My mother is in the latter stages of Alzheimer’s (eg she can’t walk, can’t feed herself, can barely talk and what she does say is largely unintelligible etc) and has been in a care home for the past 18 months.
Her head has also seemed to have ‘set’ to her left side as well, no amount of gently trying to move it back to a more centred position helps. Also, she lies in a recliner chair now, as when she sat in a regular chair she would slump forward and to her left.
For the past couple of months we’ve also noticed that she drools excessively now too, and often when I visit her her clothing will be absolutely soaking on her left side. I’ve mentioned this to staff (who cannot fail to have noticed it anyway) and whenever I visit I try and place a clean flannel underneath her chin to act as a barrier between the drool and the clothing. Unfortunately this often doesn’t stay in place if my mam gets her hands on it (it would be better to put the flannel underneath her clothing, but this is tricky for me because of the rigid way she lies now)
I’ve noticed recently that the skin around my mam’s neck and underneath her chin is becoming very red and sore looking. Again, I’ve mentioned this to staff and I put E45 cream on it whenever I visit if I can (often they have her in turtlenecks which makes things difficult) but I was wondering if anyone else has had experience of this with their loved ones and can suggest anything to me to alleviate the problem.
I know there are drugs that can reduce saliva, but I really don’t wish to go down that route because of the potential side effects. What’s the best thing to treat the sore-looking skin – E45 cream, barrier cream, Vaseline?
Thank you.
Her head has also seemed to have ‘set’ to her left side as well, no amount of gently trying to move it back to a more centred position helps. Also, she lies in a recliner chair now, as when she sat in a regular chair she would slump forward and to her left.
For the past couple of months we’ve also noticed that she drools excessively now too, and often when I visit her her clothing will be absolutely soaking on her left side. I’ve mentioned this to staff (who cannot fail to have noticed it anyway) and whenever I visit I try and place a clean flannel underneath her chin to act as a barrier between the drool and the clothing. Unfortunately this often doesn’t stay in place if my mam gets her hands on it (it would be better to put the flannel underneath her clothing, but this is tricky for me because of the rigid way she lies now)
I’ve noticed recently that the skin around my mam’s neck and underneath her chin is becoming very red and sore looking. Again, I’ve mentioned this to staff and I put E45 cream on it whenever I visit if I can (often they have her in turtlenecks which makes things difficult) but I was wondering if anyone else has had experience of this with their loved ones and can suggest anything to me to alleviate the problem.
I know there are drugs that can reduce saliva, but I really don’t wish to go down that route because of the potential side effects. What’s the best thing to treat the sore-looking skin – E45 cream, barrier cream, Vaseline?
Thank you.