-
[QUOTE=Jac;986301]The shotgun approach - yeah. I think they also assume that someone of your Dad's age must have heaps of medical problems, so they try to medicate everything they see instead of figuring out what causes some of the symptoms. If you take stress and terrible food out of the equation, get the person to where they're happiest, include some movement and really nourishing food, lots of the 'symptoms' magically vanish.[/QUOTE]Yeah, fancy that. But the chemical soup that must be going on in his bloodstream right now is scary. He's on Cumadin (blood thinner) Bumax (diuretic) Amiodarone (beta blocker (?) Jac?) and Digoxin for the heart rate. I wonder if so many chemicals can manage to get along with one another. Ick.
Well, I have moved my computer, my bose stereo, and my vitamix downstairs to my Dad's. Settling in for the long haul. I took all the food out of my fridge and consolidated the two and then unplugged my fridge. Crap. It kind of felt like, when I just had a few things here, I could pretend that he was going to get well and this was just temporary.
Resignation sucks.
-
*big hugs*
I'm thinking of you and your dad, Robin.
-
Reality is a bitch! Best wishes to you and your dad
-
Amiodarone is a class III anti-arrhythmic. It has some beta-blocking actions but isn't a beta blocker. They're pretty easy to tell as they all end in 'lol' - metoprolol, atenolol, etc.
-
My grandfather had the same type of dementia. Thinking of you. Your dad is lucky to have you there, and although it's not easy, I'm glad you have this time with him.
-
[QUOTE=Goldie;986458]*big hugs*
I'm thinking of you and your dad, Robin.[/QUOTE]Thank you, Goldie.
[QUOTE=jacmac;986494]Reality is a bitch! Best wishes to you and your dad[/QUOTE]Thanks, Jackie.
[QUOTE=NourishedEm;986805]Amiodarone is a class III anti-arrhythmic. It has some beta-blocking actions but isn't a beta blocker. They're pretty easy to tell as they all end in 'lol' - metoprolol, atenolol, etc.[/QUOTE]We were just at the cardiologist's office today and they decided to add yet another ingredient to the chemical soup, the metoprolol you mentioned. They did this becaudse his heart rate was high in the office. Yeah, he just walked further than he has in a couple of months, and he doesn't really understand what is happening around him with all the bright lights and people in scrubs bustling everywhere. So they give him another pill. Great.
The cardiologist (actually a nurse practitioner) we saw today had a classic CW poster on her wall entitled "Heart Attack on a Plate" with pictures of evil things like red meat and butter and a salt shaker. In conversation, it came out that she is a vegetarian. She was asking about my Dad's diet so I told her about Primal and how it had lowered his blood pressure and gotten him off of two BP meds. She was trying to write the word "paleo" down for further study but had to ask how to spell it. When I said "Paleo, as in Paleolithic", she said, "Oh, so then you eat like a dinosaur". Major eyeroll.
[QUOTE=Owly;986857]My grandfather had the same type of dementia. Thinking of you. Your dad is lucky to have you there, and although it's not easy, I'm glad you have this time with him.[/QUOTE]Thank you, Owly. As you know, the weird thing about it is that it is so random. Sometimes he knows exactly what is going on and sometimes he can't zip his own pants. And it comes and goes with the changing breeze so it seems.
-
Robin, just a random thought... how close is your dad to eating the keto/epilepsy nutrition like you are? I know you cook for him, but you've also said that he eats some other things that he likes.
I just wondered, because the keto nutrition helps with neurological processing, that it might help him to eat 100% like you are.
I also know how difficult it is to deal with someone who's thinking isn't always logical (my mom had Alzheimer's), so trying to get him to eat only certain things might be difficult. And knowing you, you've probably already got him on a really good eating plan.
-
[QUOTE=Paleobird;987177] She was trying to write the word "paleo" down for further study but had to ask how to spell it. When I said "Paleo, as in Paleolithic", she said, "Oh, so then you eat like a dinosaur". QUOTE]
Being the perpetual smart alec I am... I would have told her that she is the one that eats like a dinosaur (since a good many of them were plant eaters) but I eat like the caveman that ate the dinosaurs..... but hey I'm sarcastic, what can I say!
I enjoy reading your blog... but am sad that your father is so ill.
-
[QUOTE=Goldie;987215]Robin, just a random thought... how close is your dad to eating the keto/epilepsy nutrition like you are? I know you cook for him, but you've also said that he eats some other things that he likes.
I just wondered, because the keto nutrition helps with neurological processing, that it might help him to eat 100% like you are.
I also know how difficult it is to deal with someone who's thinking isn't always logical (my mom had Alzheimer's), so trying to get him to eat only certain things might be difficult. And knowing you, you've probably already got him on a really good eating plan.[/QUOTE]He is eating just basic Primal. He wants things that are easy to chew so that means a lot of seafood and, if it's red meat, something made with ground meat like meatloaf or meatballs. At this point in his life, I just want his food to be uncomplicated, non-threatening, easy to understand, no surprises. Pushing for strict keto would be such unfamiliar territory. He sometimes can't find his way around his own house. I want food to be easy for him. I do try to work in higher fat content whenever I can like coconut oil in the mashed parsnips or coconut cream in the beef stock for a soup.
[QUOTE=ssn679doc;987640][QUOTE=Paleobird;987177] She was trying to write the word "paleo" down for further study but had to ask how to spell it. When I said "Paleo, as in Paleolithic", she said, "Oh, so then you eat like a dinosaur". QUOTE]
Being the perpetual smart alec I am... I would have told her that she is the one that eats like a dinosaur (since a good many of them were plant eaters) but I eat like the caveman that ate the dinosaurs..... but hey I'm sarcastic, what can I say!
I enjoy reading your blog... but am sad that your father is so ill.[/QUOTE]Thank you. Yes, I bit back a couple of sarcastic remarks about paleo being a bit more advanced evolutionarily than eating like gorillas (vegetarians).
-
I totally understand wanting to feed him what he's most comfortable with. My grandfather only wanted very familiar food, to the point that he rejected foods he had learned to enjoy later in life. The more comfortable and familiar everything was, the better he was, not just with foods. Sometimes it seemed like his symptoms were less when he had all that stuff, I think because it was the least stressful.
