Mom is 86 years old with dementia. I have been trying to keep her awake more during the day so we can all (hopefully) sleep at night. Hospice has recommended her to have a minimal dose of Morphine in the evening, which scares me. I have tried other medications and natural supplements, but we just can't get her regulated. Sometimes she talks all night and sleeps all day. Other times she hallucinates both visually and verbally for about 48 hours. Needless to say, my husband and I are both frequently exhausted and often a bit testy.
Does anyone have experience with the Morphine?
Don't attach an unnecessary stigma to a drug that has many, many uses. Don't question hospice too closely because they're not trying to kill your mother; they're trying to help your mother sleep through the night and thereby, help YOU sleep through the night.
Both of my experiences with hospice have been nothing but positive and excellent. If you have any further doubts about the 'danger' of low dose morphine, run it by the doctor who oversees and is associated with hospice. That should ease any further anxiety you may have.
Wishing you the best of luck.
My own extensive experience with codeine (which is the bottom of the range opioid) is that it does help with sleep as well as pain. More sleep will help you all.
My 99 yo mom has late onset dementia and issues ranging from torn rotator cuff, arthritis, crohn’s etc. She lives at home with live-in caregivers. She is followed by a top notch neurologist, palliative doctor and primary.
Her days and nights were upside down and she was in constant pain and was having psychotic episodes and was very depressed…until we got the specialists on board.
our new normal over a 2 year period is as follows:
zoloft( anti depressant
remeron (sleep medication)
melatonin
risperadone (for psychosis)
methadone (pain)
a small dose 2x a day
Doctor explained that they found that
a low consistent dose is much better than trying to address intermittent pain that can take 1 to 2 hour to respond to medication.
our days and nights are normalized.
our goal: Mom’s life should be as joyous and as pain free as possible for as long as she is here.
THEN........ Listen to hospice, they have done this many times and know a lot more about it than any of us ever will! A minimal dose of Morphine before bed might just do the trick and you all can rest. Your momma is 86 years old, a good night's sleep might make the days easier,too.
Be brave, you can do this!
God bless. ((((Hugs))))
RIght now I'd be thrilled to get 4 hours of continual sleep, but we're up every 1.5 to 2 hours to go to the "peepot" as she calls it. Her doctor prescribed trazodone which has the opposite effect on her.
I've been using melatonin, a chamomile/Ltryptophan/melatonin combo and magnesium which haven't been as effective lately. So she wakes me up all night long and then she sleeps like a baby all morning. It's currently 10 am and she's been sleeping soundly since 5:30 ish. She doesn't have enough brain function to realize what's going on so I can't be mad at her. I've tried so many days to keep her up and it accomplishes nothing but making both of us miserable. It was like I had an over-tired baby on my hands.
I'm going to start using some Dandelion tea to see if it will settle her bladder down.
Like someone has said here, there is no fixing or reversing the dementia, which is at the root of the problem.
I'm currently waiting on an assessment for palliative care - waiting on her doc to send the orders - maybe when I get her on board with them, they can offer some help.
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