My 89 year old mother has recently become obsessed with throwing things away, mostly food. We’re concerned that locks will upset her, ideas?
When asked about things like throwing away a full container of ice cream, she responds that no one was eating it so might as well get rid of it. This from a woman who usually complains about wasting food! We’re dumpster diving daily now. 😳.
Does she live with you then put those locks on the doors. Get baby ones and hope she has no idea how to use them. Not sure what you can do about the frig. Food is not cheap.
Yes, this is a part of the Dementia/ALZ journey and they can't tell u why they do it.
My aunt, 93 and with dementia, did this at one time. She started when she was still cooking. Back in her early 80s. She would buy two or three of the same food item she wanted to try. She would taste it, decide it was bad and throw it all out. She would cook a roast. Decided it wasn’t right and throw it out. This happened more than once. Once she bought a new car, decided it was a bad deal and traded it to another dealer. Then she told me the new one wasnt getting good enough gas mileage. I showed her how much money she was wasting. She finally settled down on that one. She probably didn’t drive 100 miles a month. Maybe 50. A few years later she would give things away. That was upsetting. Some items she had promised to a family member. Gone. They seemed to think I had something to do with it. I was just as upset as anyone else. A couple of years ago she started throwing food away again. This time it was prepared lunches made and stocked in her fridge so she would have food during the week. We decided it was overwhelming her and would only leave a few lunches at a time. We put the excess in a backup frig in the garage. She moved on from that and treats food normally these days. She was usually very nonchalant about it. Didn’t deny doing it. Seemed reasonable to her sort of attitude. She would throw our the Tupperware and sometimes a spoon or two. So, yeah, a bit of dumpster diving to see what’s going out today. But it will pass if she is like our aunt.
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Yes, this is a part of the Dementia/ALZ journey and they can't tell u why they do it.
She would cook a roast. Decided it wasn’t right and throw it out. This happened more than once. Once she bought a new car, decided it was a bad deal and traded it to another dealer. Then she told me the new one wasnt getting good enough gas mileage. I showed her how much money she was wasting. She finally settled down on that one. She probably didn’t drive 100 miles a month. Maybe 50. A few years later she would give things away. That was upsetting. Some items she had promised to a family member. Gone. They seemed to think I had something to do with it. I was just as upset as anyone else.
A couple of years ago she started throwing food away again. This time it was prepared lunches made and stocked in her fridge so she would have food during the week. We decided it was overwhelming her and would only leave a few lunches at a time. We put the excess in a backup frig in the garage.
She moved on from that and treats food normally these days. She was usually very nonchalant about it. Didn’t deny doing it. Seemed reasonable to her sort of attitude. She would throw our the Tupperware and sometimes a spoon or two. So, yeah, a bit of dumpster diving to see what’s going out today. But it will pass if she is like our aunt.
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Do you suspect it’s a sign of cognitive decline?