Hi all! I'm currently visiting some relatives in Australia (I'm from Singapore BTW) and I've noticed that their mom (my grandaunt) isn't very well. To be precise, she has hoarding compulsions and insists on filling up every available space with food. When the food rots she throws it away and buys more. In addition, she recovered from a stroke a few years ago but doesn't seem to want to continue with physical therapy, so her left leg is semi-paralyzed and she has to use a walking frame to get around.
She's also semi-delusional and will sometimes tell people that they did things they didn't do or that they didn't do things that they did do.
All this poses a strain on my granduncle, who is her primary caregiver. I think he is dealing with it pretty well considering his age (he is 70+) but I remain concerned.
Her family is very concerned for her well-being and would like her to go to see a doctor, but she steadfastly refuses, maintaining that there is nothing wrong with her. She gets very upset if anyone tries to throw away whatever she's hoarded. She's only semi-literate in English so it's hard to get her to read anything. My cousins tell me that she has led a very hard life with probable trauma/child abuse when she was younger, which would probably explain her current situation.
As it stands what my granduncle does is let her buy the food, then let her throw it away when it rots - not the perfect solution but according to him at least it keeps the peace!
The way I see it the best way to help would be to get her to see a doctor who could help by prescribing medication of some kind, but if the patient does not think she's sick, I'm not sure what to do.
Any ideas?
Not sure about the prospect of dementia, I initially thought it was anxiety issues but yeah, that is another possibility. I guess only a doctor would know for sure, but the whole problem is that she doesn't want to go see one. :(
I could suggest to the family that perhaps my granddad could shop instead, that would cut down the wastage.
Your aunt is still fairly young. I wonder if she may have some vascular dementia, since she had a serious stroke and has the memory/thought issues you talked about. Have they mentioned it to you? Since she is still young, I think the idea of a psychiatric examination is a very good one. But good luck trying to convince her of that! It seems the more someone needs to see a good psychiatrist, the less willing they are to do it.