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Hello, does anyone have any tips for helping a hospice patient sleep at night? My dad has colon cancer and heart failure and recently he has not been able to breath laying down only completely upright. Obviously this is causing sleep problems where he and myself are getting little to no sleep. They already gave him oxygen, a medicine to dry secretions, a machine to suck out secretions and I give him lorazapam, morphine and haloparidol every four hours. None of these solutions seem to make a difference. Has anybodies loved one had this problem? How did you manage it? If you didn't manage it how long did they have to go on with breathing difficulties and sleep deprivation? I really hope he doesn't suffer like this for months.

This in a CHF patient indicates fluid in the lungs.
What is being done about that? Is he on diuretics? Are they not working? Is he on hospice care now with end stage.

This is something now to discuss with the medical team caring for Dad. I as an RN can imagine what's happening and what might be needed, but that's guesswork.

If hospice is on the case there SHOULD NOT BE SUFFERING. Medications should be being given to put a patient below the level of suffering. Yes, this may hasten death by some moments, hours, days, even weeks, but death is what is coming, and there is a limit to the amount of torment that should have to precede it.

I am so sorry. Discuss with team that there is currently breathlessness and discomfort and that's unacceptable at this time.
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Calcifer94 Jan 8, 2025
Yeah he is on hospice and on diuretics they aren't really working and its a pretty high dose. The medications and equipment I described were prescribed by his hospice team. He has been on hospice for 8 months now they are not really sure how he is still here with us when he has so many clinical signs of being near death.
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Does he have a hospital bed? If so raise the head of the bed so that he can breathe more easily.
A recliner or Lift Chair would also be an option.
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funkygrandma59 Jan 8, 2025
Yes, since he's already under hospice care they should have provided a hospital bed which the head of can be as high as the OP's dad needs.
And like you said Grandma, a recliner or lift chair is another good choice to sleep in if needed.
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Can he sleep in a recliner? What about a CPAP or BiPAP?
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