Claire Heffernan wrote:
>I make pill packs a week at a time and then he takes them
>himself. He was very grateful to have that responsibility shifted to me.
>Each pack is labeled for the day, then I labeled each cell by time.
In the July issue of the Readers Digest there is an article about the
number of Canadian seniors being harmed by drugs prescribed to help them.
One woman wrote that her elderly neighbour was faced with sorting daily
doses of ten different medications. She took the medications to the
pharmacist and he had each dose for a week packaged on a blister card. The
pharmacy delivers the cards and all the woman has to do is open one blister
to get the right dose.
I don't know that all pharmacists would be able to do this, but it's
worth asking about.
Judith
I'm
>sorry I didn't do that sooner for him, but we learn something every day.
>The stress of worrying about his meds was counterproductive. Also, if he
>can't remember whether he took a dose, you can look at the pill pack and
>see if the cell is empty. It also helps plan ahead for ordering more rx.
>
>I'm sure many other people are doing the same thing.
>
>Claire for Tom 54/46dx
>
>At 10:04 PM 7/1/99 -0700, you wrote:
>>Hi, I appreciated the responses I got when I asked about PD freezing
while
>>in bed. He has had another episode. This time he was in the bathroom
>>shaving and I heard him fall. Apparently he just fell against the wall
>>because he was standing when I got in there. But he was about to go down
>>so I helped him get to his bed as quickly as I could. His symptoms were
>>exactly like they were a week ago when he couldn't move to get up except
>>that this time he was moving albeit slowly. He didn't appear to be rigid.
>>He was somewhat incoherant, very weak, confused and he can't remember now
>>some of the things that happened. Figuering it was PD related I didn't
>>immediately do anything but he didn't seem to snap out of it and so I
>>called his doctor. He said to wait about 30 minutes and if there was no
>>change to get him to the hospital. He still seemed about the same but
>>insisted he didn't want go in an ambulance so I got him my mother's walker
>>and he made it out to the car.
>>
>>At the hospital they took all kinds of heart tests. Seems his heart rate
>>was way down. He had a complete cardiac work-up and everything was
normal.
>> He came home today. Still seems extra weak but is getting around slowly.
>>
>>If PD can cause the digestive system to work sluggishly isn't it logical
>>that the heart might also be sluggish at times? Has anyone had this kind
>>of an experience?
>>
>>My other concern is that I had to get his medication to take to the
>>hospital and I found his medicines in a mess. It makes me think perhaps
he
>>has not been taking the right dosages. The thing is that he worries about
>>not taking the right meds so much that he is always double checking his
>>layout. He puts them in individual bottles for four days at a time and it
>>is a good system if it works right. I hate to have to take over another
one
>>of his jobs so I will just oversee it for a while and see how it goes.
>>
>>Thanks for listening. Rosemary c/partner for Dex 75/6
>>
>>
