I'm caught in the middle of a painful over whelming situation. A friend has serious mental issues & has lost access to his "living" space. I am the court assigned mediator between he & the landlord and his friends aren't allowed because of their already breaking the restraining order. I have been working almost full time, as heat will allow, for 3 weeks. I have emptied 1/2 of an articulated bus & made a path in a full size bus. Mounds of trash are stacking up. There is also still a camper that I've gotten clothes out that he requested. I have moved two stacks of clothes that reach over my head and date back as far as the 1970s out of a van that is also involved. I have moved hundreds of record albums, CDs, DVDs, and video tapes, and bags and bags of other clothes and an entire music studio. I still have a urine soaked sleeping area that police officers were too grossed out to search. I should have contacted you 1st, but I thought I could handle it. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE help me, I just don't know where else to turn.

I am a hoarder. My house has become nothing but a pathway to get from room to room and two rooms are extra and so loaded I can not enter anymore. Would love the opportunity to get some help. I have realized that as we are older ( I am 62 and my husband soon will be 69 with MS) if something happens to either of us paramedics could not even get in to us. There is some things that need replaced in the house that I can not even get to to get done. So we make do which is not what I use to do. I was always a clutterer but it is now out of hand. Can you help?

Hi Sierra :)
Sorry, but unless your Grandmother wants her home cleared out there is really nothing you can do.
If you report her to adult protective services or other city agency she could lose her home.
If you do a clean out without her permission you stand to lose the relationship with her and your mother.
A good book for you to read is called "Digging Out".
It can help you to understand the hoarding disorder.
You are most welcome to read and post on this message board and tonight at 5:00pm PST there is an ONLINE SUPPORT GROUP.
Just click on the red link to the right here and join us.

Hi my name is Sierra. My grandma was diagnosed with Alzheimer's and recently she was in a car accident where she was house bound at a relatives house well I came up to visit and stay with her at her own home till she gets better well sadly when I got here I realized there was no where for me to step or walk for that matter unless it was on her belongings if that is what they're called well I started to think that this was hazardous not only for her but for myself as well. It is a two story house in Ohio plus a basement which she calls hers scavenger room when she gets bored she likes to hunt down there for a project of some sort or something to do. The other day I went down to the basement and I noticed that is where her shower is the only problem no water runs down there cus the pipes are covered with "JUNK" this is bad health bad hygiene and frankly it's just BAD. I'm here for almost another month I don't know what to do. And that isn't even the worst part my mother is getting the same stage we have two storage warehouse filled and apt is starting to get full as well my mother comes up to my grandmas to visit in a couple weeks and my mother doesn't want me getting rid of anything cus she will want it she said this stuff needs to go please help send me answers thank you a fan of the show- Sierra

Hi my name is Sierra. My grandma was diagnosed with Alzheimer's and recently she was in a car accident where she was house bound at a relatives house well I came up to visit and stay with her at her own home till she gets better well sadly when I got here I realized there was no where for me to step or walk for that matter unless it was on her belongings if that is what they're called well I started to think that this was hazardous not only for her but for myself as well. It is a two story house in Ohio plus a basement which she calls hers scavenger room when she gets bored she likes to hunt down there for a project of some sort or something to do. The other day I went down to the basement and I noticed that is where her shower is the only problem no water runs down there cus the pipes are covered with "JUNK" this is bad health bad hygiene and frankly it's just BAD. I'm here for almost another month I don't know what to do. And that isn't even the worst part my mother is getting the same stage we have two storage warehouse filled and apt is starting to get full as well my mother comes up to my grandmas to visit in a couple weeks and my mother doesn't want me getting rid of anything cus she will want it she said this stuff needs to go please help send me answers thank you a fan of the show- Sierra

you can reach me at my email

matthew.mussenden@gmail.com

My name is Matt and I have lived next to two sweet old people for my entire life. Tammy and Jack are very sweet and I always used to go over to their house to play. Just today since jack is 99 and his wife Tammy is close to the same age I went to help carry Jack into the car because Tammy is too tiny and Jack couldn't stand. When I entered the house the stench of cat and dog feces engulfed the house. There is only 1 narrow walk way from the bedroom to the door. Every room is piled up with different debree and Jack seems to be getting ill almost all the time. I didn't realize that a beloved childhood second home had become a hoard of sickness and mold for such loving people who treat me like a second son. The amount of pets they have to take car of by themselves is ridiculous at their age. They keep around 4 to 6 stray cats and 2 dogs from what I have seen who seem very ill and sickly. the house has become inhabitable for someone like Jack with so many illnesses and having to go in and out of the hospital. I just want to help them so badly and I know Hoarders can. There is no way to express the heartbreak I felt when I went into the house 8 years later only to see it in shambles and for people I love to be living basically in a dumpster. It has gotten out of control and I don't think they even realize they are sleeping in cat feces and on old newspapers. This is no place to live for someone like Jack and I just want the last years of his life to be spent with space and not by plaguing viruses and infections because the cleanliness of the house has become so overwhelming. If you could help these people it would mean the world to me. Thanks for the opportunity and hope to hear back.

I am trying to help a friend who is a hoarder. She is disabled and is currently in the hospital. She will never get to come home if something isn't done to help her. We have been friends over 45 years and her hoarding has gotten worse and worse. She sleeps in her car sometimes as there is no room. it is more filth and trash than anything else. Everything in there sticks so bad. She won't hardly let anyone come in. Now out of desperation she is trying to get someone to help her so she can go home......help. what do we do?

