During the holidays we were traveling to NC to visit family. On our way down, at the very first rest stop, my mom (mid stage ALZ) all of a sudden forgot how to use the toilet. She didn't know how to sit down, she would just stand there and instead bend over and hang her head. I tried to help her but she resisted. I had to literally push her down to get on the toilet. She became, and still becomes upset when I have to do this. She had this trouble the whole time while in NC. We got back home after a week and it's still the same. There are times where she just goes with no problem, but it's not often.
I show her pictures of someone on the toilet, I demonstrate sitting on the toilet and a chair to simulate the act of squatting down. Nothing. I am not sure if this a new permanent thing we now have to tackle but I want to try my best to get her back to the way she was.
She will now be limited on how long she can go out with friends (a very active social life), since people will not want to push her down and feel like they are hurting her. I know I need to stay on top of it and just keep trying but if anyone has any advice or was in a similar situation please let me know.
Take your mom to the bathroom, try to make her turn so that her back of the knees touch the toilet. Then hug her and tell her to bend her knees. Help her do that by putting your knees against her knees so that she feels safe because there is some kind of support fro her not to fall. Slowly lower her butt to the toilet seat.
Raised toilet seats work a lot better than those low comfy toilets. Also try to add color stripes to the seat so that she can see the toilet seat. They fear of falling because they can not see the white toilet seat in the probably white tiles environment.
Good luck.
I'm sorry I have no wisdom to share with you about your mom forgetting how to sit on the toilet. I'm not surprised to hear about it, however, and expect my mother to have similar issues one of these days soon. God help & bless us all.
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