Hi my dad has just had a short stay in hospital he had very low potassium and stomach pain his X-ray showed he had an impacted bowel they sorted his potassium levels out but sent him back to his home with laxido and senna. Has anyone any experience of this with their PWD and do they pick up after my dad has lost weight he has no appetite district nurse also came and treated him with suppository he normally has good appetite and is mobile but all he wants to do is sit he also gets pain with this he has always suffered with bowel problems I.e constipation.
Bowel problems
- Thread starter Peppie
- Start date
I note you have not received a response to your post, but I hope your Dad's bowel issues are now better.
I experienced this in caring for my late mum, and learned the most important issue was to control her diet to manage her constipation issues. In the end she did not need any from of laxatives.
Hope this helps,
Paco
I experienced this in caring for my late mum, and learned the most important issue was to control her diet to manage her constipation issues. In the end she did not need any from of laxatives.
Hope this helps,
Paco
I think the loss if mobility greatly affects constipation. My husband has an excellent diet and always did but this last six months he can become constipated quite quickly. I leave a glass of water at his side with a packet of Laxido stirred into it. One every day or every other day seems to be about right. He sips it throughout the day.
My Mum used to suffer from constipation but now she is on a mainly liquid diet (yogurts, trifles, custards, complan shakes) she is more the other way. I used to mix inulin into her food which you can get from health food shops and this seemed to help.
Hi Peppie.
A couple of years ago my mother, now 98 passed out with the pain of faecal impaction. She was prescribed Cosmocol, a stool softener which worked very well and she has not had a problem since. She was also very underweight and having panic attacks. Treatment with an antidepressant ( Citalopram) had the effect of increasing her appetite and she gained and maintained 14 pounds. Although every case is different, I hope you will find success for your dad..
I replied to this post on Monday saying my Mum didn’t have a problem with constipation now. It turns out that I was wrong. She is completely bunged up and the loose bowel movements are just the overflow over the impacted poo. I’ve picked up a prescription for some enemas which the district nurse will start applying tomorrow. Hopefully we’ll quickly get Mum more comfortable and keep on top of this from now on.
Just been back on talking point and realised some had replied to my post thank you to everyone my dad is much better eating more now but he lost 2 and half stone he is still on 2 laxido daily plus senna at night which worries me I mentioned it to his GP but she said he was ok to take all this for now even though he is over the problem so now he seems to have constant bowel movements it's so frustrating it's all or nothing can't get a definite answer from GP.
Hello @Peppie
There`s no reason why your dad`s laxatives can`t be tweaked to make his bowel movements more manageable.
Perhaps you could ask the GP if it would be OK to do this. Maybe one laxido daily plus half the quantity of senna at night. I doubt there would be any harm trying.
