Alzheimer's Disease Support Group

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is the most common cause of dementia and characterized by progressive cognitive deterioration with declining activities of daily living and neuropsychiatric symptoms or behavioral changes. An early symptom is memory loss (amnesia), usually manifesting as minor forgetfulness that becomes pronounced with illness progression, with relative...

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Deborah48 05/04/2011

Rollie's palliative car Doctor called me yesterday and here is information that we can all use.

Rollie's body is not functioning properly, we all know that. At this stage we are opting for 'comfort care'. We do not want him to be in pain and suffering unnecessarily. So she told me to keep him on the laxative as a permanent regime. Humans need to have a BM at least every 3 days no matter how little they are eating. So I will give him 1-2 spoonfuls of Lactulose (or it could be Milk of Magnesia) and up to 3 senekots a day. I can increase this to a maximum of 4 spoonfuls of Lactulose and 8 senekots. Right now it is a balancing act, I have to determine what is the right combination for him and then stick with it. The mistake I made was taking him off after he had one BM. I didn't know, no blame to me and I don't feel guilty about that. I am just learning myself BUT now I do know, keep him on the stuff.

She also gave me her cell number which really made me feel good, I won't pester her, but it is comforting to know I have it.

Jamr41 05/04/2011

I, also, had Ron on a daily dose of MOM for a few months. And.. he still would get constipated. Hospice told me .. even if they are not eating much ( if at all) there will still be something.. even a mucus type of waste occasionally.
In the last weeks he would have a some of "smearing", but not really
a bm with any king of volume.
It is what it is..
Do your best .. that's all we can do.

Jamr41 05/04/2011

Well, that didn't make any sense :-D

In the last weeks he had a kind of "smearing"...

Deborah48 05/04/2011

The crazy thing is, I know what you mean when you say, 'smearing'. It's a good way to describe it. Ah, the conversations we have, LOL

Jamr41 05/04/2011

Maybe we could add a glossary of "terms" to the booklet :-)

deleted_user 05/04/2011

Sounds like you got some good advice from a "real" expert. Rollie is so lucky to have such a devoted caring spouse. You are the best. Hang in there ....Hugs Sherri

deleted_user 05/04/2011

PS.......love the picture!!!!! :)

grammyx3 05/05/2011

My husband takes lactulose also. for him it is kind of violent and he must stay home and near bathroom when he does take it. Lots of gas and rumbling. He was initially put on it to remove the ammonia from his liver, but as long as he can have a bm without it he doesn't have to take it. I just wanted to tell you that several of his Dr.'s have said you can't really overdose on that stuff. It is for removing ammonia and has the side effect of being a laxative. He was to take 4 tblsp. everyday. for some reason he has become a bit more regular and doesn't take laxatives except for occasionally now, however he still uses an enema most every day.
good luck
hugs...........carolyn

Deborah48 05/05/2011

Thanks, Carolyn, I hope it works (or at laest works when I m not round, h ha)

inmemoryofhattie 05/05/2011

tx for this info......

love the glossary idea!

deleted_user 05/06/2011

Please don't groos out with this. I learned about this when I first started working (from an older guy). So now I don't and haven't in a while given Janelle any laxative. I use a vinyl glove and manually evacuate her as needed. I check her once in the morning and once before bedtime. It causes her no discomfort. She no longer has any urge to evacuate herself on her own. The Hospice nurse is going along with what I am doing. I know that it is not a recomended practice, but it works for us. Bally

deleted_user 05/06/2011

I am the queen of constipation and I don't have alzheimer's just yet that I know of. Fruits, vegetables and fluids are the solution. People do need to have regular poops. I used to poop a couple of times a day. If I don't poop every day, my body tells me. When people have Alzheimer's they don't know what their bodies are saying.

Deborah48 05/06/2011

Bally, you are much braver than me! LOL

The good news is that now that I am giving him the lax on a regular basis I think we may the problem solved, until the next problem comes along!

deleted_user 05/06/2011

I know that whenever a problem arises that I don't already know, I can find the answer here. Thanks for the info. I hope I don't need.

And, Bally, I took care of my grandmother for 10 months. She had ALS and her bowels would not work because the muscles died. I had to do what you described. It was not my favorite thing to do, but it was necessary.

sosadandtired 05/06/2011

My hubby has a neurogenic bowel and bladder and for many years have had occasions where I have had to do the same as Bally and Dibbie,,,,,not a pleasant task and I am a nurse! We do what we have to do.

Pam65 05/08/2011

Bally, I believe there a few others on this board who do the same thing. It's not gross. It's just what we do.

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