My mother has picked for years now. She is diabetic and the lesions she has self inflicted have caused her to get multiple infections. She has been hospitalized in the last year and a half 3 times, all required surgery and extensive stays in a rehab because she had to have IV antibiotics.
My mom abused opioids for almost two decades before she went to rehab to stop. Since she quit she never maintained any type of therapy to deal with the chronic pain she has. She has lived in pain, refuses to do anything g to help it (exercise, diet, therapy, no hobbies, etc). Since the skin picking has gotten worse in the last two years and has had surgeries, I believe she has gotten to the point where she does it to keep getting access to opioids through surgery. In the last two months she has had two surgeries to wash out joints that have been infected. She has been on OxyContin, oxycodone and morphine. Of course she needs massive doses to give her any sort of relief since she has ruined her pain receptors after years of abuse.
I am my parents primary caregiver. My father has intermediate Alzheimer’s. When my mom is gone to hospital and rehab I have to visit him multiple times a day to make sure he eats, bathes, has clean clothes, and is ok. When my mom is gone she is demanding and wants me to bring her items from the house and food almost daily. She complains incessantly about how awful the food is in rehab.
she was just released from rehab two days ago. She is in a wheel chair because she her latest surgery was a wash out of her knee joints (replaced 3 times now in the same knee). She has a spacer in her knee that has antibiotics in it that are supposed to localize and clear the septic infection. Once she is clear she will have another total knee replacement. She knows she cannot get surgery if she has open wounds and is not clear of infection, yet as soon as she got home she picked her leg beyond recognition. It had been clear of open wounds and scabbing when she got home. One day and she’s back to it! I burst into tears. She acted like I was over reacting and that’s when I got mad. She acts like a defiant toddler. I plead with her to cut her nails and wrap her leg. She refused. Her nails are long and strong, I grabbed her hand and cut them myself. She screamed and yelled that I was hurting her and was screaming for help, Telling my dad to call the cops.
it’s all too much. I do everything for my parents, I love them, but I hate them for being old and childlike. They are too dependent on me, but there is literally no one else. I feel like I need to distance myself and make my mom take care of herself, she clearly doesn’t want to stop being sick. I’m done. And then I think, if I don’t help them no one else will and they will die. That will be my fault. Can I just walk away? I’m depressed, angry, disappointed and afraid I will hurt my mom someday. The urge to is strong sometimes, especially when she acts like I’m the one who is being over the top and crazy.
My mum has been picking her face and arms for over a year. I've been the doctors a number of times. She is now under a dermatologist. We have tried so many things. It's been so frustrating. She promises me she will stop. As soon as I go into her room she gets up and trys to hide her face. I got really upset with her. I'm at my wits end.😟
Thank you for this explanation. My mother in law is 98. She has open wounds on her lower leg from picking and scratching. I feel like she needs bandages on her wounds. She complains the bandages are bothering her and are uncomfortable. It is so frustrating. I am thinking she says this because she can't get to the spot to pick and scratch. I'm getting upset with her.
I am the caregiver and recognize this as one of my outlets for stress! I need to stop. I think I will try the gloves at night because this is the worst time for me. I get into bed and pick. I really want to stop this negative behavior. I caught myself doing it while I was reading the article! Yuck!
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Compulsive Skin Picking in the Elderly
My mom abused opioids for almost two decades before she went to rehab to stop. Since she quit she never maintained any type of therapy to deal with the chronic pain she has. She has lived in pain, refuses to do anything g to help it (exercise, diet, therapy, no hobbies, etc). Since the skin picking has gotten worse in the last two years and has had surgeries, I believe she has gotten to the point where she does it to keep getting access to opioids through surgery. In the last two months she has had two surgeries to wash out joints that have been infected. She has been on OxyContin, oxycodone and morphine. Of course she needs massive doses to give her any sort of relief since she has ruined her pain receptors after years of abuse.
I am my parents primary caregiver. My father has intermediate Alzheimer’s. When my mom is gone to hospital and rehab I have to visit him multiple times a day to make sure he eats, bathes, has clean clothes, and is ok. When my mom is gone she is demanding and wants me to bring her items from the house and food almost daily. She complains incessantly about how awful the food is in rehab.
she was just released from rehab two days ago. She is in a wheel chair because she her latest surgery was a wash out of her knee joints (replaced 3 times now in the same knee). She has a spacer in her knee that has antibiotics in it that are supposed to localize and clear the septic infection. Once she is clear she will have another total knee replacement. She knows she cannot get surgery if she has open wounds and is not clear of infection, yet as soon as she got home she picked her leg beyond recognition. It had been clear of open wounds and scabbing when she got home. One day and she’s back to it! I burst into tears. She acted like I was over reacting and that’s when I got mad. She acts like a defiant toddler. I plead with her to cut her nails and wrap her leg. She refused. Her nails are long and strong, I grabbed her hand and cut them myself. She screamed and yelled that I was hurting her and was screaming for help, Telling my dad to call the cops.
it’s all too much. I do everything for my parents, I love them, but I hate them for being old and childlike. They are too dependent on me, but there is literally no one else. I feel like I need to distance myself and make my mom take care of herself, she clearly doesn’t want to stop being sick. I’m done. And then I think, if I don’t help them no one else will and they will die. That will be my fault. Can I just walk away? I’m depressed, angry, disappointed and afraid I will hurt my mom someday. The urge to is strong sometimes, especially when she acts like I’m the one who is being over the top and crazy.