My mother in law is in middle- late stage dementia. She has had a few falls in the care home, the last one resulting in 2 broken fingers. I took her to the hospital and read the notes I was given to give to the doctor. It states mil has been taking naproxen for quite a while and also daily senna at night. My husband and I have Pof A for health and well-being and were not informed she had been prescribed these. Mil takes daily paracetamol for mild back pain but it is not severe enough to prescribe naproxen. She has had episodes where she complains to us of feeling sick, nauseous and pain in her stomach , all side effects of naproxen . This drug is supposed to be taken with or after food, mil does not eat or drink much and especially not at 9 when her tablets are given. Mil also has severe constipation recently and I checked her records and found this has been going on for a while without further intervention by the doctor. Does anyone know if senna can be given on a regular basis as the guidelines say it should work within 8 hours and not for longer than 2 weeks. Do you think I should question her gp about these drugs? Thank you
Prescribed tablets
- Thread starter panface
- Start date
Yes I think it’s worth a chat but go gently. I think everyone regardless of LPOA should be given dignity and privacy to discuss their medical needs. Consider
Are you questioning her or the decisions of her GP?
Are you informing her GP of your doubts about MIL’s ability to follow instruction?
Do you really know the intention of the prescription or how often it was used? (Some are used as needed regardless of the statement ‘daily’ which is often a descriptor of maximum dose)
Does your mil have the ability to manage her own medication... this is obviously a bigger discussion
Are you questioning her or the decisions of her GP?
Are you informing her GP of your doubts about MIL’s ability to follow instruction?
Do you really know the intention of the prescription or how often it was used? (Some are used as needed regardless of the statement ‘daily’ which is often a descriptor of maximum dose)
Does your mil have the ability to manage her own medication... this is obviously a bigger discussion
To my understanding, senna is a plant based product that is usually available over the counter without a prescription and is used as a laxative, obviously to help with constipation.
Some of the things your mother in law complains about, could be from constipation and it would appear that the senna was given to help solve your MIL's condition. My husband takes a prune based laxative every night and it has helped a lot.
Some of the things your mother in law complains about, could be from constipation and it would appear that the senna was given to help solve your MIL's condition. My husband takes a prune based laxative every night and it has helped a lot.
I would agree going gently. I think cultivating a relationship with your MIL's GP is probably helpful. We started by providing information and requesting the receptionist could add our contact detail to the notes and explaining the difficutlies. Now as things have deteriorated we hear about most things though not everything which is fair enough.
Could you speak to the care home to ask that they keep you notified about any changes in medication in future? Mum was prescribed senna daily by the hospital, apparently as a precaution to prevent constipation. Trouble was that it wasn't regularly reviewed, and continued being given for months afterwards even when she wasn't constipated. Mum now has anaemia! Ask the GP for a routine medication review and ask about the senna then. Family/carers can get left out of the loop if the GP speaks directly to the care home so it's a good idea to make contact with the GP yourself.
