They Call Me Doctor Poop

One of the biggest dementia care problems we face is problems with bowel movements and constipation.By Bob DeMarcoAlzheimer's Reading RoomYesterday was a crappy day. More succinctly, a poop agita day.It started with Dotty repeatedly telling me she had to poop.A few minutes after I got Dotty out of bed she kept saying, I want to get back in bed. Why? She had to poop and couldn't do it. Six times in a little over an hour up down - no poop.Coping with DementiaKeep in mind this entails:getting Dotty out of bed and into the wheelchair, out of the wheelchair and on to the toilet, off the toilet and into the wheelchair, out of the wheelchair and into the bed.Six round trip rides. I wonder if I lost any weight yesterday? Hmm.Subscribe to the Alzheimer's Reading - This is a Free Service - Join NowEach time I checked after Dotty gets off the toilet --No POOP - E.Now for a confession.This entire problem was caused by lax caregiving on my part. Starting in early December our daily scheduled started to getdisrupted. As a result, there were many days when Dotty did not get daily prune juice injection. Prune juice is the magic POOP - E elixir.Alzheimer's ConstipationAs it turns out, I stopped giving Dotty the daily prune juice injection back on December 31, the first day she was sick. Big mistake.Things were so hectic that I just forgot.Has this every happened to you? Things get so hectic while caring that you forget to do something?We were no longer on our regular schedule because of Dotty...
Source: Alzheimer's Reading Room, The - Category: Neurology Tags: Alzheimer's Communication alzheimer's constipation alzheimers bowel movement alzheimers care dementia care help alzheimer's help with dementia care how to communicate with dementia patients Source Type: blogs