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"If the obsessions and compulsions interfere with safety or are causing the person emotional distress, they should be addressed and reported to the physician. Sometimes, verbal reassurances or distractions are helpful to people. Other people benefit from treatment with SSRIs, a class of antidepressants with fewer side effects that seems to be beneficial and provide some relief from OCD. "
https://www.verywellhealth.com/coping-with-obsessive-compulsive-behavior-97616
If your Dad has memory issues, this obsession will fade away and he will be focusing on something else.
(P.S. he doesn't get one at home, but unfortunately he has been given one at the rehab facility that he has been in since the end of November and he is coming home next week....we may have to call his doctor to figure out how to wean him because that may be a genuine medical issue - he may actually get constipated for the first time in his life coming off of laxatives every single day for 2 months)
Additionally - like NeedHelp's husband's grandmother - he has no filter and for some reason thinks bathroom talk is totally appropriate dinner conversation. We used to combine families for dinners. My grandmother refuses to eat with him anymore due to his stellar conversation skills (and his equally lovely table manners)
The absolute worst was the night we were at dinner and he went into complete detail, and now that he is hearing aid dependent but refuses to wear them, didn't realize (or just didn't care) that his conversation was very....audible. We were trying to get him to lower his voice....or you know....STOP. The dining room was fairly empty thank goodness. But from where I was sitting I could tell that the lady sitting at a table across the way could hear every word he was saying. She had gone white as a sheet and put her fork down. She was already very gracious about his lack of table manners (for which we had to leave an over the top tip for the poor waitress, because WE offered to clean up the aftermath and she wouldn't let us - there is a reason we just can't take him out besides his lack of mobility and incontinence) - And yes, on the way out of the restaurant I did apologize to her - I was mortified. She just shook her head and said she had a grandfather that was "like that too" - and I didn't correct her LOL. Honestly its a lot easier to let people jump to their own conclusion about his mental capacity than to explain that he is perfectly competent, but is an aging narcissist with no filter that doesn't care that he ruined their dinner, but I digress.
So I agree with others, trying to distract them - I just don't know - we haven't been super successful at it. In fact when we try to distract him, it honestly makes it worse. He hyperfocuses on it. Thinks he is going to die and actually wants to involve the family in his trips to the bathroom to investigate and I'm not going to horrify you with anymore about that but sufficed to say we just let him be obsessed all by his little lonesome. But I'll boil it down to this. Nothing is sacred or private anymore. And there are no filters anymore about something that should be private. So we do our best to just ignore it. When he brings it up we leave the room or change the subject if we can't get away from him. I think the more attention you bring to it, the more they are going to focus on it.
I think their world narrows down to the things that impact them of course. And their bodies are their focus. And they track every little thing that is happening to their body. And that is something that they want to micromanage and they zero in on it. I can't explain it, but you aren't alone.
Add fiber. Also lots of water.
Check his meds. Nearly all of them have a 'constipation' side effect. Doctors will recommend a fiber product like miralax or even a stool softener like colace. Try that with him. Then there are the old fashioned remedies like hot lemon juice each morning, papaya (a great mover), hot prune juice. Me, I would try the naturals before doing the miralax. Or even the colace - a couple of those a day. Just pick something and try it each day for about a week or so to see how it works. Don't start mixing them or you'll be dealing with the very loose bowel and that creates constipation for several days because you cleaned the gut out so well.
Been there, done all that!!
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