Questions Re: Bed sores and morphine

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Vaccy99

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Jun 6, 2005
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Good day everyone!

My father has been battling ALS for 5 years and what a warrior he has been. Not once has he not had a smile on his face. However, the pain has increased recently, and I am seeking your help on how to make these days easier on him; if at all possible.

My father spends 75% of his day in bed and his bed sores have gotten much worse and are extremely painful. Could anyone suggest a method/tool that would assist in dealing with these sores? My father started taking Morphine pills on the weekend, however, it is not very effective as the pills have to be crushed and diluted before ingesting.

Thanks for taking the time and I appreciate any assistance!

Cheers!
 
Hi there, and welcome,

Glad you found us! Sorry to hear about your dad. Bedsores are a constant concern the more they become immobile. They can be very painful for the patient as well. We used little donughts for Henry. We put them under his elbows and his ankles. We also used a sheepkin blanket for him to lay on. The hard thing is, that once the skin is broken they never seem to heal. Use a good cream to keep the skin soft, and use good bandages if the skin is broken. Moving them constantly is also another must. But you probably already know that. I just bought a foam pad and cut out little rings made like doughnuts, and they seemed to help greatly. As for the pain meds, Henry was on morphine for a short period of time, but it gave him headaches so we stopped that, and we had a soft set put into his arm and he used diloudid to ease his pain. There were no obvious side effects with this. It is also five times stronger than morphine and it let him be as comfortable as he could be. It is a bugger those bedsores, and really there is no set rules to follow, you will find out that you will have to try many things before you settle in with something that works. Good luck to you and your dad. I hope that maybe some of these hints will help you out. Keep us posted and God Bless.

Love, Carol
 
Hi There:
I had to deal with them as well and, as Carol said, movement is a key. We also used a sheepskin which helped as well as sheepskin heel pads for her feet.
The sores, for us, started when we started using an inclined pillow that was too steep. The resulting moment, while it put her head up, put downward sliding pressure on the base of the spine and caused a very deep sore. We got rid of the pillow and used one that had about half of the rise.
Bed sores are nasty business... good luck with this.

Cheers

T.
 
Your tips are very much appreciated, thank you. I sometimes wish I could do more to make life a little easier for my father, but I feel so useless when it comes to this disease. I'm in my 20's and this is the first serious illness in my immediate family - harder to deal with than I ever imagined.

Daddy-o still has a bit of movement in his neck, abling him to gesture yes or no. However, it is becoming more difficult every day. I've seen numerous individuals mentioning word charts on the ceiling; could someone let me know how this works? Is it a product that I would purchase or create? I thought this might be a great idea for Father's Day.

Again, thank you for your time; I really do appreciate it!
 
Hi Again:
There are several options for assistance in communications. Some are quite simple and some much more exotic... depending on how much mobility that your dad has.
These issues were dealt with through our local ALS Clinic by a team of Occupational Therapists (OT) Speech therapists and, at that time the Assistive Devices Program if you are from Ontario. If not, find your local ALS clinic and find out what is available.
Other than that... setting up a communications plan is sor to f hit and miss. You use what works and discontinue what doesn't.
Good Luck

T.
 
communication devices

Hi
I just registered as a member. My mom (72) was diagnosed last week with end stage ALS. The team feels that she has had it for at least 3 years, but due to an underlying spinal condition, it wasn't picked up on. Just as well though: wouldn't have wanted to know the diagnosis earlier.

Her voice is quite weak, however the Speech therapist gave her a great device to use. It looks like a portable phone and has a headset with microphone. It works quite well, even for my dad who is hard of hearing. She doesn't have to repeat everything she says, and conserves her energy as well. The speech therapist said that she can use it for as long as need be.

We are still in shock over this diagnosis. We thought maybe MS, but this is a real kick in the pants. ALS was mom's greatest fear as she is so afraid of smothering.

Sorry for the long post, but I am so glad to be able to read about other people going thru the same thing. Makes things a little easier (if that's possible).
 
bed sores

I would suggest contacting a wound care specialist in your area... they are often a part of a multi-diciplinary team in home and community care and are most often a registered nurse (calgary in particular has some leading breakthroughs in wound care in the community). There are many great new products and innovative solutions for bedsores. Looking at prevention is crucial... but also considering nutrition and management of existing sores. If there is a wound that is persisting and not progressing in healing... I have seen VAC (vaccuum assisted closure) used in my area of work.

Hope that helps. :wink:
 
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