My Mom Fell Again

“My mom fell again, I just got the news this morning from my sister. It happened the night before last. Jenn is cleaning the apartment, LOADS of blood, apparently Mom had a two or three inch gash on her forehead down to the skull. I've been worried it's about too many meds so Jenn gave me a list of meds that she found in the apartment, 13 of them!!! 3 of them directly affect the central nervous system, Doxipin, Ambian and Vicadin. Also two blood pressure meds, Bumex and Calan Sr. No wonder she freaking falls all the time. It appears to be prescribed by the same doc, I'll have the info later. For sure it comes out of the same Pharmacy. The Ambien would explain some of the bizarre things she has been trying to tell us lately, apparently she is believing the rather bizarre dreams she is having, eh? I HATE KAISER!”

“I hope you mom is okay. Ambien does cause many elderly people to have strange dreams as well as change their mental status. I see it where I work many times.”

“i worry about my mom. she just turned 60, and is taking more meds all the time

heres hoping youll soon be sitting around the table telling "ive fallen and i cant get up!" jokes real soon”

“Falls are not funny after one gets older. I've taken plenty. Fortunately, I have not gotten seriously hurt, yet. My martial arts training helps keep my body in shape to take most of the falls. My staff or hiking stick saves me from many falls.

good luck with your mother.
last edited: 2/13/07 4:43:02 PM”

“Goddamit, CB, I'm going to be 62 in two weeks and don't want to hear that stuff. j/k.

Pamela, sorry for the news, hope all works out for the best. BTW, my Grandmother hated Kaiser too, but then that was WWI.”

“13 meds, wow. My wife was on about 10 different meds for awhile. All prescibed by her Psyc. Dr. Anytime she heard about a new med. for her condition, she would ask him about it and he would give her a presciption for it. it got to the point where she was constantly falling, absolutely no sense of balance and her memory was trashed. Plus he would only spend about 2 minutes, yes thats right 2 minutes, with her at each appointment. I finally convinced her to go to another Dr. and he took away about half her meds. and although she still has problems with anxiety, she is doing better now than she ever did before. She hasn't fallen since we switched doctors and her memory is so much better. She only takes 4 different meds now.
By the way, my wife takes Ambian and has no problem with it and I have taken it before and other than knocking me out, no other problems.
Someone needs to go with your mom on her next appointment to find out why she is on so many meds and if needed, switch doctors.
Good luck.”

“I'm sorry about your mom. I hope she makes a full recovery, and lives long enough to avoid countless other falls.”

“Sending those Positive Thoughts out your way... !”

“As an EMT I see patients all the time with a hgh number of meds.The problem is that some meds end up being prescribed to treat the side effects of the others. The best thing is to have her doc, or a different doc. go over the list to whittle it down to a level that treats the basic problems, there should be a way to reduce that to a more sensible number of meds.”

“I went through much the same thing with my Mom. Her Dr.s at one point had her on so many meds they poisoned her. I came home from school to find her in a coma on the bathroom floor. My Mom was a late life Mom, and finally passed on about 4 years ago at almost 80, but she was always sickly and often over medicated. She also became very "tippy" as she aged, probably due to all the meds. I remember one time, they prescribed prednesone(sp) for something, not even checking for med. history, and allergies. I was the one who refused to fill the prescription, and the Dr. had the nerve to suggest I butt out and let him do his job. I swear, to this day I'm hard pressed to even take cold medicine Good luck, and please make sure someone is monitoring the doctors.”

“I feel for you and your family Pamela. This is not a fun thing to go through. I pray that all will come out good in the end. Keep your chin up.”

“I'm finally back. I "convinced" the doctor to keep her at least one more night until we can all talk tomorrow and think about re-evaluating my mom and the meds and possible detox, her living situation, etc etc. So there's one doctor who thinks I'm a controlling bit**. I and my sister talked with mom and I was quite frank with her in my worries about the meds and most specifically the ambien, and Doxipin. She agreed that there seemed to be some problem with her meds. She'd go talking and all of a sudden she'd slip in zinger like this one, "my brother **** drove 3000 miles to come see me last October you know, he said he was going to blow something up" Yeah, it's that bad. We think what may be happening is that her dreams on ambien are so vivid that they are her reality. She talks about talking with her Dad, her mother-in-law, both dead. My cousin telling her some things my sister and I both know ***** did not tell her. She talks about telling me things just last week, and yet I haven't spoken to her in months because she's so altered I cannot handle the things she tells me. (the things she says are that ugly)

I don't think that my mom is actually sick, I think that all the medication's side effects and the interactions between them are causing illnesses that the doctor is giving her new meds for everytime she comes in!

