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demstress Asked June 2018

Found mother (94) in bathroom getting ready to shave her legs with a razor blade. What could be some reasons for a sudden strange behavior?

Mother (94) lives in my house, has mobility issues, and circulation problems. She has constant pain especially in her right leg. She has a pain management team that monitors her pain and tries different medications and oxygen to relieve her suffering. Today I found mother in the bathroom getting ready to shave her legs with a razor blade. I took it away from her but she got so angry. Ten minutes later the caregiver arrived and we find mother back in the bathroom and with three fingers cut with a razor blade she had stashed away. After we bandaged her up and guided her back to bed, the caregiver went to get her breakfast. When she went back into my mother's room mother had pulled out another razor from her handbag. I scoured the place but could not find any more. I am concerned by mother's strange behavior. I never saw her use a razor to shave her legs because they are very sensitive. She apologized and said she would not do that again. I know when someone is very sick they are not in their right mind and cannot even tell you why they did this. I have a call in to her team for an evaluation but I wondered if anyone else has had experience with a loved one using potentially dangerous objects. Thanks in advance for your responses!

JoAnn29 Jun 2018
Your Mom has Dementia. There is no ryhmn or reason to what she does. Like Pepsee said, may be a memory.

Pepsee Jun 2018
Hi, Mother must have been born around what 1924? She was a young girl in the depression era. I know women back then would shave their legs with a razor blade due to money shortages. They'd usually sneak their pops or hubby's razor. She might have simply had this memory.
It's just a thought. Good luck

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demstress Jun 2018
Thank you for your responses Garden Artist and wally003. I found out later that this was not the first time that mother has tried to shave her legs with a razor. I was horrified! I told her if she wants to I will use an electric shaver. It is really shocking that she wanted to do this because her legs hurt so much that you can't even touch them with a finger. So I don't get it. Her behavior seemed totally out of character. I will talk to her nurse tomorrow to see if she needs to change any pain medication. Thank you again!

wally003 Jun 2018
my mom who will be 89 in October, has told me before (within last few years) that the hairs on her legs don't even grow any more. (ive seen her legs, not really hairy)

I bought her a womans electric shaver, but she doesn't even use it. unfortunately with her dementia she wasn't able to remember to re-charge it. if I had to buy another. I wouldn't of bought a cordless one.

of course if she was living with me. I would b able to charge it myself. but shes in AL

she does have other strange behaviors tho in my opinion. but ive come to accept that!

razor blades are scary for sure.

GardenArtist Jun 2018
I don't offhand recall a similar experience, but my first thought wasn't that she wanted to shave her legs but rather to eradicate the pain in her legs.

Do you think any pain meds she's getting are no longer as effective? If so, perhaps a visit to the doctor who prescribed them is in order.

Was she planning to shave only the right, or both legs?

What you can do is remove ALL the razor blades and buy her an electric shaver. Norelco is better and more reliable than Remington and doesn't irritate the skin as much. Be prepared to apply a good natural lotion afterward as her legs may sting, which they probably would be more likely to do if she used a razor blade.

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