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I am the caretaker for my 99 year old mom in my home.
My main concern for her is her constant battle with constipation. She will go 5-6 days without a BM. By day number 3-4 she is very irritable and in discomfort. She is in a wheelchair when she is out of bed. After the 5-6th day without a BM she will have, what I call, a seizure. She breaks out in a sweat that will drench her clothes, sometimes vomits, becomes unresponsive, dead weight, drools, and her nose runs. With these symptoms I am able to get her to the toilet where she will defecate. The episode will last 1 1/2-2 hours. By the time I get her back to bed she is back to her normal. She does not have a fever during this time.
Is this episode constipation related? She is no longer capable of going to the doctors office?

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She'ss probably not eating much--but 6 days w/o a bm? That's too long. When I was undergoing chemo last year I'd alternate between constipation and diarrhea. I finally found the balance in drinking a warmed 4-6 ounce glass of prune juice with a capful of Miralax. That kept me OK. Not great, but OK.

Have you tried to listen at her belly for any sounds? As our bowels move, they make a lot of noise. I didnt' realize until last week when DH and I were "working from home' and I was fasting--and my stomach was gurgling so loudly I had to leave the office while DH was on a conference call.
Listen to mom's tummy--if there is silence, she is not having any peristalsis and that can be just beyond miserable.

She needs to be evaluated by a dr., at 99--well, our bodies are not designed to work forever and this must be absolutely miserable by day 3.

It could be that she is simply shutting down, but still eating. Daddy wanted to eat, but his body rejected food at the end and for the last 2 weeks of his life (on hospice) he ate popsicles and that's it.

I'm sorry for both of you! This can be just beyond miserable.
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I wonder you have considered enrolling her in palliative care or even hospice in order to have access to a medical team in your home? The thing is there are a lot of different strategies I could suggest that might relieve her constipation (Miralax, more fluids, suppositories and or enemas before she gets to that level of distress) but she should really be checked by a health professional first.
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Constipation of this caliber can indicate that end of life is approaching, from what I've seen in elders who live in the Memory Care home where I work. Call your mother's primary care doctor, see what s/he has to say, and if a hospice evaluation is in order for her. That may be your best bet at this juncture. Hospice has lots of good guidance and tips for you to use to handle situations like this, as they are a wonderful source of information and help with a TON of issues.

Wishing you the best of luck.
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This level of constipation is really not good. There is a lot of information about how to handle constipation in Care Topics, so click on that at the top right hand side or your screen for this site. You get an alphabetic list, and ‘constipation’ is of course under C. Try that, then post an update if what you are seeing is different.
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