Twisted body

[HUG]

My mum has advanced alzheimers and close to end of life. I care for her at home with the help of outside carers and my dad. She is 85 years old and very thin now. She is basically bed ridden having all her food, pad changes in bed. The comments and advice I am look for are regarding mum position in bed. She tends to lean to one side and cross her legs. She keeps her knees tightly together and hardly ever straightens her legs. It very odd and if I tried it I would have a lot of pain after a couple of minutes however my mum stays in this position all day! The knees can be so tight that bruises appear. How can o make her more comfortable. The district nurses that visit are good if you can tell them what you want which is difficult when you don't know what is available?


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[Grannie G]

My husband kept his legs firmly crossed and the carers had difficulty with dressing and undressing. We tried a small pad between his knees but it didn`t stay in place.

I`m surprised the district nurses haven`t been able to suggest anything.

 

[2jays]

I'm sorry you are going through this xx

In her last weeks, mum seemed more comfortable on her side with one foot out of the bed, snuggled up in a type of foetal position. She could stay that way all day if she was left alone.

The carers provided a "v" pillow to go under her head, with flat pillows under the the v pillow, to support her head, neck and back, with another very soft but firm - if that makes sense - pillow/rectangle that went between her knees.

Once she was moved into that position, mum seemed to sigh in contentment.

xxxx


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[cragmaid]

My Mum....flat on her back in bed, knees bent upwards , one leg crossed over the other so that the foot reached the mattress..... you can do this when your legs have no fat on them..... This was often performed with one knee rubbing on the wall where the bed ran along the wall, so she would rub the skin off her knee. or her real favourite....position as before but instead of legs crossed...... one leg straight up in the air. Lovely sight ( not) as sometimes she would remove her PJs and pad and pants......
Luckily her room configuration meant that if you opened the en suite and partially closed the door...and closed the curtains of course..... her modesty was protected and the girls used to pop in all the time and bring her legs down and cover her with her fleecy blanket.Mum used to boast how she had been so flexible as a child.

I guess the simple answer is that they do not find these weird to us positions uncomfortable, otherwise they would move.

 

[lemonjuice]

This is quite common as they reach the end severe stage and as someone has said above is reverting to the 'foetal position'. My aunt was like this for 6 years and someone else I know for about 2 years.
It's caused I believe because of contractures and once it starts the process is very difficult if not impossible to reverse.

Although the suggestions above are good, you do need some advice from a health expert; there's a bigger danger of pressure sores and your mother will need 'turning' regularly. When my mother is on bed-rest they 'turn her' (move her position) every hour. They do try to get her up into a chair every morning which helps, but I certainly am glad I do not witness the 'transfer' and you may need someone to guide you how to manouevre your mother so as not to cause unnecessary pain.

 

[nita]

My mother has been bedbound for 3 years and lies on her side, is turned at each of the carers' four visits and this seems to prevent pressure sores. Her knees are bent and we place a baby's cot pillow between them to prevent them rubbing. She also has a small pillow pad under the knee leaning against the bed to ease her arthritis. We found this configuration out by trial and error. You can purchase cot pillows from Matalan or another good, very thin one I have found is on Amazon:-

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Junior-Joy...8864782&sr=8-3&keywords=junior+joy+cot+pillow

The small pillow pads are like these:-

https://www.amazon.co.uk/30X45cm-Re...F8&qid=1478864803&sr=8-14&keywords=pillow+pad

 

[HUG]

Thank you all I am always wondering sometimes if I am alone facing some of the problems because it is not linked to alzheimers but it seems that it is yet another symptom. I will looking into more cushioning (thanks for the links) and requesting nappy style pads as at the moment she uses pull ups which is not ease to put on with nutcracker knees.


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[HUG]

Thanks Nita I am using the junior joy cot safety pillows between mum's legs which has actually straightened them. Maybe she as just getting in a pickle and couldn't workout how to get out of it. Also found "baby flathead" pads for under shoulder and hips which I have found reduces the frequency of turning.


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[nita]

Hallo Hug, glad my suggestions helped. You might like to get advice from an Occupational Therapist whether it's a good idea to exercise your Mum's legs in bed. With my Mum, I maybe should have done something when she first became bedbound, but the OT said it might do more harm than good in Mum's case as she has had two knee replacement operations which didn't help and has arthritis in her hips so I could be moving her legs in a way that displaced her hips and caused her more discomfort.

With her arms, I was told by one carer that I could place a pillow over her body (she is on her side) so as to drape the arm over it to encourage it to unbend. She can still move her arms but has no strength in her hands (severe arthritis again) and her legs don't move at all now. It is a saddening process.