Where has all the toilet paper gone?

Blog #12

I must admit, this is a new one to me but it has come up twice in the last couple months. For some, there is a real concern about a recent increase in toilet paper and tissue usage. Consider these three things: 

1) I recommend talking to a doctor as soon as possible. There may be changes in bathroom experiences and/or habits that need to be looked into. Doctors can test for possible urinary tract infections, reasons for diarrhea, side effects of medication, etc. This could be a warning sign for a medical concern that needs to be addressed. 

2) If their short term memory is so short, they may literally be forgetting what they have already done in the bathroom. It may be worth considering supervision or caregiver assistance with toileting as this may involve too many steps for a person with dementia to navigate alone. 

3) Some medications have side effects of “cold like symptoms.” The increased use of tissues may be due to a side effect of medication they are taking. Again, it is important to engage a medical professional in these conversations to ask about side effects. Even if the use of tissues does not decrease, your understanding may increase and your frustration will diminish, which makes your day overall better. 

As we have said in previous posts, we have to learn to pick our battles as caregivers, and an overuse of toilet paper or facial tissues just may not be the battle we want to pick once we have done our due diligence to investigate the why behind the behavior.