Sqad Are You Around Please? My Mother In Law Is 88 And Had Alzheimers. My Brother In Law

[lilacben]

lives with her and she was given some tablets for her badly swollen ankles. Frusemide I should think she had. Anyway when we went to visit this weekend I was really worried as her ankles looked like tree trunks.! So mentoned it and was told when she was having the tablets she kept peeping everywhere ( my BIL exact words.) so he stopped them. I told him he was wrong to do that as she looked like she needed them. Can you please tell me how dangerous it can be for her not to take them.? Many thanks Brenda x

[Sqad]

\\Can you please tell me how dangerous it can be for her not to take them.?\\\

That was the question.....NOT what should her medical management be.

[RATTER15]

Sqad, some times we need to look at the bigger picture and its consequences.

[Sqad]

RATTER.....OK....well let us look at the "bigger picture."

Aged 88...Altzheimers and what would appear to be advanced CCF (legs swollen like treetrunks), peeing all over the place, which presumably has been stopped by stopping the diuretics.

What does the future hold?

Can we cure her Altzheimers?........NO
Are we likely to cure her CCF........NO
Are we certain that her leg pains have anything to do with the oedema?......NO

I would suggest that at best her life should be made more comfortable even if it is shortened.

A catheter would only exacerbate an difficult situation.
Diuretics might, just might improve her oedema, but make her pee all over the place. Yes you could use diapers, but in my opinion stopping the diuretcs would be the answer.

Yes.....this is a medical decision and yes she should have talked it over with the GP........but she didn't......she came onto AB for reasons of her own.

[society]

Sqad, why do you think stopping the diuretic a wise choice?

[Sqad]

society I didn't say it was a "wise choice"

I said

\\That seems reasonable to me in the above situation. \\

[RATTER15]

Thank you Sqad, at least we have explored possibilities and consequences, we now just need to look at her own choices if she is able to make them herself.

[anneasquith]

:: her ankles look like tree trunks :: wheather she is 20/90 years old this lady has been prescribed diuretics, and only a qualified doctor should decide if/when the drugs should be stopped. as to the question '' how dangerous can it be for her not to take them'' lilac, id say ask her gp.

[rowanwitch]

they could admit her for a while as a tempory measure.... dry her out in a supervised setting but that carries a huge risk of making her confusion worse... its a difficult one and it sounds like the whole family had a sit down with the doctors and any other carers to make some proper plans for her care
as she may be a bit too much for your BIL to cope with

[askyourgran]

As rowan says^ the family should be involved with the GP to decide the best care for her, her situation is distressing. My brother had to look after my mother (fortunately just old and slightly confused, no alzheimers or dementia).He didn't mind going to buy diapers for her, but when it came to changing them she managed on her own, we had to see to her bathing. It was extremely tiring and undignified time for both of them.

[lilacben]

Well I would like to thank you all very much for your input. We live 150 miles away and have not had chance to see any doctors as BIL is living at home so therefore classed as her carer. Although my SIL lives only a few miles away. She sometimes go to appointments with her mum. BIL seems to be not taking the situation as serious and we are not very happy how things have been lax. He was in denial for a long time that anything was really wrong with her. Regards the tablets he has stopped...a few months ago he stopped some others and when we found out SIL told the doctor and he told BIL in no uncertain terms not to stop any tablets. So I just wanted to know from sqad if the stopping of the tablets would make her ill in any other way. I was thinking of the pressure on her heart. My mother in law will not wash or bath and the people at the Day Center are trying to get around it. Mum would never be like this if she wasnt ill. But she is quite adamant she will not let anyone bath her. She turns very nasty about it. It is so worrying and I just want to make sure she is comfortable.