my wife age 73

[john kerrigan]

Jauary 2015, 2 years ago she would make a shopping list for food, pick her clothes out to were on a saturday night.
18 months ago i was writing the shopping list & picking her clothes to were on a saturday nihgt.12 months ago having to help her dress.
6 months ago dressing her, feading her, walking with her to the toilet helping her on & offof the toilet, when getting up from a chair she loses her balance, listens but does not look at the tv all of the time.
gon from incontinent pads just at night to day time as well.
tries to cut her food up with knife & fork, but cannot coordinaate knife & fork, i finish up feading her, doses not wipe herself after a wee ore a No2.
in august of 2014 when we first moved from sheffield to bangor north wales we was eating out allot because we had no cooker no fridge freezer, my wife was eating o.k.
ion september 2014 my wife fell coming out of a shop & broke her wright wrist, she then started to go downhill, being listless not talking no interest in in things also struggling to eat,
in january 2015 my wife fainted getting out of bed, i lade her down until she came around helped her to the toilet went back to her after 5 minutes she had fainted again so rang for an ambulance, we spent 7 hours in A.E. but nothing was foynd wrong with her.
at home she was struggling to take her ( TEGROTEL ) tablets her head was always bent forwards,
i started to reseach on the internet as regards grinding her tegrotel tablets up to give her that was a NO NO by this time she had gone down from 7.5 stone to 6.00 stone again i went onto the internet asking how much tegotel should a 6.00 stone 73 year old woman be taking, i came across one articale that stated when children get older increase the btegrotel.
so in february 2015 i reduced the medication down from 600mg in a morning to 300mg and the evening down from 800mg to 400mg, she is now feeding herself.

 

[marionq]

John you are an attentive and caring husband. I hope things continue to improve but I am unfamiliar with this drug so perhaps others will have a comment useful to you.

 

[Gigglemore]

Good to know that your wife has improved a little, it does look as if there can be lots of side-effects from that drug.

Hope your wife has gained a little weight again now that she is able to feed herself.

I hope you managed to register with a good GP when you moved. A review of your wife's medication might be helpful if she isn't managing to put on any weight, 6 stone sounds a dangerously low weight. He/she could perhaps prescribe something like Fortisip to help build her up a little.

Hope you are getting some help caring for your dear wife and that you are looking after your own health too.

 

[Kevinl]

Hi John, welcome to TP
I know where you're coming from my wife got down to 6 stone 4 pounds at one point I've taken her out shopping and forgotten she still had her slippers on and keep forgetting women need to wear bras, it's just not part of a man's getting dressed routine.
I said before on here before it's a bit of a man thing, women have all the survival skills no like cooking, filling the fridge and freeze, dealing with doctors appointments, feeding, incontinence and all the rest, women's (probably due to having children) means they have all the skill set to do it much easier than (some) men do, likewise women find it easier or more natural to share problems like this, hence the men on here are only 16% at the last count, which can't really reflect the wider situation.
Keep posting John there's plenty of good advise on here, it's a comfort to know sometimes, someone out there is listening to what you have to say.
K