For the past few months my mom (73) started to have extreme dizziness. It had been constant for days at a time and wouldn't cease, she even felt dizzy while laying down. Anytime she would get up she immediately felt like she was going to fall backwards. I thought it could be dehydration but when I got her to drink more water it didn't seem to help much.
A week after this started, she started to complain about a pain in her chest when she would breathe in. Every time she takes a breath, she says it's painful. It got to the point that every breath she took also caused her to whimper or cry out. She gasps for air quite often.
Along with all this, she also is fatigued and sleeps quite a lot. She also complains of other pains as well, mostly around her abdomen, her side and back and definitely has digestive issues.
Anyone know what the possibility of all this could be? My mom is extremely stubborn and refuses doctor care. She doesn't trust doctors and literally believes they are out to kill her, so I am unable to get her to one. I've had to call an ambulance in the past but she always refuses to accept help and will not go. Due to this they can never do anything and I feel helpless and lost in what to do.
I'd really appreciate any insight of what might be going on with her, or what I could do about this situation. I'm her sole caregiver and this reality of just being forced to deal with this because she refuses any outside help is draining me and affecting my own quality of life. I'm so depressed.
This could be literally ANYTHING, but the CERTAIN thing is that this is something for the MD.
If your mother has refused an ambulance to the hospital and refused to see an MD then she has chosen death over life. As long as she recognizes that and accepts it there's not much you can do. Her symptoms are cerebral-vascular and in that DIRE.
Again, without testing this could be anything. But if your mother refuses care, and EMS refuses to TAKE HER TO CARE, you cannot change anything by force in a competent person. So when she gives you her next complaint in this long litany of them shrug and tell her "Sorry to hear that. Let me know if you would like to see a doctor" and get on with your life. What other choice is there?
Enough already with what these elders "want"! You're giving up your life to care for the woman and do NOT want to watch her die in front of your eyes for something that may be fixable. She can go to the ER or the nearest nursing home for care. Her choice.
I wish I could get an official diagnosis with her, but I can't with her refusal to get checked by a doctor. :(
It would be okay to say I'm POA even if I'm not just so they take her? Or you think the EMTs would understand? It would be such a dream to get her in front of a doctor.
Thank you for your comment... I never imagined this is how real life was, where someone can be in so much pain and there is literally no help if the person just refuses things. It's so hard.
Are you interested in saving your mother's life?
Or do you feel it's time to let her go?
Your answer to this really determines how you proceed from this point. Give it some thought.
It seems your mom is not desiring of any treatment and therefore, hospice care is the obvious choice.
A call to APS or your local Senior Services center they can evaluate her as to her needs. A Social Worker may start Guardianship proceedings. If you chose to be Guardian you will be appointed but if you do not wish this the Court Will appoint a Guardian. At that point her care will be out of your hands.
If she is taken to the hospital by the paramedics the medical staff will ask about POA. As "next of Kin" you would probably be able to make decisions BUT if you make a decision that they do not agree with then it could become tricky. (for example, If you want to take mom home and if they say she can not be discharge to your care because they do not feel that you are able to handle her care safely they may file paperwork to prohibit you from taking her home)
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