I don't have any doubt but that my mom has pain and I wish with all my heart I could remove it from her life. I know she has back and neck pain and leg pain - what I don't really know is the extent of it, because she can make the complaint that "It Hurts!" as readily when I am carefully cleaning her fingernails as about what I would expect to be more serious stuff. I noticed one day when the District Nurse used a swab held in forceps to clean out a small lesion on the side of her big toe, she went into screaming mode. So I suspect her reaction to pain could be a little overdone.
The big problem I have is doing anything about it. Trying to make her take tablets or capsules is a huge drama. Capsules are out of the question from a swallowing point of view, but sometimes I can manage to get Panadol (paracetamol) tablets down her, crushed up and given with a meal. The medical profession's suggested alternative - liquid Panadol elixir, with its syrupy sweetness and ersatz "orange" flavour - is absolute anathema to her, to the point where she simply flatly refuses to take it. And I wouldn't offer it to her any more, because I believe that is what gives her thrush in the mouth from time to time.
So I am between the devil and the deep. There are alternative solutions like MSM gluconate, which I think is very effective as well as beneficial, but the taste of that has to be experienced to be believed. Again, capsules are out of the question and as soon as you break one open and take out the powder, the taste is right there. You or I might pull a face and get the stuff down because we know it will help us, but my mom just performs and refuses.
Kath also has headaches quite often. For these I make her green china tea which works excellently for me. But I take 3 or 4 cups when I have a bad head - and it's gone. Trying to get my mom to drink one cup is a mission. I will make it, and she pronounces it "too hot". It stands a little while, and unless I am really on the ball, it becomes "too cold" ( Goldilocks and the Three Bears ). Another frustrating thing is that, even if she's been full-on demanding a drink, she will only take a sip at a time these days when she gets it. And when the cup gets down to 2/3 full she looks inside it and comments "There isn't much there". Waaah - count to 10 again Patricia.......
I tell her frequently that headaches come from a lack of body fluid and she should drink more, but that doesn't have much effect. I have to keep reminding her to drink and the best way is by letting her see me drinking. So I make sure to do that regularly, encouraging her to drink at the same time - and I suppose I am getting some benefit by keeping up my own fluid intake!
All my enquiries of the nurses and the patient log at the hospital lead me to believe my mom doesn't complain as much of pain when she is in the hospital as she does here at home - which rather reinforces my suspicion that there is a measure of attention-seeking going on in all of this. Plus perhaps a healhy dose of "best behaviour when out in public". Aaah me - if only we were blessed with the knowledge to understand what's REALLY going on.
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