AFH update on mom

[BarbaraH]

Glad you found my suggestions helpful. I hope you Mom will latch onto that little poodle and peace will reign!

I had the same situation with Mom's doctor of 30 years. I called at 4:40pm on a Thursday and got the answering machine. I then called the emergency number from the machine message and said I needed to talk to the doctor as it was an emergency. No repsonse. I called the office at 7:30am on Friday morning and talked to a nurse I'd gotten to know and told her it was criminal to have an emergency number with no help available. I was furious. She was sympathetic and the doctor called me an hour later. He said he'd gotten the message when he returned to town at 11pm and he decided it was too late to call. I read him the riot act. He agreed that the system failed me. I said the system and he were both at fault and I fired him. He refused to make "housecalls" at the ALF or NH anyway and I'd come to refuse bringing Mom to his office to sit far an hour before being seen. She was 87 and deserved courtesy and prompt service, especially after being his patient for so long.

Good luck gettting all of the doctor stuff sorted out!

Happy Saturday! Barbara

[LuvMyLilDoggie]

Lorazepam is habit forming. It's in the Xanax and Valium family of drugs. The long term use of it and then tapering off of it can open a whole new can of worms. With AD, it could cause her agressiveness to get much worse when off the drug once her body is dependant on it. That (plus the slew of possible side effects) is probably why this doctor didn't order it daily for her.

I read up on Lorazepam when my dad's doctor rx'd it for him when he was getting violent with me. It calmed him down a LOT. But it made him sleep all the time too. He was taken off it when I noticed a side effect that could affect his heart. He has congestive heart failure already. I called his doctor and he was rx'd another med.

I wonder if maybe cutting the pill in half would be enough to take the edge off just for a few weeks until the other med kicks in.

You're doing a GREAT JOB, Sandy! Yoiu're RELAXING! You sound like a whole different person than you did a few weeks ago.

Love, Barb

[janeslk]

My FIL is apparently on lorazepam to stop his violent behavior and it is definitely working. I read that no one should stay on it longer than four months. He is also taking depakote, a bi-polar drug: temazepam, a sleep aid, buspirone, and Zoloft. The doctor does not consult us on his prescribed drugs so I only know what he is taking when I get the pharmacy bills.

The effects of any drugs seem to wear off over time, but I hope they keep him on whatever combination is working. A doctor makes calls at his AD unit so I am glad we don't have to run down a doctor everytime there is a problem.

I can't believe patients are allowed access to an office phone. Surely your mother is not the first patient of this type they have encountered.

Jane

[Sandyspen]

Jane, that's sort of my way of thinking. It's hard to believe they haven't had someone in this stage before my mom. Their main phone, the one mom is hijacking, is in G's office. I think just shutting the door would probably dissuade her from entering. Hope they try that. They did say they had unplugged it for awhile and she left because she thought it was broken. No calls today, maybe she still thinks that.

What an awful ordeal, Barbara. I know doctors are busy but emergencies still happen. It seems to me in an office with several doctors, someone should be on-call to accept phone calls.
At one point they put me on-hold for the medical assistant whom they said could order the meds with the doc's approval. I held for 40 minutes and she never picked up.

I do feel tons better, Barb. I'm glad it shows! It's much easier to call doctors and try to manage all their affairs when you aren't tugging with them at the same time. My heart goes out to anyone who is still trying to do that. It's near impossible without losing "yourself."

Martha, I don't know how on earth you did it for so many years.

[angel_bear]

Sandy, Look into the laws in your state governing Chemical Restraints ..... it's a BIG thing over here ....... same with my ex-charge .... they FINALLY called in the anti-psychotic Med's (Serenace I think) and the change was INCREDIBLE .. but it was prescribed PRN (as needed) and only in extreme circumstances could they give it to her.

Just because I wanted her to have one in her morning coffee, afternoon tea and night-time supper to keep her calm ALL the time, was irrelevant .. the nursing home is only allowed to give her one if she's at an extreme, or about to be under duress. You might want to check into the rules. You may also need to sign a "Restraint Agreement" as time goes by .. it sounds awful, but it's still there to keep them safe and to keep others safe from them .... especially the violent ones.

Sandy, you sound GREAT. Even though you have a different set of stresses now, you can WALK AWAY, you can choose NOT to answer the phone (get an answering machine) and your suggestions to "G" are good .. I haven't found an Aged Care Facility who HAVEN'T had a locked Nurses Station .. we have swipe cards to gain access to ours, much quicker than a key.

Hang in there Sandy .. everything is still on the improve.

Hugs
Sally