Atkins Constipation

[lala]

Does he drink coffee? Often, a cup of strong coffee works like magic!

[robyn]

Wish you well with FIL, Robyn

My dad has a rare disease that has forced him into a wheelchair too.  He has always had a problem with constipation.  My mother has congestive heart failure since 1991.  I help take care of them.

My dad takes Miralax and Dulcolax, Sunsweet prunes(that we order from the company).  He is not fluid restricted however and drinks a lot.  My mother doesn't restict her fluids but she also doesn't take a lot- 1 coffee, some milk on cereal, maybe some soup and an herb tea.  She does however have two cups of Chinese medicinal tea for her congestive heart failure.  Within this tea are various herbs such as cornsilk which operates as a diuretic.

You might try some Chinese herbs if you have access to a Chinese doctor.  Have kept my mother alive all this time when western doctors thought she was a goner.

And pursuant to your thought that all people with eldery sick parents should go to medical school, I have been studying Chinese medicine and am a Qi Gong Healer and instructor.  There are various herbs he could take that might be helpful.  If the problem is a stagnation problem which is likely you may try acupuncture or acupressure.  There are various points that you can hit that might help.

He might also try some Qi Gong exercise that he can do from his wheelchair.  I'm in process of developing a curriculum for the elderly to do some Qi Gong classes for seniors.  Within that program I have adaptations for people in wheelchairs or who have limited mobility.  These movements are wonderful for the whole body and particularly targeted to the internal organs.  They've been used in various forms for hundreds of years in China and are very gentle.

Let me know what you think and I can give you further info if you need it.

Hi Dumpling - I personally don't rule out what you're doing. But the rules in this nursing home (I think they're state or federal laws) - are that the residents can't use anything with medicinal qualities (or even have them in their rooms) unless they're dispensed through the nursing home pharmacy.

Makes sense. Because you're talking about a population of about 200 residents who are each probably taking an average of 10 meds a day. So you need the in-house doc and the pharmacist to evaluate all the possible drug interactions. And I'm not sure the professionals (doc and pharmacist) would do that unless they were dealing with FDA approved drug inserts. I think they'd run into all kinds of problems - including potential malpractice issues - if they did otherwise.

As for the exercise - they have exercise classes at least 3 days a week - 2 levels. One for people with severe mobility problems. One for people without. Conducted by trained PT people. Wouldn't surprise me if they incorporated some of the techniques you're talking about into their programs.

Western medicine isn't that bad either. When we brought my FIL here 18 months ago in an ambulance from a hospital in North Carolina - he was a mess. Couldn't walk. Could barely talk. He couldn't read. He didn't know who the president was. My husband's sister was very mad that we had brought him here - because she had given him up for dead - and wanted him to spend his "last days" near her. He's far from perfect now - but he's enjoying the SI Swimsuit Issue and the latest Sopranos we brought over last week . So we're pretty happy.

Still - East and West both have something to learn from each other. Are you Chinese? I have read articles about senior facilities - both assisted living and skilled nursing - particularly on the west coast of the US - which specialize in the needs and cultural desires of elderly Chinese people. Sounds like a good idea to me. Just like this Jewish facility serves the needs and cultural desires of elderly Jewish people. But I will have to leave it to the medical professionals to integrate Eastern and Western medical approaches (and I think that is an ongoing process). Robyn

[robyn]

...(man, what a thread to give a bunch of near-strangers way more intimate information than they could possibly want)...

Yup . I mentioned this thread to my husband last night - and he said "what - you're allowed to do that???). And I said - why not - there are threads about what people weigh - and bariatric surgery - why not constipation?

After all - you can have the best food - either at home or in a restaurant - and - if your body is out of sorts - what's the point? The point is eating good food - and feeling good!

My mother-in-law had terrible health problems before she died - and one of them was strictures in her esophagus. So she couldn't get down a lot of food - or any food if it wasn't soft. So she hated to eat - she actually was afraid to eat because of the unpleasant aftermath a lot of times. And she lost her enjoyment of eating after drinking 900 cans of Ensure. One of the best things I ever did for her was - the Christmas Eve before she died - I made a buffet which included a lot of delicious soft easy to swallow foods - like noodle kugel (which she had never had before - Chanukah was the same time as Christmas that year). And everyone remarked that she ate like a pig (mind you - she weighed about 90 pounds at that point) - and she really enjoyed it.

So I think bringing all our collective food knowledge to bear on the problems that lots and lots of people (not only the elderly) have with eating is a good application of our knowledge. Robyn

[robyn]

how about acupuncture?

Maybe 5 or 10 - or 20 years down the road - this facility will have a specialist in acupunture. Today - well the image of these (on average) 90 year old Jewish people - quite a few of whom were born in Europe - just makes me want to giggle . It's a generation gap thing. Robyn

[psychobombshell]

My mom and I were discussing this yesterday, and we're waiting for Low -Carb Metemucil to come out

[tryska]

just get regular psyllium husks, psycho - i don't know if metamucil is sweetened or not, but the plain husks, altho they are fiber have zero carbs.

[psychobombshell]

just get regular psyllium husks, psycho - i don't know if metamucil is sweetened or not, but the plain husks, altho they are fiber have zero carbs.

Oh sorry.. that was a joke... going along with the current craze to call EVERYTHING low-carb to buy into the market.

[tryska]

ah i see. sorry. i'm used to seeing questions like that on another forum i frequent. but those are people truly anal-retentive (pardon the pun) about their nutrition.

[Pan]

Metamucil without carbs exists, but it has awful artificial sweeteners in it (aspartame).

[tryska]

that sounds really gross. *lol* i'd rather just choke down the jellied sawdust that plain psyllium tastes like.