This is what my sis found in the apt. Prozac, Prilosec, Bumex, Mevacor, Doxipin, Depakane, Calan SR, Ambien, Doxicyclin, Vicadin, Potassiam, Imitrex, Pro-Air Inhalor. We are not sure it's a full listing, because the nurse seemed to have a longer list. The doctor did take her off of Mevacor otherwise known as Lovastatin. I think he did because of the swelling and itching, scabbing rash on her lower legs, ankles & feet; the edema is pretty bad. I can't believe her primary care doc didn't see it, G** knows she's there often enough.”

“Still researching meds, depakene is pretty scary stuff. I have to go to bed soon, the doctors round begin at 8am, and that's the only chance I have of making myself heard loud and clear.”

“Yesterday I was wondering where you are and have been missing you.
Sorry to hear about your mom. I hope she is going to be okay soon.”

“Good luck with your mom, do what you feel you need to do to get things right for your mom, dont worry about what the docs say about you. Your mom needs an advocate to help her and you are doing the right thing .I hope it turns out well for you and her.”

“Sorry to read about your mom...my father is going through something similar...it is frightening...hope it works out for your mom...”

“goodluck and give those docs a beating”

“The drug industry seems to be pumping our old people full of drugs, some of those drugs are to treat the effects of other drugs.

At the same time they are "mining" the bank accounts of those people.

'round and 'round they go.
No wonder they get dizzy and fall.”

“My thoughts and prayers are with you! Hang in there. Don't worry about the Doctors thinking you are over reacting, It's your mom!!! I take care of my parents, so I know how difficult it can get. I look at it this way, I need to look out for them because the medical professionals don't see them every day and don't know when something has changed.”

“My Thoughts are with you...Pamela, a few years ago we went through something similar. My son and wife were going to a "PSSYCOLOGIST" who is (and I know this) theoretically recovering from drug and alchohol addiction (got suspended three times from the hospital but KEPT HIS LICENSE)

After a year of watching them steadily go wierd I checked them in to a Hospital where I knew the Psych Staff. It took me two days to get the "friend" of their Psycho (ref above) to let me have access to their drug list.

My son (at age 13 or so) was on 5 count'em FIVE freaking drugs, my Wife was on 7 drugs. There is no way to predict side effects in this mixture.

So the doctor assigned to them sat down with me and we discussed "baselining" it too a week to wean them off the drugs. Ended up my son is clean now and doing MUCH better, the wife...deals with life in her own way.

The Ex PSSYCHOLOGIST you may ask? Still pushing drugs... but the clock is ticking for him. The stupid idiot keeps giving me ammo...he is setting himself up for a HUGE Malpractice lawsuit.

My advice is go to your mother's doctor (make sure your mother allows you to access her records under HIPA) and take notes...get a second opinion.”

“"pumping our old people full of drugs"
MarkO and I agree on something.

Keep on the Doctors. MAKE them do their jobs, Pamela.

I'm so sorry you are having to do this.”

“I feel for ya, I've been going through the same thing with my dad for years...

About the meds - I don't necessarily blame the docs for the 15 or so bottles of drugs my dad always has - he thinks that the doctors are supposed to "fix" him whenever he doesn't feel good. Never mind that he ate something the doctors told him not to, never drinks water, or drank a fifth of whiskey...

He's fallen several times as well, once I had to call a friend at 10pm to help me pick him up and get him in bed.

Right now he seems to be doing well, so I've had a break for a while.

Hang in there...at least you have siblings to help! :)”

“You know...I wonder what the Medical Industry would cost this nation if say Doctors had to justify the drugs they give patients. I have a real nice understanding with my GP and each of the doctors who has treated me (orthopedic etc). NO DRUGS unless they are totally necessary. I have a close friend who did the drug shopping stuff for years. She was always jacked up on something (Legal and illegal). She got a bad spider bite, now the pain killers are not working....the antibiotics are taking a long time to catch on....”

