eyeamom- thinking of you. So aggravating and worrisome to boot. Sad to see so little will to get off the couch coupled with the ability to do an end run around her medical team for drugs. In most areas, Drs. are quite sensitive to how their prescriptions for pain meds are perceived and reviewed. Who assumes the liability if there is not coordination between her medical team and a problem arises? Sadly, in some cases that is the only motivation to stop. Perhaps sister should put her request/demand in writing with supporting legal docs of PoA/health proxy and send it certified mail/return receipt requested directly to the Dr. and added to your mother’s chart. She can also request copies of mother’s medical records. Maybe your sister can just make the practice enough on edge to cease and desist without a lot of hassle and expense.
Have you spoken to the Drs office prescribing the oxy and told them they are facilitating the abuse of the med? Is mom getting the prescriptions filled at different pharmacies? Usually there is a cross reference database to avoid filling controlled substances sooner than they should. You can politely let the Drs office know your mom has an addiction problem and you may have to consider contacting the medical board if they continue to facilitate her addiction.
Eyemamom sorry to hear about your mother’s medical team.
Has anyone had experience with medicinal marijuama to relieve anxiety and aggression with Alzheimers patient?
I have been researching this, because a relative is investigating for family member, who happens to live in colorado.
I’m impressed with my quick internet research in the active chemical’s effectiveness in relieving chronic pain, arthritis , dementia agitation, anxiety.
I’d be somewhat surprised if an Alzheimer’s facility would allow patients to use marijuana. Though it is legal (for varying degrees of legal ) in Colorado, it is still not permitted in University housing, for example, even with a medical marijuana card.
The Denver Post has a Cannibist column that regularly review various marijuana strains – perhaps it might have something on effects in patients with Alzheimer’s?
It could be consumed in edibles so that the fumes from smoking it wouldn’t bother other patients. Personally, I find the scent very strong and it REALLY irritates my airways.
Yes. It is probably best for lungs not to be smoked anyway–other means of ingesting will limit the fine particulate matter that is so harmful especially for smallest airways.
I am told by those who use medical marijuana, that THC (thought to be the psychotropic ingredient in marijuana) is not as effective in relieving nausea and pain as the whole leaf. Herbalists feel you need to whole herb to get it’s touted benefit. I can imagine marijuana helping with the agitation of a demented person.
CBD stands for cannabidiol. Cannabidiol actually reduces the psychological effects of medical marijuana. For most patients, a strain that has high THC and high cannabidiol will have fewer “mental” effects and more physical ones. High cannabidiol medical marijuana strains, like Blueberry and Harlequin, are especially effective for illnesses with strong physical symptoms.
Cannabidiol’s effects include:
reduced pain
reduced anxiety
reduced nausea
sedative effects
anti-convulsive
anti-schizophrenic
What CBN Is and Its Effects
CBN is cannabinol, not to be confused with Cannabidiol. Cannabinol is very similar to THC, but has less psychological effects. It is produced as THC breaks down within the medical marijuana plant. High THC will make cannabinol’s effects stronger, and very high cannabinol concentrations can produce undesirably strong head highs. Cannabinol levels tend to be high in medical marijuana strains like Strawberry Haze and Blue Rhino, which can be particularly helpful for:
lowering pressure in the eye (such as with glaucoma)
analgesic
anti-seizure
My sister and mom went to go visit one of my mom’s longest and closest friends in the rehab unit yesterday. Friend had a uti (just like mom) and the poor thing was out of her mind - like mom was many times this past year. Mom turned to my sis and asked if she was like that and sis said yes. Mom didn’t remember. They then talked for a long time about her being so stubborn with her need to control meds was going to have her just like that again in no time. She’s the healthiest, most mobile and with it she’s been in years in large part because the meds are being dispensed and taken properly. And she’s very fortunate all 4 of her kids are on the same page - her friends kids are not. And it’s been voted 4 to 1 that she needs to have her facility oversee ALL medications, no sneaking off to see other doctors, etc. Mom asks…that sounds great, who’s the 1? lol Sis was like - mom - you’re the 1 fighting this. She handed over her medications to the nurse.
Great news, eyeamom. But, one suggestion. Addicts tend to hide their meds. You might need to consider going thorugh her room with a fine tooth comb, including ceiling if there are ceiling tiles, to see if any are hidden (check drawers, shoes, etc)
Very interesting story on PBS weekend newshour yesterday:
A growing national movement to normalize end-of-life discussions among family and friends has gained traction in recent months. As Medicare considers whether to cover such conversations with physicians, The Conversation Project, a Boston-based non-profit, is highlighting the importance of talking openly about dying. http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/new-movement-urges-scary-conversations-death-among-friends-family/
I was very, very lucky that my dad had expressed his end-of-life wishes explicitly in his living will. It wasn’t easy to carry them out, and I couldn’t follow every one of them (there was no way he could have gone home to die in the week between when he had a hemorrhagic stroke in the hospital and when he died). But at least I knew what he wanted, and I had it in writing.
Great link, Oldmom. The more we normalize “The Conversation” the better for everyone.
A lot of us don’t have a good understanding about what “Do everything to keep me alive” means. I wonder if there are some decision aids that help us visualize what we’d be choosing if we chose “do everything.” When you hear from family members of people for whom “everything” was done, those family members often do not think they would want “everything” themselves. We need a better understanding of what our choices entail.
I agree, Cardinal Fang. But it’s just hard. My brother, who is lucid, is going through this right now, with cancer that will likely kill him within a few years. Many possible life-extending treatments of varying degrees of predicted success and varying degrees of horrible and debilitating effects. But it’s hard for him to decide where to draw the line and “give up.” Even harder if someone is working off a perfectly written script (living will) and deciding for another person who can no longer express wishes.
His doctors haven’t made it easier, not at all. They just don’t have the mindset needed.
Doctoring is hard. But too many doctors don’t have the ability to step back and consider whether the next thing they’re proposing makes sense. They’re treating the disease, not the patient. And patients and their families don’t realize that by consenting to X, they are stepping on a treadmill that they can’t get off.
Have you suggested to your brother that the next time the doctors recommend a treatment, he ask them what other treatments will follow from it? A lot of times we don’t know what we’re signing up for when we agree to something.
The MOLST form is quite specific about options as one ages or when end of life issues are in the foreground. Reviewing this with family members and/or physicians could be very useful in approaching these dilemmas and providing a context for decision making.
I think that “direct speak” about how one thinks about the options, particularly in advance of urgency, is the best gift possible. We have deliberately shared how we are thinking about the elders we care for with our adult kids, as well as our personal thoughts about quantity vs quality, etc. My now deceased mother was great about this and pro-active. How it helped me when it was time to ensure that there was no further treatment.
Local NAMI president, and friend of mine, sponsored something called " Death Cafe - in the European tràdition"
She held a couple meetings át local musuem- turnout was not so good,just a very strange concept for this area.“Having the conversation” events sounds more appealing
My brother is a lawyer and has said he’ll send a letter to this prescribing doctor essentially threatening to turn her into the medical board if she prescribes my mother one more narcotic.
) in Colorado, it is still not permitted in University housing, for example, even with a medical marijuana card.