New to forum, first question. I've been taking caring of father in law who has Alzheimer’s/ dementia and he recently took a fall. Been back and forth to Dr and he is still complaining about back pain. Mind you he already had 4 cortisone shots and has been given pain meds. He now refuses to do much of anything and feels he is giving up. Any advice? Thank you.
My 95-yr old Mom has osteoarthritis in her back. She is on Tylenol for the pain. The trick is to take enough.
How old is your FIL? If he isn’t given enough because of worries about long-term impact to his liver, you have to weigh the impact of his ongoing pain plus his age. At 95 my Mom should worry less about long-term impact in order to have better daily quality of life.
She went through a PT to get a back brace recommended but when she put it on (and I had to help her do that, it was more complicated than a basic one) she gave up on it.
If your FIL has dementia he may not keep it on.
he goes to PT but complains every time he goes
he also has liver disease
Acetaminophen (Tylenol) certainly helps too.
I'm 2" shorter than in my younger days. One thing that really helps my back is decompressing my vertebra's. Spending time on an inversion table helps pump up the discs and staves off pain.
Has he had an MRI of the back?
I would recommend both of those are done so that damage can be assessed.
Be certain to collect the CD of these tests; you may need to get Dad referred to a pain management clinic.
I highly recommend an abdominal binder (quite inexpensive on Amazon) that has a velcro closing, that Dad can wrap firmly around his back and abdomen. The support often is very very helpful. I would want this run by his doc before using.
It is someone else's pain and it is difficult to say what someone else is feeling. Particularly someone with dementia.
If everything physical has been ruled out then you have to go "old school"
Use other cues as to what his pain level is.
Grimace
Furrowing of the brow
Sharp intake of breath
Part of the problem with many painkillers is that they can cause constipation and that can also lead to pain in the back as he strains to go.
Just on an off chance that it might work have you thought about acupuncture or a visit to a chiropractor or if there is a Naprapath that your dad can see they might help.