My mother-in-law is 85 years old and I am her caregiver. She picks her nose in front of family, friends. Several have asked her to stop doing that because it grosses them out, she will stop for a few minutes and than continue. It's to the point that I can't have people over for dinner because she will go and pick up food with her hands, no one will eat from whatever plates she gets food from. I have kindly asked her to stop but it seems she doesn't care. Please help?
Dealing with this with a 5 yr. old great, great nephew, as well as with my husband who suffers from Dementia is no different. I have gone to 100% pure Natural, "Young Living" oils because it works.
I am a medical professional of over 40 years. Having many degrees, one is my R.N. & I did home health care for Dementia & Alzheimer's patients for years before I had to deal with it as a non stop life style.
They pick. It is part of the process. The oils work for me & has worked on my great, great nephew too. I have approached my husband but I AM THE ENEMY now so -maybe another time....Don't push the river for you'll drown.
Blessings are all about you....
Best advice I could give any one is to be kind to yourself. Not everything can be dealt with in a way that pleases us. Your not alone.
I had to get a tiny battery operated clipper to cut the hairs out of my nose!!
Perhaps you could feed your mother in law first and have one of your family sit with her in the living room while the others eat. It may help to explain to your family at least that she can't help doing this, which I'm guessing is the case.
You may also want to think about placing her food on her plate first, then have the others serve themselves away from the table so there won't be any serving plates at the table at all. While she may use her hands to eat her own food off her own plate, at least she won't be taking it off serving plates.
If she does the nose picking at the table, just tell her outright, 'mom, please stop picking your nose'. Or sit next to her and manually stop her without having to say anything.
The brain is a mysterious organ that controls our entire being. At some point, we may all find ourselves picking our noses in front of our relatives and friends but unable to do anything about it. This is why as caregivers, we must take into account how we would feel if we were in that position and what we would want others to do to help us.
I don't know how to stop this, but I CAN tell you how to make it continue for sure and that is to make a big deal of it. Sorry about that.
Good luck.
Also her OCD can come with depression. One way to deal with it -- to redirect, take right vitamins/meds and keep her hands busy.
Watch Teepa Snow on u-Tube and learn how to recognize those problems and how to deal with that behavior.