Guess what i saw today??!

Published

... my resident eating her own poop.

The first time I witnessed that in my short cna career. It was all over her face, her hair, bedsheets, nightgown, diaper and left hand. She was sucking her fingers like she had just finshed eating some fried chicken.

Can you imagine living in a world where you strongly believe that you poop out chocolate??

Yum, yum, yum, yum, yum, yum, yum, yum, yum, delicioso!!!!!

Specializes in DD, Mental Health, Geriatric.

Oh, yes. One of the rites of passage of being an NA; the "poop eater/wearer/smearer". It may have been your first but it most assuredly won't be your last. I remember heading in to do a.m. care on a client several years ago to find her covered in feces and "finger-painting" the wall near her bed with the "crap". We get desensitized to stuff like that pretty fast in this line of work. lol.

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I hope I don't have to witness anything like that...I would be moritified...and then having to clean up the resident...yuck!

Its just amazing some of the things alz/dementia patients do.

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I for one am glad you posted this. I do my CNA clinicals at the end of this month and it's nice to hear a heads up because, in all honesty, if I saw something like that for the first time right in the process of a resident eating it (not before it), I'd probably be so shocked I probably would be one of those who would stand there for a few seconds watching in shock. At least now I know what to expect and how to handle the situation.

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When I was training I saw that. I had to clean her nails when we were practicing nail care. I was even told a story about some one balling it up and flicking it at staff members (LMAO) but I also have a resident that like to pull her trach out and suck on it she has pulled it out so much that now she has to go to the hospital to have it fixed.

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Wow! I have heard of this happening, but luckily have not witnessed it myself YET! Poor woman though, that's sad! There are many crazy things I saw during my clinicals, but this def beats them all!!

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Specializes in Oncology; medical specialty website.
You really shouldn't be so quick to judge others. As I walked into the room, I saw stuff her fingers in her mouth. How do you know that I didn't intervene? I cleaned off her fingers, mouth and her face, etc. In the mddle of doing this, my nurse came into the room for her daily med pass, I reported the incident to the nurse. I take my job seriously, I am not unproffesonal. I did not mention the resident's name on this thread, nor the whereabouts of my employment. I am not at fault because the resident deided to eat her poop.

What I really reacted to was the "Ha, ha, yum, yum, delicioso!" It would have made me sad, not laugh, and definitely not use it as a joke for others.

When I read things like this, it makes me fear for when I'm old. What if I can't care for myself? Are people going to laugh at me?

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Specializes in retired LTC.
What I really reacted to was the "Ha, ha, yum, yum, delicioso!" It would have made me sad, not laugh, and definitely not use it as a joke for others.

When I read things like this, it makes me fear for when I'm old. What if I can't care for myself? Are people going to laugh at me?

Like this poster, it was the joking "yum, yum, delicious" that's offensive. It's not what you say, it's how you say it---Wonder what the response will be when she experiences some other shockers for the first time???
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I thought it was quite funny, tbh, and no ones name was revealed thus no one was hurt, no harm no foul. On a serious note, I know there are some very serious infections that can occur by eating feces.

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Yes it is sad but if you can't have a sense of humor when caring for those with Alzheimer's and Dementia, then maybe you shouldn't be in this profession. I don't think anyone was degraded in this post and it was quite humorous in my opinion. I enjoy hearing the crazy stories.

What about all those shows on TV that reenact the weird patients that come into a hospital acting like complete idiots? There are no real names used and they are actors but it's a true story and usually the doctors and nurses that were there are the ones telling it. Not much different than sharing stories on this forum, right?

In my opinion, the most important thing we can do in the nursing field is to keep a strong sense of humor and make light of all the sometimes quite disgusting things we encounter. Keep the funny stories coming!

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