Hoarders

[rondvu]

I have seen the TV show on A&E about hoarders and again onight on KOCO. After being made aware of this condition I know two hoarders. One is a neighbor two doors down. I have lived in my home over 7 years and seen the trash taken out 3 or 4 times. Once the garage door was open and it looked like a trash compactor. I received some of their mail and went to put it in their mailbox and the smell knocked me down. I am thinking it's time to call the Oklahoma County Health Dept. KOCO says it is a problem and the county has dedicated 2 individuals a few days a week to handle complaints. Do any of you know of any hoarders and how would you deal with the problem?

[flintysooner]

In addition to being a unique condition, Hoarding can also be a symptom of Alzheimer's and other forms of dementia. It is a frequently discussed topic by caregivers because it can be so difficult to manage. It seems to me it is becoming more serious and widespread but there isn't much consensus on how to help people.

[gmwise]

I find myself both fascinated by it and the triggers for some of the sufferers.
As well as pity them as to some not seeing it as a mental disease?

[PennyQuilts]

I've run into a few through my work - very difficult for them to overcome it without help and even with the best of intentions, anyone would be utterly overwhelmed to try to clean up a place in order to get a fresh start. I am thinking of one situation where social services was called because the home owners had babies and a stack of papers caved in so that they couldn't get to them. They had to call the police for help. It was pretty awful. They got several chances to clean the place up to make it habitable but, eventually, social services paid to have a team go in and do it for them. The home owner "appreciated" the help but it was like tearing out their soul to give up their junk. They finally had to leave the premises and left a grandmother in charge to make decisions on what would stay or go. Within about 4 months the place looked a lot like it had to begin with. I don't know how the case turned out - it wasn't my case and I just heard about it from a lawyer friend.

What worries me are the pet horders who get hundreds of dogs and the poor things just sit in their own filth. I have met a few of these people and it is tragic - they really don't see that they can't care for the animals and it just kills them when the state intervenes.

[Bunty]

I recently met a rather young man whose strange hoarding problem is that he hoards Wal-Mart bags. Tends to run around with a lot of them on him. I didn't ask why he does that.

I don't see much point in hoarding things especially things you normally throw away, like beer cans and coffee cans, unless you fear you'll come across some nifty idea on how to use a bunch of them at a time. So I might start hoarding coffee cans. I already got 2. lol

[gmwise]

I had a neighbor years ago in San Diego across the street from the duplex we owned.
The sweetest lady, the front and backyards was showcases of curb appeal, and home garden.
But inside her home she had stacks and boxes of stuff.
She told me "those were memories". Flithysooner may have "stumble" on the truth.
The lady was scared of losing her memories and felt they were anchors to her past.
She's gone now.
Thankfully her family came to the house and VERY carefully sorted through it all.
Then again they may have been looking for "treasure"...

[mugofbeer]

Mental afflictions are both devastating and fascinating. People who are obsessive-compulsive are truly frightening to watch when they are off their meds. The man who hosts several shows on TV, Tom Bergeron, let one of the news magazines follow him when he went off his OCD meds and it was truly amazing watching that he simply could not accomplish anything in his day because he couldn't comb out the fring of his carpets too much, he couldn't straighten his blinds enough, etc. I understand Howie Mandel is OCD, too, but I haven't seen to what extent. My dad had an OCD accountant who hoarded things and when she died alone, he and my mom had the pleasure of going through her house. It was apparently a sight to behold. It was an old house on 10th street west of Classen and was 3 stories of magazines, TV dinner trays, plastic silverware, clothes dating back to when she was a young woman and a room that was nailed shut that they didn't want to know what was inside....

Just goes to show its a fine line between genious and ......

[JohnDenver]

There is a house on N. Georgia and NW 39th that has an elderly hoarder. He drives around with a van packed so full of trash that he can't fully close his driver side door. Then he went out and got a trailer, that he pulls everyday, looking for more garbage. It doesn't ever leave the trailer, just gets hauled around everywhere. His house looks like it is about to fall down.

[MsDarkstar]

My great-grandmother was a medicated schizophrenic that developed dementia in her late years. Before she was diagnosed with dementia & was still living on her own, she had started hoarding. She always kept the doors shut so at first no one really noticed, as the rest of the house was clean. Eventually we discovered that she was doing things like re-using toilet paper & paper towels, and had started seeing what she called "peepies" aka peeping toms on interior walls of her home. When she went to live with her son my parents had the chore of cleaning out her house. Turns out 1 bedroom was full of nothing but craft supplies. She had been a very talented crochet-er, and the room was full of things she'd croched & items she'd saved to crochet around. In other words, hundreds of empty TP/paper towell rolls & dish soap bottles. I can only imagine what it would've been like if we hadn't been around to catch things in the earlier stages. Would've probably taken up her entire home if gone unchecked.

[decepticobra]

on a side-note, there are in fact other types of hoarding. what about when you go to a grocery store or retail store and some other shopper hoardes the aisle youre trying to peruse with their shopping cart making it either impossible to traverse to the other end of the aisle, or get to the product on the shelf that you need cause they are busy texting on their cell phone, talking to someone walking beside them or just being flat out ignorant or rude.

i feel like saying to them: "Look, B**CH,..you dont own (insert name of applicable store)

[gmwise]

I always said "excuse me", after a moment.
And if I detect any rudeness or if I hear a huff or see rolling eyes, they will pretty much suffer for being a bitch/a**.
I tell them I have other things to do instead of waiting on them especially if they texting.
I have a low patience point as it is, but there's a limit.

[jettaturbo]

There is a house on N. Georgia and NW 39th that has an elderly hoarder. He drives around with a van packed so full of trash that he can't fully close his driver side door. Then he went out and got a trailer, that he pulls everyday, looking for more garbage. It doesn't ever leave the trailer, just gets hauled around everywhere. His house looks like it is about to fall down.

I have seen that guy! He comes by the plant where I work everyday, we had to run him off because of liability reasons, but he still hits the other dumpsters around the rest of the industrial park.

[rondvu]

I just heard on the news yesterday that a female horader died in her home. There was a fire and the rescue personnel could not reach her in time due to the amount of clutter in her home. It was near NW 61st and Penn.