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WillyB Asked November 2017

My mom is still dealing with the "constipation issue." I've learned how to deal with that situation, however she has been getting panic attacks more often. Any suggestions?

What brings them on the most time is she thinks we are arguing but WE ARE NOT. It takes a few hours for her to get over the panic attacks. In the beginning I thought she was suffering a heart attack but all her vital signs when addmitted to the hospital were fine. The doctor says try not to take her to the hospital when she gets these attacks. She is 92 and the doctor wants to keep her off meds for this condition because of her age. Any suggestions?

BarbBrooklyn Nov 2017
I think Talkey's idea has some real merit. However, in general, I've found that anxious dementia patients find other things to be anxious about. Keep the geriatric psych idea in your back pocket if the " med" doesn't satisfy her.

talkey Nov 2017
I used to give Dad chocolate milk in a medicine cup & told him it was Kaopectate. He always thought it had been 3 days since he'd gone or that he'd had diarrhea for 3 days. This 'med' satisfied him. We'd go thru the same routine every day, though.

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BarbBrooklyn Nov 2017
This lady is NOT constipated. She forgets that she's gone.

commutergirl Nov 2017
The medications seniors take combined can really be a cocktail for constipation. For breakfast, I put a teaspoon of spinach in her scrambled egg; I put blueberries in her yogurt; I give her a half glass of orange juice; I put raisins in her oatmeal. By dinner time, this has opened her up some

timbuktu Nov 2017
I agree with Barb. Get your mom to a geriactric psychiatrist. I took my mom to one and my only regret is that I didn't do it sooner. He went over all her current meds,talked with her, she also was have anxiety attacks that were affecting everybody in the household and she was miserable, no amount of talking to her could give her ease, this was beyond what she could control. A lose of remiron, think I spelled that right, was a miracle. It didn't turn her into a zombie,that wasn't the goal, it greatly improved her quality of life as now she had a returned interest in things that had interested her before the anxiety episodes. And it didn't cause a problem with the other meds she had to be on.Also from reading what you wrote , maybe a screening for dementia is warranted.Panic attacks is a medical problem that cause a lot of problems on the body, increase heart rate and blood pressure for one and who needs that even at 92.Geriatric Pyschiatry is a wonderful specialized part of health care just for our seniors who are on so many other meds.And again just because you go for mental health care does not mean you are crazy,just the opposite.

CTTN55 Nov 2017
My mother (91) has a lot of anxieties (and obsessions) and what she describes as panic attacks. Her doctor told me she doesn't like to put her elderly patients on meds for that. Now (almost a year later), my mother thinks that there could be a magical pill that will render her fully physically able to walk without a rollator or cane and basically turn the clock back decades. It can't be a psychiatrist (she wouldn't go to one of them!), but maybe a neuropsychiatrist or something. She will decide on the specialist. The person has to see things EXACTLY the way she does. (She still speaks disparagingly of the neurologist she saw about her neuropathy, saying he sneered at her and laughed at her. I was there, and he did NOT do those things.)

I imagine she will dither about this for months and never get around to making an appointment, just like she's dithered around and never called cleaning services to hire one. I don't know how she cleans the bathroom, because she's so unsteady on her feet.

I'm just the Dummy Daughter Driver. I'm not even allowed into her medical appointments anymore.

BarbBrooklyn Nov 2017
Get your mother to a geriatric psychiatrist who understands that panic and agitation are real medical conditions that warrant treatment.

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