Any advice on handling chronic loose bowels in a 93-year-old?
93 year old mother in law has chronic diarrhea. She does better on a bland rice and ground chicken. Dairy and gluten free. If she deviates it goes right through her. Her doctor tells her she is fine
She can try daily immodium. I'd try 1/2 tablet a day first. the immodium will not heal her but will help manage symptoms.
An old school remedy is the John Hopkins protocol of 8 pepto bismol tablets a day for 8 weeks. (spread through the day) This has worked for me. PLEASE NOTE IN SOME PEOPLE THIS DOSE CAN CAUSE TINNITIS.
She can also try a script of cholestyramine from her PCP. This also worked for me but I had a side effect so had to discontinue this.
She may have microscopic colitis. The problem is that to diagnose this you need to do a colonoscopy. No way would I subject a 93 year old to a colonoscopy.
Keep her on rice and chicken. Keep her dairy and gluten free. Eliminate packaged and processed foods (i.e. anything with an ingredient list.)
She might be ok with bananas.
Use immodium and/or pepto bismol pills as needed.
Take a look at her prescription meds. Many will cause chronic diarrhea as a side effect.
I have microscopic colitis and I ate rice and chicken 3x a day for 3 years. I can now eat more things.
My 90-year mother has the same problem. Ultimately the answer was daily dose of loperamide (Imodium), prescribed by her doctor, before bed. She considers it a miracle. No problems since she started this dosage almost a year ago. Talk to her doctor about adding this to her meds. It really is a quality of life issue and shouldn't be brushed off as "normal."
It is very very common for seniors in their '90s to suffer from this. It's just something that seems to happen. Recommend that you keep doing as you're doing... Offering food that will not upset the stomach. Rice ground meats etc.. when I was a CNA dealing with older seniors it was extremely common. Look for other issues such as fever or pain etc. otherwise just offer light meals throughout the day that don't upset the stomach.
I guess the question is how much do you want to track down the cause? If this is an issue that is bothering both of you I would see a gastroenterologist. There are stool tests that can be run that may determine what is going on. I guess then the question is do you want to put a 93 year old through the other possible testing that may result? (I think if it were me at this age I would opt no further testing) Is she losing weight? Is the diarrhea causing any other problems? (Like skin issues) While generally I think if a doctor says.."there is noting to worry about" or "she's fine" I am inclined to not press the issue. So I guess it is up to her and or you to figure out how much you want to do. Even without the consult of a dietitian at 93 it is not the rice and chicken diet that will kill her.
You can pretty much live on a diet of ground chicken and rice for a lifetime with a multivitamin here and there. If that works, so be it. If the doctor isn't worried, that's good. Often the problems are the opposite with chronic constipation. HOWEVER there are basic stool tests that CAN BE and SHOULD BE run to rule out things like C-Diff that can occur with the need of antibiotics, other things.
Hoping all "goes well". You have been wise to follow up with doctor. Now, dependent on how frequent and how explosive this diarrhea is, I would continue, if need be, to be the squeeky wheel.
Some people are helped by the way, by Citrucel daily. While recommended for constipation, it can also give form to the stools and help with diarrhea, and is worth a try. While Metamucil is somewhat the same it is digested and fermented differently in the gut and can cause gas and further diarrhea, so go with the Citrucel if you try this.
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She can try daily immodium. I'd try 1/2 tablet a day first. the immodium will not heal her but will help manage symptoms.
An old school remedy is the John Hopkins protocol of 8 pepto bismol tablets a day for 8 weeks. (spread through the day) This has worked for me. PLEASE NOTE IN SOME PEOPLE THIS DOSE CAN CAUSE TINNITIS.
She can also try a script of cholestyramine from her PCP. This also worked for me but I had a side effect so had to discontinue this.
Stick with the few foods diet.
She also might be ok with bananas, mashed sweet potato or mashed white potato.
Rice and chicken was my diet for 3 years and I worked during that time.
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Keep her on rice and chicken. Keep her dairy and gluten free. Eliminate packaged and processed foods (i.e. anything with an ingredient list.)
She might be ok with bananas.
Use immodium and/or pepto bismol pills as needed.
Take a look at her prescription meds. Many will cause chronic diarrhea as a side effect.
I have microscopic colitis and I ate rice and chicken 3x a day for 3 years.
I can now eat more things.
If this is an issue that is bothering both of you I would see a gastroenterologist. There are stool tests that can be run that may determine what is going on.
I guess then the question is do you want to put a 93 year old through the other possible testing that may result? (I think if it were me at this age I would opt no further testing)
Is she losing weight?
Is the diarrhea causing any other problems? (Like skin issues)
While generally I think if a doctor says.."there is noting to worry about" or "she's fine" I am inclined to not press the issue. So I guess it is up to her and or you to figure out how much you want to do. Even without the consult of a dietitian at 93 it is not the rice and chicken diet that will kill her.
Hoping all "goes well". You have been wise to follow up with doctor. Now, dependent on how frequent and how explosive this diarrhea is, I would continue, if need be, to be the squeeky wheel.
Some people are helped by the way, by Citrucel daily. While recommended for constipation, it can also give form to the stools and help with diarrhea, and is worth a try. While Metamucil is somewhat the same it is digested and fermented differently in the gut and can cause gas and further diarrhea, so go with the Citrucel if you try this.