Mental Decline & Dependency/Coping With Aging Loved Ones

For those who need back support, this is another option:

http://www.drugstore.com/products/prod.asp?pid=87112&catid=10280&brand=7758&trx=29904&tab=1#1

I have bought this (in my supermarket) for anywhere from $19 (on sale) to $22. It is a lot more comfortable than it looks in he picture!

Thinking of y'all -

Phoenix - did you feel better or did you contact the ENT?

FoxFyre - keep strong re sis - you need to stay well too girl.

TK - haven't used TENS myself - but have been told that it can be very good for specific pain too. I take many painkillers every day - think I would need a permanent TENS attached to me.


Offline for a few days - please all, take care everyone and will catchup when I return. Hugs to all xxx

Izzie- I think that I am coming around. Problem is, apparently Mr. P is coming down with it. I can't figure how he first got it now, it being almost a month since I contracted whateveritwas.

Izzie- If you have REALLY bad chronic pain, there are morphine pumps that can be literally attached to one's body. You would have to speak with a pain specialist about this.

http://www.reddinganesthesia.com/itpump.htm

What exactly is this TENS you speak of? Would it be something that would be helpful to my brother who is about to undergo a double knee replacement surgery this month? Not much of any of the usual pain medications have much effect on the arthritic pain throughout his body.

What does it consist of and how does it work? I looked at the article on gates that was posted but didn't see anything that gave me a clue of what a TENS is.

Mental Decline
Go to www.wikipedia.com and look for TENS. I know that any given Wikipedia article may not be totally accurate, but it's a start for your research, and this one does seem fairly authoritative.

http://www.spine-inc.com/glossary/t/tens.html

http://www.empi.com/empi_products/detail.aspx?id=146

Butrflynet - The first article explains the concept pretty well. The second link is the TENS unit that I have. It is definitely useful for arthritic pain.

Thanks. I did a Google on it but the word tens is such a universally used word that I couldn't find the gem in the haystack.

Thanks for narrowing down the field. It would sure be great if something like this were to work for my brother. He's been in excruciating pain for most of his adult life.

I'd never heard of it either, thanks for the links, folks. And especially if it helps, over time, for butrflynet's brother. I used to have a lab allied to a rheumatology department and clinic, and if I were still there, I'd know about this. But that was in the late sixties; I worked with another one, a future big lab, in the late seventies, research lab in between. Why do I bring this up? Thinking of all the people it might have helped all those years..
I had a friend who almost specialized in pain medicine for the reason of the difficulty people had (he became a longtime ER chief instead) - yes, there are, or at least were then, pain med specialists. Another friend who combined rheumatology and acupuncture.. but I don't know any statistics on all that.

Well, I'll have to read more. I suppose if it was some kind of pain sweepaway, our Izzie would have it attached. But help is good, if it does.

TENS (Transcutaneous Electrical Nerve Stimulation) machines were considered experimental when I first started working for a long-term disability carrier about 20 years ago. We paid for them but they were crazy expensive.

Now they're considered pretty standard for some types of pain management, and have dropped in price to the point where they're quite affordable even for people who don't have insurance coverage.

mrs hamburger's been treatments have included TENS for at least ten years.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transcutaneous_Electrical_Nerve_Stimulator

Clients I've worked with over the years have often compared the results favourably with acupuncture.

Just bumping up this thread and tagging it so I don't lose it.

FYI for everyone, Jespah posted Noddy's memorial service info here:

http://able2know.org/topic/120478-10#post-3361147

Hey Folksies

How is everyone here... and the families?

Phoenix - have you got rid of the bug yet and did Mr P get it????

FF - how is sis.... and please tell me the CPAP has arrived now!


The TENS sounds good - my rheum arthritis and lupus, since.... oh, since I was 23-4... moves all over the place - other than my feet (which are nicely fused on the right now) the pain is not a constant anywhere - but is generally everywhere whenever the little white cells feel hungry and wish to munch my joints.

Funnily enough - the chap who lives opposite Texas Bubba is an anaethetist and is pioneering a morphine pump under the skin. We spoke about it at length - but my disease is very erratic - I can be well for a while, and then sick for a while... so, it would not be appropriate at this stage. He was aware of the meds and pain killers (morphine based) I take - and explained that with this new pump under the skin the chance of morphine addiction is very small as the doses of morphine pumped are miniscule but go straight to the nerves where the pain is i.e. back etc - very pinpointed. Seems a great idea rather than taking painkillers which are systemic orally - or steroids injections etc, again systemic, which I sometimes require.

However, I'm 43.... and as yet don't wish to have pumps under the skin unless the pain focuses on a certain place. If that happens - OOOOH, YES PLEASE!!!!! GIVE ME THE PUMP!

Anyhoo - hope you are all OK and no-one is struggling right now.

Take care everyone.

Iz xxxx

Izzie, it's good knowing that you aren't averse to morphine or whatever else helps your pain.

I read, long ago, that pain killers tend not to be addictive if the pain is so severe that addiction just doens't happen.

Okay....been away for several days and returned home to a mountain of e-mails, snail mail, phone messages, and the A2K queue moving so rapidly I'll never catch up. Good to see that nobody is having any major crises. The CPAP has been used for about a week now, is working wonderfully, and Mr. F is a new man.

Sister has been home from the hospital and all are holding our breath that she keeps improving.

For just today no major problems in my life. I hope the same for you all.

Welcome back, Fox. And great about the CPAP.

Fascinating about the morph pump thing, Izzie.. from a science/rheumatology point of view, and also as a know-about for you. How fortuitous to have talked with the neighbor, cool.

How is everyone?

Phoenix...... did I read somewhere hubby was in hospital???? How are you????

FF - sis, how's she doing now? Hope CPAP is still making a new man of Mr.F.

EBGal - how is Mom getting on???

Izzie- Yup, Mr. P. has been in the hospital for a week. His blood pressure, which was always normal, had been increasing, and last week spiked precipitously.
They threw every test in the book at him. Apparently, they have the pressure stabilized, but they still don't know the cause, although there are a number of suspicious possibilities.

They may release him today, but I will not be satisfied until they find the cause of the problem, even if it means going out of town to a major medical center.

As far as I am concerned, as they say, I am "too pooped to pop". The hospital is a 40 minute ride, and I am beginning to feel like a bus driver.

Yikes, Phoenix!

Glad he has been stabilized. I can imagine how exhausting this must be for you though...

So sorry you and yours are going thru further angst Phoenix.

Did he come home today? What are the docs now saying?

Rest when you can girl. Hugs to you x