Mom wanted more combivent inhaler (again) and I told her she needed to wait until 2 hrs after the Proair. That's how her pulmonist has it prescribed. So I was in the kitchen doing dinner dishes when I hear this sound of banging on the dining room table where she always sits. I step in from the kitchen and she's shaking and flailing her hands down on the table. I thought she was having a seizure so I pressed her medic alert button. She immediately stopped shaking and flailing her hands and shouted " I don't need them!! Tell them not to come!" I truly think this was a staged incident to try to get what she wanted....MORE MEDS! I'm about at my wits end here. I don't have Healthcare POA just financial and can't force her to go to the hospital or anywhere. Help me please anyone....
Get to the physician...do you suffer from breathing difficulties??
You have COPD???
I agree - call her pulmonolgist today and get an appointment.
Also, do you have a/c? If not, I hope you use fans to cool the air. It's harder to breath when the air is warm and the humidity increases.
I would also consider getting a HEPA air filter. We got one for my father and he bought one for me. I use it when the air gets stuffy - it helps remove not only the stuffiness but air irritants as well.
You said you think this was a staged incident. On what did you base that conclusion? Has your mother "staged incidents" before? Is this part of her personality?
With respiratory issues, it doesn't pay to guess. Find out - ask her pulmonologist for a thorough workup, including using the breathing booth (can't remember what the test is actually called).
Does your mother use a nebulizer at home? If not, ask about that?
So, try to think of her actions as the best she can do right now. She might now be able to describe why she wants the inhaler. Get a list of questions and record them for the MD next time she does this. It is hard to think clearly if you are having trouble breathing. If that really is happening, the objective questions might give the MD a clue about what is happening.
Also, having used pills and inhalers in the past, they amp up your energy. If that is what she is seeking, is she on anti depressants, or meds that slow her down too much? All stuff to consider clearly, when you set aside feeling manipulated. You will probably still feel unfairly manipulated, I did, but with a plan to follow, you will know what to do even while having these feelings.
Nor am I sure that what she had was a seizure or fake. If she was short of breath, it could have caused panic. If you've been a swimmer and miscalculated how long it would take to get back to the surface, arriving there and gasping for breath, you'll know it frightening it is. The flailing might actually have been a panic attack.
The fact that you posed this question tells me you question whether your assessment of the seizure was in fact fake. Go with your gut, be safe. All in all, an immediate visit to the pulmonologist is in order. If there is something amiss and she needs more meds or more often and doesn't get them, you'll regret it if anything dire happens to her.
Anyway ... the fact that your mother came out of it so immediately and refused medical attention does seem to indicate that it wasn't a real seizure, but it sure could have been a real panic attack. I'd think better safe than sorry. If it ever happens again (and let us certainly hope it doesn't) calling paramedics might be safest and worthwhile. If is is "fake" that will probably be the end of that behavior. It if was a panic attack, it would be good to know that, and for both of you to learn how to deal with panic attacks when they happen again. And, of course, if it is a seizure you will not regret immediate action.
As others have said, get her to her doctor at the earliest possible appointment.
And no she is not on an anti-depressant, but does take Ativan for anxiety. Which is a whole other issue. She will throw a fit to try to get more of that too. However it was making her dizzy and so we had falling incidents. All in all she doesn't take that many meds. She even wants to overdo it on Tylenol. I have to lock that and the Ativan up also. I have to give her the Ativan and watch her take it or she will and has tried to hide it.
I do have an appointment to see her PCP on Tuesday to see what he suggests. He is out of the office this week and they had to squeeze me in at the end of the day for an appt.
And yes we do have air conditioning, no one smokes, and I can tell when she has gotten her doses in her lungs. I don't just hand inhaler to her and walk away. I watch and listen to be sure she's getting the dose. If I see that she hasn't inhaled correctly, I will have her repeat a puff just to be sure she had gotten the full benefit.
It wasn't that she just said "no don't call" she was screaming it at me. And she has faked things before. I have learned that she will scream, cry, cajole, throw a tantrum, call me names, try to bargain and just about anything else to get what she wants.
I know I don't need a POA to call an ambulance, but if she says she's not going to the hospital or anywhere else they cannot transport her against her will.
I appreciate all the helpful insights from all of you and will definitely raise these issues with her PCP.
All that being said, we had a fairly peaceful evening tonight.
It does sound as though she's anxious generally; I think panic attacks may be what's happening. Can she be relaxed through listening to music? I've heard that some elders reject any attempt to calm them down, arguing that it either won't work or just aggravates them, but I suspect that's a gut response to someone suggesting that they need to be calmed.
Perhaps you could say you need to relax and want to listen to music, then try that when she gets panicky, or when you sense the anxiety starting to build. Deep breathing and petting furry critters can also calm a person down.
Why do you think she's anxious? Is she showing a lot of fear for her physical health at this stage in her life?
You're obviously knowledgeable and on top of the situation. If you have some insight into what precipitates the panic episodes, perhaps you can find solutions to those and work at the source.
Good luck, and hope the doctor visit goes well.
When our 87 year old was released from the hospital (her OCD's have nothing to do with medicine, but) last April from a sinus infection that required, three days of breathing treatments, she would not stop looking for her purse (no purse). She spent the night tearing her closet apart and demanded hands on hips to be taken to her home, where she has not lived for three years, the only thing that stopped her from going was telling her she was going to have to walk there (we would go tomorrow, that her purse must be in the closet there...OCD made her look for for the purse for three more hours, until she finally went to bed.
Sometimes...in our effort to understand these situations, we can panic too, their behaviors do not necessarily follow logic...