I'm not sure if this has come up with anyone before but I'm sure it probably has. Hopefully you can all give me some pointers on this and how I could ad"dress" it. Mom has Alzheimer's but in the last 6 months of progression she's started "layering" clothes on. I've counted as many as 7 pairs of underwear, 3 pants, and 5 tops on at once. She adamantly refuses to let me touch her clothing, help her change, remove to wash or help her dress. I feel this is a hygiene issue. My father doesn't help since she get angry with him as well. She smells sometimes. She refused the HHC aide to even enter the house. I'm approved for an in home waiver, just waiting on the Medicaid.
Any ideas on how to minimize the layers? She absolutely won't even believe me when I tell her she has layers on? She wears them for days (or weeks) at a time. Last night she had 5 shirts on for bed, a bra, 2 pairs of jeans and who knows how much underwear. The room was 90 degrees it was unsafe but she wouldn't let me touch her....
Is she cold? My Husband in the sweltering summer would wear a leather coat on top of a flannel shirt, on top of a t-shirt. And leather gloves.
When I would try to get him to remove a layer he said he was cold. The reason he was cold was he was sweating and the normal air felt cool on him. I just put away all the "extra clothes" so he had limited clothing to select from. And the coat and gloves got put away as well.
Remove all but 1 or 2 days of clothing from the closet..."they are in the wash".. so she can not layer.
As far as the HHA ..ease into it. Have her come in for you not mom...as mom gets used to her she may accept help a little easier. A GOOD HHA can work magic getting someone to comply.
She will either need supervision for dressing, or as others have said, have only one set of clothes out ready (the rest all hidden). That way she can still dress independantly.
I like the idea of limiting the options. Is she capable of taking things OFF? If so, could you let her do it in private, and say that you will put the clean ones in through the door after she pushes the dirty ones out? Or perhaps puts them in a basket (you could even pull it out the door with a string, then push it back in)?
A friend of mine had a grandmother who had to have her body shaved AFTER she was anesthetised for an operation 'down there', because she was so stressed about anyone seeing her naked. It might explain things a bit.
I don't work for her or anything! I just found her info helped me to understand & the YouTube's gave me ideas to try.
The bits that jumped out were *repetitive behaviours* & *care is refused*. Does this sound like your Mom?
From Teepa's website:
Amber ~ Caught in a Moment of Time ~ Caution Required.
Focused on sensation: seeks to satisfy desires and tries to avoid what is disliked
Environment can drive actions and reactions without awareness of safety
Visual abilities are limited: focus is on pieces or parts, not the whole picture
What happens to or around an Amber, may cause strong and surprising reactions
Enters others’ space and crosses boundaries attempting to meet own needs.
Has periods of intense activity: may be very curious or repetitive with objects or actions.
Care is refused or seen as threatening, due to differences in perspective and ability.
With my husband refusing to take a shower, thinking he had just had one, I tell him this is the day I put clean sheets on the bed and no one gets in bed without a shower on clean sheets. Another thing I have done is, I don't say anything in advance, just start the shower water and tell him "The Doctor Said" this is the day for shower. As I have big band music from the 40s playing on our Alexa. To promise a reward for after the shower might work, like ice cream is worth a try.
We had another person that used to post similar things on this site. Pretty harsh treatment in my opinion. It breaks my heart to think someone might be under the care of someone who would offer this kind of advice.
When she takes a bath, does she do that alone? Or has to have help? If you usually help her, just start talking early in the day about 'bath day' or warm baths feel good -- try to get bath into her head. If she absolutely refuses, some of the large adult wipes might be better than nothing.
It sounds like she needs to be on tranquilizers daily. People will say you shouldn’t keep them sedated but at this time of her life, it doesn’t matter if they get addicted.