My dh is bedbound and though his bm is soft (I have to go in and check), it won't come out. I push on the stomach, turn him on his left side (the bowel side) and ask him to push but he just tightens the muscles and the poop goes higher up instead of coming out. I use Miralax and a suppository. The Fleets don't seem to do anything but make a mess. If I try to pull it out, it is too soft to get hold of. If I don't give the Miralax, then it becomes too hard. Seems like there is no middle ground. If they can't help move it out, what do you do? I am at my wits end.
Have u tried dulcalax (sp) suppositories and also senakot laxatives and also stool softners. Usually this combination works for dh. I also make sure 3 stool softners every night with lots of applesauce b'fast and evening meals. We did have to go to er one time - stayed there 6 hrs due to impaction. Good luck.
brindle you poor dear. i know exactly what you are speaking of unfortunately in late stage these do become issues. are yall listening out there?? ha.listen up friends. the poop issues never go away. in mid stages they may become messy and still mobile and the poop patrol becomes necesssary and yes its nasty to deal with. but in late stages there is a whole new set of issues if you keep them at home . i can surely see the need for placement alot of the time! this has been a worrisome issue with us too brindle. it seems that the connection of sphincter /rectal muscles tend to not to work well as before and they have problems with the pushing and muscles to move the bm. if you have hospice ask for their input as they may have a way to lavage.. or use a tube to flush the colon out if need be. my plight as poop queen has been on one end of the spectrum to the other. poop patrol early on and now there seems to be no control over the muscles and we have ongoing bm almost all the time now due to the reasons i mention above. brindle, the only thing you may can do is continue the senokot S to soften the bowels and avoid an inpacted colon. and try the ducolax suppository i have had good luck with this one. but remember all these things are considered stimulants and at some point may not work too. i have used up to 3 enemas in a day and suppository to boot. if it goes several days be sure to get hospice involved and the nurse can help get him going hopefully. they deal with this alot. and i will add once again that YES this disease if awfull and the things that our poor spouses are put thru well its just beyond belief sometimes. very sad and surely no way to live.. whishing you luck and hugs, this is not for the faint of heart friends. but yes if you have to you will manage. just one more thing on the agenda to learn to deal with!and yes sheltifan, someday i will be sorry to not have that crown! divvi
I know it is best not to look ahead too far, but this is the thing I dread. I remember his Mom and the bathroom "issues", and already I see that he hides his slightly soiled underwear from me.
Maybe though, I can look forward to having a crown, even if I am the "Poo queen"
arrggh...this thread kind of freaked me out, but thanks for the giggle over it.
coco, we do tend to lay it on the line in this group. sometimes its painfully blunt as you see, but many find comfort knowing what to expect down the road and yes there are many here on the boards who deal with it and try to make light of the situations so others dont freak out. poop/pee issues are pretty common place around here especially with my posts. :) i didnt get the title without hard work. but it is a bodily function we all do and when our spouses are sick like this we try to help them manage however best we can and move on. it is best not to look too far down the road at times, but knowledge is power in the longrun. divvi
Okay, down and dirty it is....when this happened to us I remembered an old trick that the doctor used to tell parents if a baby was constipated....take the rectal thermometer and insert it and twist it around a bit...sometimes that is enough stimulation to get the "ball" rolling...so to speak.
I had to resort to manual extraction on occasion....not something I ever thought I would be able to do, but it is what it is.
I tried to keep the "chute" open by feeding him prunes, drinking prune juice, a dose of lactulose (prescription) every day. It meant a messy clean up every time, but since he was bedridden and contracted it was easy to clean up...he wasn't up and moving to get the stuff all over the place.
You just got to put your big girl pants on and do what you got to do! No its not fun butt what is in AD? Good luck to all of you that are in this stage, bless you. Yes get Hospice involved before impaction or suspect one. Divvi you can keep that crown!
The nurses at our Assisted Living facility suggested a glass of prune juice, heated in the microwave to as hot as you can drink. It resulted in a BM in about 20 minutes.
Might as well get down and dirty. I have worked with paraplegics who no longer have the nerve connection to push out a bowel moment. Digital stimulation usually works. A suppository might. You could also try a Fleets enema.
Oh...you brave and wonderful caregivers....I am a wimp...I have to pass this part of the care. I know it in advance. I feel so quilty when I read how brave you all are, but this type of care I just know I can't handle. Placement time will come immediately after poop. Hopefully, maybe I will be lucky and this won't happen at our house.
Medals for everyone. I'm out of here. Run away! Run away!
I have one question. Why does it have to smell so bad? Why? Why?
And the answer is that even though the smells are what they are, we have developed more extreme sensitivity to it as a survival mechanism. That's not good says our brain move away nothing for us here.
Unless of course you're the poop queen. Or in my case when you flush it down with your fist in the air celebrating ONE MORE TIME! YES!!
Judith and Julia, most...if not all of us...have said the same thing. We could never deal with the "poop problem". But, then, it happens and you deal with it and go on.
But, it is the main reason for placement....and I can understand that.
I would do it, take care of poop issues, if he was still feeling clear enough to enjoy life a bit. Plastic sheets are on my list. It is coming soon I know.
Now if he cannot walk, that is a different story, you know what I mean.
When we took care of his Mom she was just so DARN MEAN!!!! Hitting and cursing and threatening to soil her pants. Very bad memories and sometimes when I look at him, and see HER, I get really fearful. Getting over it though, he is not like her.
Thank you all so very much. I don't mind cleaning it up or digging it out. I just want to make sure that giving more than one suppository is ok. The Fleets doesn't really help in my opinion. Also if the poop is too soft, it is really hard to get anything out. I have resorted to using two fingers. If dh could have poop the size of a baseball bat (diameter, not length) my two fingers should be a cinch! I used to have to dig it out of the toilet as it was too thick to flush. I used the doggy poop bags to get rid of them. Warm drinks don't do anything for dh. Wolf, the reason for the smell (according to one of the visiting nurses) is that the poop is days old. Really gets rank. The softer bm goes around the hard stool making the hard stool smell. I use the paper trash bags to keep the smell down in the trash can. Really makes a difference. I also take as much poop as possible to the toilet to flush. Yes, I feel the relief when it all goes well myself. Thank goodness for Clorax. When the smell gets bad, I add it to the toilet water and some to the bathing container with water. That seems to clean the air. Then pour it down the sink drain. Three days is what I was told as well. However, I get a little here and there. So I have to "check" regularly. Apparently, the cavity is so large that some poop moves away from the hole. So much guesswork. I used to use Senakot but it comes in tablets and dh can't swallow tablets so we depend on Miralax - too much Miralax and poop is very watery, too much fibre and it stops up. With all of the allergies and mucous issues, the meds for those tend to dry dh up. Glad to know this happens to many of you so you can share with the rest of us. It is always good to know it is all part of the AD process. So glad you are all here. Thanks, again.
brindle i think it always best to consult with your spouses nurse/hospice dr etc to verify just how much of the enemas/suppositories can be given in one day. it can vary due to other medications, and if there are other factors to consider with the use of more than one enema/suppository per day. i wouldnt give more than whats on the package unless the dr oks it first. some meds interact or interfer with other drugs as we know. clorax is my BFF for some time now. i use it to clean and sanitize as well. i tried the green varieties but they just dont seem to get it clean enough for me. i use the senokot S and i melt them in applesauce, and they melt easily in about an hr or so and i can spoon it with the applesauce. it works fine like this. good ole pitted stewed prunes in apple cider and brown sugar til soft works good too at breakfast.