpful. Sending you and your mom & family strength, hugs, and support as you go forward.

harshedbuzz

@housefinch

There have been recent reports regarding ADHD and dementia. Interestingly, those people with ADHD who are treated with psychostimulants don't seem to have the risk.

Dementia: Could ADHD increase risk? (medicalnewstoday.com)

I worry about this because of my mom who has some wicked ADHD but can't take stimulants because of her 86-year-old cardiovascular system.

HB