Hoarding

cjcadmen157

My DW with Alzheimer's will go into any room and start picking up random stuff and walk around with them. She will then fuss with them and sometimes put them where I have to hunt for them. This can be frustrating if it happens to be a remote control, our check book, or my Iphone. Does anyone else have these issues?

M1

welcome to the forum. I think we all have these issues, all the time-my partner is in memory care for two years now and we still have these issues. Just got here this morning, and I have already returned dishes and decorations to the kitchen, searched for lost laundry, found the TV remote, and returned multiple other items to their usual places.
you have to adapt to this behavior by putting up/hiding away anything you really don’t want to lose, including your phone and wallet and keys, any jewelry, important papers, etc. I had to lock up medications when she was still home, as well as pet food (she would over feed the animals), all vehicle keys, guns (a nobrainer), mail, wills and checkbooks, etc. I was getting ready to put a keyed lock on my bedroom door when memory care intervened.

marier

My Dh does this as well. I do put things out of reach and eye sight of DH. I do leave a few items out that he can pick up and put in his pockets or carry around with him.

I also leave a few things like empty boxes and old car parts in the backyard. He likes to pick up the items and place them in his wagon. He pulls the wagon around the back yard.

Vitruvius

I think I would be surprised to hear about a dementia patient who didn't do this. During the mid stages, my DW would collect all kinds of odds and ends a put them in the backseat of our car because she needed to take them to some undefined place, which she could never actually identify. This would often necessitate an afternoon ride in the car. By the time we'd get back she'd have forgotten about the items. Each night after she went to bed I would bring all these random things back into the house so she could repeat the process the next day. There was absolutely no rhyme or reason to the collection of objects, books, photos, dishes, clothing, tchotchkes, the list was endless. This behavior lasted awhile but was eventually was replaced by new challenges.

You need to hide away anything of importance or value or it could take months to find them.

harshedbuzz

This is super common. It's best to proactively secured irreplaceable and important objects and documents asap.

You can mitigate the impact on your household and keep things safe by securing the environment as you would for a young child. I would lock doors to the garage, attic and basement. Child safety locks (the magnetic ones don't show) can be used on kitchen and bathroom cabinets as needed. You can also reverse knobs and lock doors to unused rooms to limit her debris field.

HB

ButterflyWings

Ahh yes…the infamous rummaging instinct. DH still does it if he can, but these days will most likely put whatever he can grab into his mouth now, instead of re-homing it to another part of the house like he did in earlier stages. I have never found some of the things he disappeared. Then, one may pop up out of nowhere.

So, obviously, he just doesn't have that much wiggle room for rummaging and rearranging any more as he is always within arms length of me or our aide now, for Stage 7 safety. But, yep, its a PWD thing for sure.

Matter of fact, remember to check their drawers sometimes if you can't find something that is small enough to hide there. (Not the furniture, their pants!) DH just stuck a brochure we were reading this morning down the waistband of his incontinence briefs since he doesn't have a pocket today lol. Oh my. And don't let him get to gathering napkins (no longer allowed in his hands due to hyperoral behavior but once upon a time…) He used to fold and stuff them into sleeves, pockets, books, you name it.

Here are 2 links on rummaging and hiding things, and how to address it:

https://www.alz.org/media/greatermissouri/rummaging_hiding_and_hoarding_behaviors.pdf

https://www.nia.nih.gov/health/alzheimers-changes-behavior-and-communication/when-person-alzheimers-rummages-and-hides