My father is 62 confined to bed due to the severity of his COPD. He also has breathing treatments every fours hours and takes over 12 different meds every 2 to 4 hours. So he can never sleep more than 4 hours at a time and he cant miss a treatment or he spends hours trying to catch his breath. I am his unemployed daughter which has been a like a god send becuase it has allowed me to be able to take care of him. But it is hard sometimes to have the will power to even get out of bed. Those in my position probably know what it is like to not even be thanks or asked for things. And now it has come to the time where I dont know if I can trust him with his meds anymore he has recently started to mess them up and I dont know what to do. I want to take control and monitor his meds but he is being very forcefull about refusing. Which I can understand it is on of the few things he still has control over. But it is scary and expensive that he keeps screwing it up. What should I do?
My own Mom was in denial that my Dad was in his 90's and could no longer climb up ladders, mow the lawn, drive, etc. She actually got upset with him anytime he tried to say "no".... [sign]. Then Dad would be lost when I said "no" to doing ladders, sorry that shipped has sailed years ago... thus he was in denial about my own age.
Maybe your sister-in-law is doing the right thing, she decided not to enable her parents to remain in their home when they both need a higher level of care. Maybe she was helping when you and hubby were on the road, and got burnt out. One has to remember not everyone can be a caregiver, just as not everyone can be a State Trooper, a military soldier, a surgeon, etc.
My mum and Uncle both had severe COPD, yes I am aware that I wrote "had" :), let me explain:
Her COPD is from a life long condition of severe asthma, exacerbated even more from serious Amiodarone Pulmonary Toxicity. Her lungs were saturated with Interstitial Infiltrate's. The doctors told me that the damage was nonreversible and put her on O2. With my Uncle, his COPD is from severe Emphysema. The by product of smoking 4 packs of cigarettes a day, in a closed room. He "was" on 3 liters of O2. Both used rescue inhalers, multiple times a day, and nebulizer treatments every 6 hours.
I read a study on young asthmatics from BYU that was completed in 2010. During the study they found that a large portion of their sample group had low magnesium levels so they put everyone in their study on magnesium supplements. They then discovered that suddenly there was a significant reduction in the frequency of necessity for the rescue inhalers and in some cases a complete elimination in the need of the rescue inhaler. As they studied further, they concluded that the magnesium promoted a significant reduction in the amount of histamine in the lungs and also made that cellular wall of the airways more pliable.
I talked with my mums family physician and he agreed to dial mag. supplement with low dose of steroid for 1 year, I also researched Amiodarone Pulmonary Toxicity (APT) and discovered some case studies that supported the use of 1 year of steroid to help reduce the damage. Fast forward to present, which is 2 years later, we 100% reduced all lung damage with no signs of APT, no need for O2 with her saturations staying above 97%. The incredible part is that she no longer needs or uses the nebulizer and only uses her inhaler twice a day as a preventative maintenance approach. Her lungs are actually better than they have been in 40 years, she is now 78.
Due to these results, last year I decided to also put my Uncle on the mag. supplement. He no longer needs or uses the O2, they had to actually remove it from the home as he no longer met the minimal requirements for an O2 prescription. He also no longer needs or uses the nebulizer but we do give him morning steroid inhaler and a rescue inhaler that he only uses during the pollen season or high humidity days. His SPO2 levels run consistently between 95 and 97, will dip to 91 while walking.
Family physician was so impressed that he put all of his patients on mag supplements, at least the ones that will actually take it. WORD OF CAUTION: The mag can also decrease blood pressure and in some cases will decrease the heart rate. Monitor these closely if taking blood pressure medication or medications for fast heart rate. I actually take mag for both and no longer need prescription medications for a fast heart rate or high blood pressure anymore, both are and stay at normal levels now.
Almost forgot to add this to my last post: they both still have and are diagnosed with COPD, that will never go away. What we did do was reversed some of and drastically decreased the progression of the COPD. My Uncle was first diagnosed with severe emphysema and first put on O2 14 years ago. He is now 81 years old and breaths better now than he was able to when first diagnosed. Love the benefits of that Magnesium... :)
I call 911 every month and a half period because of her progressive COPD. Thus far, her current medications are having little to no effect on her breathing issues ... Not exactly sure where to go from here. Any recommendations would be helpful and greatly appreciated.
Hang in there and know that you're not alone!