Posted on 07/23/2018 1:31:36 PM PDT by lyby
I've had two relative's...my MIL..and FIL succumb to the disease.
I've seen some evidence that coconut oil can slow down the progression....But I'm not sure.....It's a hard DZ to watch....your loved one's go though.
One thing is this.....and I don't know really how to say it...My MIL...knew she was slipping. She knew it....and knew her diagnosis.
It was terminal..She never hurt...nor in pain.
my few experineces with loved ones and hospice is they wanted to over-medicate. They wanted to start a woman on morphine 3 times a day when all she had was back tension/pain that massage and some OTC as needed helped instead, thankfully we got that ridiculous Rx stopped - it made her so loopy and caused her stress, chest tension etc the one morphine pill she took! Granted she has other health issues and is in her 90’s but no need to take her out or fog up her brain quicker.
Read up on the drugs she takes side effects. Limit Rx and OTC to what is truly needed so her brain and liver not having to deal with excess toxins in the body.
Question the care givers often about all they are doing per shift - have them write in a book/keep a log family can look thru what they are doing when there (help her change, bath, make a bed, meals how much eaten per meal etc so you can catch problems in the making or if any caregiver is not up to par on care and needs to be replaced), be sure caregivers are multiple times offering your mom meals not just once a shift. Some hospice caregivers think end of life or let the person do what they want, and don’t push more than once for a patient to eat a meal so the patient forgets or don’t feel like eating and a vicious spiral down weight happens as you said she already lost some.
Make smoothies with added nut butters, oats, chia to add calories and nutirents if she is not eating much. Thin them down a bit with high calorie culinary coconut milk (130 cal per 1/3cup) or heavy cream (50 calories in 1TBSP) so long as these things are not off limits to your mom’s food intake. Find ways to small volume of food bump up calories, like using a mix of heavy cream/milk in cereal instead of low cal milk. help keep her weight up and get in as many fresh made veggie juice, water, nutritious calories to help her body and mind.
Hydration - If she can use electrolye powder (flavored, you put it in water and it adds essential electrolyes - look for low sodium kind if she has swelling issues, and use 1/2 amount if she has issues with loose stool so not tohave too much magnesium which can add to casue of loose bm) Many electrolye drinks are very sugary or high sodium which can be a problem for some diets and sugars can add to some illness/decline. prayers for her, you and family.
I did. Our son has moved home so it is a madhouse here. :)
But still looking at houses in Giles.
Feel your empty-nest syndrome that should exist for us yet still does not...
Oldest son and fiancee lived with us for about six months as they completed their last semester of college. They actually returned during their post-graduation transition period of a few weeks - son working on PhD., following the birth of our grandson. Numerous “other children” have lived with us after their parents demonstrated “tough love” (rightly so). Middle kid moved back in with us for a couple of years, too. He has now moved out to be on his own, paying for and pursuing a Master’s degree - his passion is to coach soccer. Youngest, our daughter, is a sophomore in college, living mostly on her own financially. Really proud of her, too. Barry and I just want to retire someplace where he can trout fish. I want to live a very simple life, cherishing the visits of grandkids and always making certain to have baked plenty of chocolate chip cookies for the cookie jar.
I have taken her to a neurologist and he doesn't feel she is bad shape either. We did talk about the medications on the market for Dementia and Alzheimer's. He did not like any of them and his experience was that they work, if at all, incrementally, in other words you would not see a dramatic change. Now I have my Aunt on 5000 units of Vitamin D every day and I do believe this helps and so does the doctor.
My two cents on this.
If she is on Statin Drugs I would consider taking her off them. New studies are showing just how dangerous they are.
Music uses your whole brain. Those with strokes and lose their speech can (depending on damage) learn to sing/talk. When depressed, listening to music for 2 hrs a day is recommended.
Your sharing about taking care of your 91-year-old aunt... well, that brings me hope that we as compassionate, God-fearing, believing in doing what’s right for a person as best we can in a moment, that is what life is. Thank you.
My mom, 79, fell and broke her femur above the knee just before last Christmas. In the hospital, pain meds galore, and she was crazy! After screaming at the staff to not give any more opioids, she kinda mellowed out. The best nurse there, sweet little black girl, who got called a “N” over and over again, said that elderly folks do exactly that, sometimes even because of urinary tract infections. Moved her 300 miles to be near me...10 minutes away. Mom was afraid to pee her pants during the move, didn’t drink water for 2 days, arrived and went crazy after passing out in front of the paramedics. Cursed me like a drunken sailor. I never even knew she was in the Navy!. Once settled in to the board-and-care, where a personal doctor straightened out the meds, cured her of the UTI, she is back to being mom. She, a bit a dementia, doesn’t always remember that she’s in Sierra Madre, CA, and not Kingman, AZ, has finally settled in. She still thinks she’s going home soon, but realizes she can’t. My advice is to check meds, dehydration, UTI stuff, and general health. A huge eye-opener. I’d damn near written her off as completely bonkers. Now she is the sweet, but forgetful, mom. Still confused, but back from the hell we lived through.
Fasting and sleeping both help clear plaques.
My father had a progressive case of Alzheimer’s and Dementia. We eventually had to put him in a home given he was having Vietnam flashbacks and was becoming increasingly difficult for my mother to take care of him herself. He died two years later.
Love your post! We have had 3 generations of Frances in our family! A lovely name.
My Doc just recommended that book to me! I hope my Library has it.
Ugh! I will keep my dear man at home as long as
possible, and give him anything he wants. Last evening while we watched the Pirates game, I gave him a good belt of Jameson, a Yeung to wash it down, and a bowl of Doritos..He was a happy camper!
Sometimes I think keueping them away from Docs and meds is a goodthing to do.
Excellent advice. I particularly like the part about lettingthem eat and drink whatever they enjoy!
Our internet went out yesterday - really a funny story, but I won’t go there ;) - so I have fallen behind with replying to ya’lls’ most helpful, supportive, and uplifting posts.
THANK YOU to each and every one of you who took the time to read my vanity thread. I have researched each of Mama’s prescribed medications. Other than the laxative, I have LOTS of questions to ask her palliative/hospice care nurse, who is on vacation this week.
Again, much gratitude and many ((hugs)).
~ lyby
Dear FRiends,
The hospice nurse called me this morning twice and my sister has called for me to return home to Virginia. Hospice began administering morphine to Mama this a.m. “to help with breathing and terminal agitation”.
I am very appreciative of each and every one of you sharing with me through this thread.
In Christ’s Love,
~ lyby
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