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Does anyone else have this problem with their parent? My mother is almost 100, mobile, no meds and living in independent living. (although she should be in assisted living but won't go.) She is obsessed with her bowels. We are always taking away milk of magnesia (she is not supposed to have it, but gets it somehow) She cuts up soap bars and shoves them you know where. We have given her glycerine suppositories as a last resort, but she still cuts up soap, then lies about it. She barely eats enough to stay alive so naturally doesn't go much and we can't get anywhere with the eating, or bowel issue. She won't listen to the doctor either. No matter what we say she is constantly finding ways to force it, giving herself diarrhea one day, claiming constipation for 4 days (the next day). She has progressing dementia, and is still able to get up, dress herself, make coffee, etc, but this obsession with certain topics (like the bowels, her cataract, etc) is frustrating us. Does anyone else have a parent so obsessed?

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Maybe Eddie Murphy just needed a caffeine fix, and hates the taste of coffee, capnhardass.. :)

It sounds like your mother, Soozieq, is beyond the point where she should be living alone. Assisted living or even memory care would be "better" for her by most objective standards.

BUT would it be better for her peace of mind and emotional well-being? That is another whole kettle of fish (or parsnips, if you are a vegan). Moving would not stop her obsessing on those topics. It would just provide more monitoring. Consider what is the worst that could happen if she continues to live alone. Periodic diarrhea ? What is the worst that could happen in a facility? She could fall into severe depression??

Maybe a compromise is to remove all soap bars from her apartment and provide liquid soap instead. And/or have and aide come in daily to keep her company for a couple of hours, including a meal time, and take her mind off her obsessions.

If she were almost 90 I'd maybe take a different approach. But at 100 your mother is near the end of her life. The goal is to make the time she has left to be as pleasant as it can be for her. You can't make her "healthy" or immortal at this point. I hope you can figure out the best ways to enable her to be as happy as she can be.

Best wishes to you all as you struggle with this.
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her digestive system may be barely working. dementia alone can cause retarded bowel function. everything my mom eats seems to just lie in her upper abdomen causing extreme discomfort. if your mother is 100 years old she probably knows what shes doing.. my mom has been trying rehydrated chia seeds for a few weeks now to get relief from constipation. they seem to be helping as evidenced by her continuing to use them. eddie murphy once suggested a hot cup of brim, fill it to the rim, and you know, then put it in your butt.. not sure what he was trying to achieve though..
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If she thinks she likes the soap suppositories then surprise her one day and make a really large size suppository out of soap and give that to her then see how she likes it
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My mother swore she had bug bites and was washing herself with pure rubbing alcohol many times a day. You can imagine how dried out her skin was. Dry skin itches, she picked, made sores, apply alcohol, repeat all day every day.

Anti-anxiety meds helped a lot. This was not a dermatology issue at all. Talk to her doctor about this from an anxiety related fixation problem.

And it's probably time to look at when mom can move to the next level of care that would be a more controlled environment, meaning including structured activities she can't opt out of.

Being able to hang onto the very bare minimum qualifications of one care level does not mean it's successful. My mom was in IL far longer than she should have been, but the change is hard to recognize absent a great big medical event.

Best wishes!
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Hate to tell you this but I've had many a soapy water enema in my day. The soap probably won't hurt her, especially if she's been doing it for most of 100 years, it's just not an accepted practice today. Suppositories were originally paraffin wax I think. Give her Miralax, or a stool softener every day and that should stop the constipation. Older people were raised with the idea that you must evacuate every day, so the fact that her intake has lessened won't make any difference in her thinking. You know, food in-food out.

What's wrong with Milk of Magnesia that she's not supposed to have it? Is that doctor's orders? This is a serious question. I'm considering it for my MIL, because she also has constipation issues, mostly from lack of exercise, and she could also use increased Magnesium I think.
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Overuse of laxatives can mess you up big time. Some of them have a dependency risk. Read on the bottle where it says not to use it more than a few doses. Here is a link to a Mayo clinic article about this. http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/constipation/in-depth/laxatives/art-20045906.
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