I am a 40 year old newlywed of a year and a half. I have an eight year old step daughter and a three month old son, as well as an 18 year old son that just moved in with me.
I have struggled with clutter and hoarding all of my life due to a traumatic childhood.
When my oldest son was about 12, After a friend threatened to call child protective services, I had to send him to live with his father because the hoarding was so bad there was broken glass on the floor etc. (The divorce was partly because of my hoarding)I then did everything I could to get it under control. I never really did, but things became at least passable.
It was very hard to date and find love, but I finally did. Now that I am married, I am finding the houseful of people too hard to control so it's all getting back to the way it was. My husband is too overwhelmed with being the only supporter of our family and most of what housework he can find time for but it's too much.
In addition, my mother is a rapidly-declining victim of Alzheimer's and her husband has to drop her off at my house once a week, soon to be more days, while he works. She keeps wandering around picking at things because she feels so bad for me and wants to help, but she can't. I'm crying as I write this because I'm so sad for her.
The worst part is we are in a contentious custody battle with his ex-wife over his daughter. We don't want to lose her and I don't want the baby to get hurt when he starts crawling.
Please help. We tried to look into paying someone but the money just isn't there.
I wish I could just roll up my sleeves and do it because I'm ready to stay on top of it with the help of therapy, if only it were clean. But, I can't find time in between taking care of a newborn and young child, and I'm scared I'll throw something valuable (to me) away.

I am a 40 year old newlywed of a year and a half. I have an eight year old step daughter and a three month old son, as well as an 18 year old son that just moved in with me.
I have struggled with clutter and hoarding all of my life due to a traumatic childhood.
When my oldest son was about 12, After a friend threatened to call child protective services, I had to send him to live with his father because the hoarding was so bad there was broken glass on the floor etc. (The divorce was partly because of my hoarding)I then did everything I could to get it under control. I never really did, but things became at least passable.
It was very hard to date and find love, but I finally did. Now that I am married, I am finding the houseful of people too hard to control so it's all getting back to the way it was. My husband is too overwhelmed with being the only supporter of our family and most of what housework he can find time for but it's too much.
In addition, my mother is a rapidly-declining victim of Alzheimer's and her husband has to drop her off at my house once a week, soon to be more days, while he works. She keeps wandering around picking at things because she feels so bad for me and wants to help, but she can't.
The worst part is we are in a contentious custody battle with his ex-wife over his daughter. We don't want to lose her and I don't want the baby to get hurt when he starts crawling.
Please help. We tried to look into paying someone but the money just isn't there.
I wish I could just roll up my sleeves and do it because I'm ready to stay on top of it with the help of therapy, if only it were clean. But, I can't find time in between taking care of a newborn and young child, and I'm scared I'll throw something valuable (to me) away.

I am writing to find out how to help a friend that has about 100 dogs. she spends most of her money trying to take care of them but she is crippled and in a wheel chair and can not do this herself. she is social security age.
another friend has been helping her but he is not in the best of heath and can not continue.

I have tried to talk to her about finding a good homes for them, they are all pure breed astrailian shepards . when we met her she was convinced some one was poising the dogs and killing them but since we have been going there we believe it was from the dirty water and their food being put on the ground and mice running wild eationg the food and drowning in the water and decaying in the water that was actually killing them she was unable to check on the dogs herself and the guy that was helping her before my friend strated wasn't not dumping the buckets and giving the animals clean water.
she is very irractional about the dogs she feels that is all she has to live for.
this is an educated woman that is very angry because she feel victionized by the doctors and says they have caused her to be crippled.
I have gotten her to my dr and he is helping her with pain managemntso she is somewhat improved but not enough to the reality . but the only solituion i see is it is a must she get rid of the dog and the state has been there many times and done nothing.
I think it is because the county is very poor and doesn;t want to foot the bill for the rescue and responsibility for the dogs or her/ she does have a few inside cats about 7 and she was out of her house ( mobile home) for almost a year because she had no water or the clutter and cat feceas was so bad you couldn;t get in. my friend has spent 2 months out ther trying to clean the place up and he has resored her water and made pathways threw the home but there is so much that needs to be done I have some pictures I can send if u like.
this is in n.w. okla I think she is living in a fanesty world all she talks about is going to france to get good medical service and be happy b ut she thinks she can take the dogs with her.
I can not make her realize this is not feasable.
if you want to call me my name is donna please if you can't help her tell me what I might do to get her help. she is in a deserate situation

thank you donna desert_snowbird2001@yahoo.com

My name is Christine Walsh, and I am a TV talk show booking producer. Right now, I am working on an episode regarding hoarding. It is an addiction that is rarely discussed, and I would love to bring attention to it.

I am writing you to see if you would be interested in being part of the show. We would love to find someone who is currently suffering, and provide them with the help they need to get better. Your involvement would include a free, all expenses paid trip to NYC (transportation, hotel, food, etc) as well as therapy sessions or a treatment program. We would cover the cost for everything.

If you are interested in learning more about this opportunity, I strongly encourage you to submit. I would love to hear your story, and tell you a few more details about the show. When submitting please include a brief bio of your situation, as well as the best number to reach you at. I have also included my phone number. Please feel free to contact me directly by phone if you prefer.

I look forward to the possibility of having you on the show, providing you help, and bringing more attention to this type of addiction.

Sincerely,

Christine Walsh
(646)801-2315
talkshowbookings@gmail.com