This is really just a big whine. No matter what I try I can't keep mom on a bowel schedule. We are already on colace twice daily, senna at bedtime and milk of magnesia every third day until we see results. I keep trying to tweak this so I don't end up with an explosion of diarrhea , but now we are on day seven and in the midst of my monthly constipation h*ll. Repeated milk of mag and suppositories have produced some foul foul liquid, but still no real BM. I know she feels terrible about it, and I am less than pleasant to deal with. The poor woman has no normal bowel function at all, no desire and no ability to push. Our nurse comes tomorrow, but we have been through this too often already. I keep thinking that death by constipation would be a horrible way to have to go...
ADVERTISEMENT
Mom is 95 and on palliative care, but not on any narcotic pain meds so far. She never feels any physical distress over her lack of bowel movements, just from the treatment we have to undertake to get things moving again. Unfortunately every time I think I have a handle on this it seems to creep back in with increasing difficulty in getting a resolution.
We use Miralax in am coffee until results (usually within two days). Mom like prune juice too...by the shot glass. And we use dried fruits (like dates, raisins, and prunes) as snacks each day.
The other problem may be lack of regular fluids...seniors often lose the sense of being thirsty and don't take in enough liquid. This just makes everything move even slower.
Here's hoping for some regularity in your Mom's future!
If it is the run of the mill constipation, what I did for my Dad [93] was buy him a bottle of old fashioned Sun-sweet prune juice... Dad said it was better than any over-the-counter med.