He smacks his mouth while he paces back and forth from the front to the back of the house all day long. Looks out the front windows and looks out the back window. Will not sit to watch tv or read the newspaper. He sleeps for a couple hours then pops back up and paces. He also sleeps fully dressed on top of the blankets. He will not leave the house unless he has a doctor’s appointment. It feels like he never gets any rest and like he never can relax. If we do get him to sit down for 5 minutes to eat, he pops up and finishes his meal while standing over the garbage can then goes back to pacing. We tried melatonin and it had no effect on him. We increased his tramadol and he was sleeping most of the day which of course is not good. Now we cut back on tramadol and he’s back to pacing but is eating like he is ravenous. He has heart failure so we have to provide his meals, snacks, and liquids throughout the day so his sodium and fluid intake is carefully monitored. He lives in our 1 bedroom apartment below us. He’ll drink and eat a week’s worth of groceries in a day or two if we leave his fridge and pantry stocked. He also picks at scabs from skin cancer on his head continuously and has to always be touching something. He has a ton of health issues and I feel like I’m on the phone all day managing his appointments, doctor and nurse calls, visits, etc. Has anyone been in a similar situation and have any tips I could try? I am a stay-at-home-mom to a 6 and 3 year old and a full time grad student and sometimes it feels so overwhelming. He was such a great dad to me growing up and I wish there was something I can do to help him. Thank you.
If your LO has an emotional issue he might not be able to express his pain. For me, sometimes, my only relief is when I walk or pace. A person will do anything to distract or ease the pain which would explain the overeating. Counterintuitive I know. It is a long shot but certainly a possibility. Go see his doc. Hopefully his drugs are not easily accessible. Be careful with that. Good luck.
With the weather getting nicer, would Dad want to go on walks? You could hire someone to come and get him once a day to walk for an hour or so. He may feel like he’s been someplace and is ready to sit. Depending on where you live and dad’s mental state, your six year old might be able to manage walks with grandpa.
Good luck. Let us know what works. There are so many awesome suggestions here. You came to the right place!
I am deeply concerned about this: "call with a psychiatrist and she suggested trying Zoloft". All of the suggestions are premature until you get to the root of what is going on. He needs a thorough evaluation. If there are neuropsychiatrists in your area, that is the best specialist. Until you know if this is a neurologic issue or psychiatric one, it could be detrimental to be treating.
Best of luck. This is truly a difficult situation.
If his behavior is making it hard for the family to rest, it may be time for him to move into a residential facility. Please ask his doctor to evaluate him for dementia and mental competency. It sounds like he may have dementia that is severe enough to warrant admission to a memory care unit.
While none of this helped the memory issues, it did help the confusion a lot and he has been sleeping at night.
If Dad's regular Dr can't figure out his problem, he should send him to a Specialist or even suggest a Physchiatric Dr to evaluate him.
Get a list of all his meds and see if any of them could cause depression or anxiety or any thing that would cause a person to pace..
you could even ask the Pharmacist where he gets his RX's if he could look at his Rx's.
What was the last Rx added before the Pacing started?
Was there any big change in your Dad's life right before this pacing started?
Prayers
Maybe the pacing helps him cope with whatever is the problem.
Maybe he just needs more to do.
Try having someone come out and give him a massage, have him take a nice warm soak in the tub, play some pretty relaxing music for him.
Buy Coloring Books, Paint by Number, Puzzles, simple Builing Kits for kids like Model Cars,
Wooden sailboats, ect to give him something to do.
Get him a cat or Lap dog.
Prayers
My FIL paced constantly with his dementia as well. So I guess it's pretty common. Seems like he could benefit from a med that calm him down a little bit. With dementia, you won't be able to convince him not to pace, to sit, to not eat so much at a time, to not pick his head, etc. etc.