“Sorry to hear about your Mom Pamela. Sounds like she coulde use a good consult to simplify her drug regime. The problem isn't just interactions between drugs, but keeping track of them. I left the hospital with 13 prescriptions once and aggressively got it down to two - but it was mind boggling trying to keep track of all of them - especially when I was sick.

XL - Do you inow if this "PSSYCOLOGIST" is a Psychologist or a Psychiatrist? I have known a few psychiatrist who sampled a lot of their own "cooking."
last edited: 2/14/07 11:25:22 AM”

“Very scary.

My grandmother was on a lot of doctors prescribed 'goodies'. At times she was totally incoherrent, but very, very happy. You could almost see her hovering a couple of inches over the floor, with a saintly smile. But inevitably what goes up must come down.
My mum was anxious and furious. She had checked the side effects of the drugs. There were drugs to cure the side effects of other drugs, that would take care of...blablabla.
It's very sad, but nobody of us wanted to listen to my mum. The doctor surely knew what he was doing and grandma was happy, wasn't she? Old folks do fall anyway, don't they?
Today I could kick my dum a*** that I didn't gave my mum more support.”

“Ped ...he is an MD. (which in his case can also stand for Manic Depressive...)


I had a friend whose wife was on a load of happy pills. She finally tried to take the "quick fix" for problems and O.D.'ed. Two days later the doctor was going to send her home (one of those bean counter "its cheaper to day treat her than keep her here" lines)

my friend was in a panic. I told him to ask the DOCTOR...the MD supervising her care....the following question (do this slowly and distictly in front of neutral witnesses (or record)).

"This patient just attempted suicide les than 72 hours ago. She was depressed and unrealistic in her attitudes. Now you are saying in less than 72 hours you feel she is safe to return to an unsupervised environment. You are saying in "YOUR PROFESSIONAL MEDICAL OPINION" that you believe releasing this patient will do "NO HARM" to her. I think we can both agree that she is both unwilling and incapable of sole personal care. But you are telling me that releasing her now will cause NO FURTHER HARM TO HER."

What you are doing is asking the doctor to review his "Oath" and make the call...90% of the doctors reconsider.”

“Well, they released her, with all of her meds save one, they discontinued the imitrex. The lowed the doses of the Doxipin by half and the Depakene by one fifth. Not much. I can only pray it makes some difference. I almost had her out the door without any lovastatin, but she made a huge fuss about "I am going to have a heart attack, I have COPD". Boom, she has her lovastatin back, though they cut the dose by half. Her lower legs, ankles, feet are swollen, itchy, rashed & scabbed, but by all means, let's continue drugging her with lovastatin, some of them look infected, but what the hell, she's upset! Her EEG's are normal, she does NOT have epilepsy as she claims, but we will continue the depakote, we will say it's for her depression. I have yet to find out if she even has COPD, a few or more of her meds cause breathing difficulties and heart problems. She is the stubbornest case of hypochondria you can even begin to imagine, she really enjoys being sick. OMGOD i would really like to be killed if i become her; my children and husband, sister and brother are under instruction to do so. Everything I do is under examination by myself, you can't imagine how freaking scared I am of being her.

I only had three hours of sleep the other night, but I got up and went directly to the hospital expecting rounds at 8am. Freaking doctor didn't show up until 11am. Bastard! And then he agrees with me, but doesn't have the balls to do anything about it. Someone hang balls on medical staff OH PLEASE!!!! One flipping #&%!$, charge nurse, looks at my moms chart and says, I see nothing inappropriate here, your mom is elderly. I'm like, "HELLO! my mom is only 67 years old! And ambien is a temporary drug, not something you take every night for over a year!!!". She would not listen at all.

One thing I find bizarre, my mom claims to be so damn worried about her heart and eats food and in particular fatty foods and sweet foods like someone just starved her last week. She's huge!! What the f*** is up with that? I called her on it. She had no real explanation, she just said, "that's the way I like to eat Pamela Sue, I think I'm a food obsessive-compulsive, I think the prozac makes me do it". So I said, "maybe you shouldn't take the prozac then?". "Pamela, I HAVE to take the prozac, really PAMELA, you are not a doctor you know!" Something else she said later was strange, something about commercials knowing more about meds than me. She also suggested asking about more drugs to make her thinner. I just about died with that one.

