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My mom has been wheel-chair bound for the last 6 months. I have a Hospice service coming in daily to assist me with her. The CNA and I have noticed that she is "impacted" often, so the nurse suggested a stool softener 2x a day. When this didn't work, a laxative (Senna) was prescribed. Adding one of these to her meds was also unsuccesful, so the nurse told me to give her 4 of them!!! I did, as instructed, and we woke up to a REAL MESS the next morning (last Friday). She has NOT been "right" since...almost a week later!!! She is very weak,NO appetite, non-responsive, and extremely hard to transport from wheelchair to chair to bed,....She is OK with not having a bowel movement daily, but I know it is NOT good for her to NOT 'go' after 7+ days. When she is impacted, she is not herself either. Am I crazy, or doesn't 4 laxatives and a stool softener, in one day seem like way too much for her?! Any suggestions as to how I can keep her somewhat "regular"?! I have tried to use the BRAT (banans, rice applesauce and toast), but it's kind of hard when she doesn't have an appetite. I even wondered if she didn't need some IV fluid in her, since the blow out!?

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Sorry - my fingers hit the wrong key. I'll start again. I would get her to the doctor STAT. She may be suffering from dehydration - loss of fluids and neccessary minerals, like potassium. This can be life threatening. My Mom had similar constipation issues due to her heavy pain killer meds. I found that magnesium ( a natural mineral supplement) helped her a lot - just 250 mg per day. It is a natural muscle relaxer (including the bowel muscle). Taking too much can result in diarreah, but the lower dose once a day helps to keep the bowels soft. Check with your doctor - he may say he cannot swear it will help, but probably won't hurt (that's their failsafe statement. They are more tuned in to drugs vs natural supplements and shy to recommend them). Your pharmacist can also advise as to possible drug interaction with supplements. Once when Mom was in Rehab, they had her on all her drug Rx's, with no supplements. They tried everything you described above. At one point the nurse had to put on 2 rubber gloves and extract the size of small golf balls just give her some relief. That's when I talked to the Rehab doctor and asked him to add the magnesium, and he agreed that it would help.
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Water is the best thing I have found to keep bowels flowing, I give my mom 3 24oz bottles of water throughout the day. However, make sure you don't give more as you could cause wash good minerals like potassium, sodium out of her body. I agree with orangeblossom she should be checked for dehydration and I think the magnesium is good and I'm going to try that myself.
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a change of diet is necessary. good soups, skinless chicken breast, rice, etc. red meat and such require more energy to digst than the energy being extracted from the. also during meal preperation use a tbsp of chia seeds or a pkt of gelatin in the recipe. i started a week ago being more conscience of my mothers intake and already the bloated feeling has subsided and her bowel movements are regular and soft.
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Yes of course, Saphire, water is extremely important. Definitely - sorry I did't think to mention that.
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