And the Packing Up Continues...

Denise1847

Again, my DH got up 3 times on Wednesday night, pulling out all of his clothes and putting them on the bed. I got him back to bed each time and put back the clothes. Then he proceeded to do this two more times during the day. I have decided that this is like shoveling feathers in the wind. I left the clothing where it was. Interestingly enough, the bed was cleared when he went to sleep. Clothes are all disorganized in various drawers. Not going to fight this battle. Oh yeah, he mistakenly locked me out of the house yesterday - now I take my keys to take the dog out. Just waiting for the next shoe to drop.

Whyzit2

Loved your comment “like shoveling feathers in the wind”. Never heard that before but it sure describes many things we go through as caregivers.

At a caregivers meeting many years ago we were advised to always carry our keys with us in case we needed to escape. I have done that ever since and don’t buy any slacks without pockets. We also have a key lockbox outside our door for storing an extra key. The box is code activated. They cost about $35.

M1

Denise my partner continues to do this kind of thing even though in MC for over two years now, and even continues to do it now although she's on hospice and in bed most of the time. The only diminution has been that there are fewer things for her to pack up in her MC room than there were at home and fewer places to stash them, and it's been a while since she took the pictures off the walls (used to be a daily occurrence). I am in the habit of replacing and reorganizing things in the first 5-10 minutes of every visit. None of it makes any sense. She even takes the toilet paper off of the rollers (and takes the rollers off of the toilet grab bars. Constant search). Wish I had an answer for you.

Laurie1282

Denise, my husband with Alzheimer's does this too, although not so much at night. When he first started, I would try to put them back right away into his labeled drawers. Then I packed away all but 5 or 6 of each item of clothing so it is not so much to put back and organize. Now at bedtime I just scoop all the stuff off the bed and onto a bench and we just rummage through the pile to find things to wear. Sometimes he puts things away himself, but never in the "right" drawers. My point is that I went from trying to fix things right away to realizing that in the big picture it really doesn't matter where his clothes are kept. Last time though he included some of my clothes and that's an entirely different story—grrrr!

jfkoc

I wonder where he is going….that could be an interesting discussion.

Kat63

My DH has done this for about a year and a half now and is well into stage 6 now and we just started hospice 2 weeks ago. He liked to pack his clothes and basically any items he has into our car. He always thinks we are going “home”. Home to him is his childhood home. Just the last couple of weeks it is starting to lessen. He is sleeping better at night and only “packs” about an hour mid to late afternoon. I too just had to let him do this and no, things are not organized like I would like them to be but in the big picture doesn’t really matter. The night time was a little different as he didn’t really pack at night but would get up each night and dressed, sometimes putting on as many as eight shirts. He would be up for an hour or two and then lay back down. That was hard and I tried different medication and different amounts but nothing helped completely. I feel the change is due to progression.

Denise1847

https://alzconnected.org/discussion/comment/217808#Comment_217808

Thank you. Great idea.

Denise1847

Wow! You have got to wonder what provokes them to do these things. It appears to be alot of anxiety. He is on Sequel 50 mg to start. I am learning to just roll with it and get over the shock of the behaviors.

Denise1847

Yes, I am learning that it doesn't matter. I sure hope he doesn't start on my clothes but "oh well" if he does, I just have to learn to roll with it. I think it gets to me when he does it 5 times a day. However, if I don't worry about things being in place, then I say that it gives him something to do.