So I took her home, set up her meds in her tray for a full week, wrote out directions that she could understand with the color/shape descriptions of the pills. I listened to her go on and on as long as I could and got the heck out. One full day was more than I could take.

After that I went to my sister's and met her, and my brother flew in. Had a shot and relaxed, talked & laughed. Played and talked with my niece and nephews. Tried to forget the day.”

“OKay stupid really stupid question...have they ever checked her Thyroid gland?”

“yikes.

Is it any wonder the pharmaceutical industry spends twice as much on marketing as they do on research.”

“Yep, it's a shame when us old folks have to connive things to get attention.”

“oh yeah, you bet your sweet bippy she's asked for that test. if it's been on tv, she's had it tested.

the thing is, when i had a lump on my thyroid, my sister let it slip. (this was many years ago) my mom called her doctor and had testing done almost immediately. when my sis let it slip that i was having my gallbladder out, same thing happened. i dont tell my sis much of anything anymore. like when the second bump on my thyroid appeared and it wasn't a cyst, but a nodule, my sis has no idear at all i am walking around with that. i went through a breast cancer scare this past summer, didn't tell her a thing. i accidentally let it slip to my sis when i'd had a few one night, fortunately she hasn't said a thing to my mom. most hysterical thing ever?! once my sis told my mom that she had endometriosis, my mom said, "what are the symptoms, maybe i have that?!" my mom had a hysterectomy in 1975.”

“Yep -- that would be a neat trick.”

“Sorry, Pamela.”

“LOL...Med Students have a time when they are studying "Nifty Diseases" and they start coming down with the various diseases.”

“Hey Nowslimmer, you have my attention. What do you want?

Hey Tilt, she'd grow it back if it could be a diseased one that'd get her new meds.

Thank you everyone for your thoughts and prayers, you are helping me get through this.

Short coats. LOL!”

“

Hey Nowslimmer, you have my attention. What do you want?
Pamela

You are expecting too much from my memory!

If these doctors can't cure our problems, why do they keep telling us to return.

I side with your mother. One has to be old to understand the problems of the elderly.”

“Nowslimmer, trust me, if you spent a day with my mom, you'd run screaming from the room.”

“How old is she?”

“that's what is truly the saddest nowslimmer. she is only 67. she acts like she is 90 something or older. no, i've seen people in their 90's healthier than that. she is litterally choosing to be sick. she doesn't have epilepsy. the doctor i spoke to could not find any COPD in her medical records, so I have to ask her primary care physician about that.”

“Keep on sluggin' Pammie!”

“Pamela - Well, one never knows. She and I just might hit it off good. However, she is a little young for me. (Click on my name to see my User Info. Page.) She is at an age when doctors can drive a person nuts. I sure feel sorry for both of you.

I have a very difficult time with my Internist. I do backpacking, Aikijutsu(Defensive Combat), swimming, workouts, bicycling, etc. My eye doctor wants me to quit the martial arts. My Internist wants me to quit it, too, plus the backpacking. My Cardiologist just laughs at it all. He thinks all is great and that my exercise program is the only thing keeping me alive. (I have 5-bypasses.) He, also, stated that if I die within the next 10-years, it will not be because of my heart. I previously had a cardiac arrest. My knees are so bad that I am legally disabled.

Maybe I should take your mother with me this summer. I hope to backpack all 563 miles of the Finger Lakes Trail in New York. I hope to finish in time to swim across Provincetown Harbor (1.4 miles) at the tip of Cape Cod on September 8^th. It is their 20^th Swim For Life, a chariety swim.

BTW, you should see my pill bag. It is loaded. I even have Arecept, but I decided not to take them.”

“I'd introduce you, but you might never forgive me, hell, I might never forgive myself. Although I had to admit two perfectly wonderful men loved and married her. Course they both died young. My dad had a heart attack at 47. And when she remarried eight years later my second dad, (too wonderful a man to call step dad), died of cancer 4 years later.”