My mom(78) has Alzirmers & has come full circle with life. She is bedridden & Hospice is making her comfortable. Why is it with her no longer eating or drinking that she is have so many bowel movements? It is soft, discolored, strong in odor & massive amounts each time? (3-4 times within 24hr. period) I was told this is part of her dying process.
×
4 Reasons Why Ask DoctorBase™ is the Most Efficient Way to SEO and Establish Your Brand Online
- Ask DoctorBase™ is a free service for patients on the DoctorBase platform - currently servicing over 6 million American patients of record.
- All answers submitted by healthcare professionals (you) are for entertainment purposes only and do not constitute doctor-patient relationships. All patients must agree to this before using Ask DoctorBase™.
- Our software and our Marketing Engineering staff review each answer and optimize your answers for keywords valuable to your specialty. It is a well kept secret that doctors (you) - not SEO consultants - are the ones who have the most valuable content prized by search engines. Ask DoctorBase™ "unlocks and optimizes" your content in the most efficient manner possible with today's technology.
- Finally, the doctor who provides the most popular answer - "the Featured Answer," gets an added benefit by allowing patients to write rave reviews about your expertise - reviews that are submitted to both Google and Google Local through our Preferred Data Provider relationship.
Ask Dr. Molly if you have questions or want a personal session on how to best use Ask DoctorBase™ for maximum marketing impact.
Dying
Find low drug prices at local & online pharmacies
Featured Answer
1 UpVoted this answer
I am terribly sorry to hear about your mother. It is comforting to hear that she is comfortable. You don't need to worry about the bowel movements. Even though she is not eating, the body is still producing waste, and therefore the bowel movements. This is probably combined with some malabsorption problems in the bowel and thus the seeming large amounts. I hope this is helpful. We'll be thinking about you!
A portion of what you notice is the result of the "enterohepatic" circulation. Consider it what remains after the various components of old red blood cells remain. It will be foul smelling characteristically from bacterial action on various components. The fluid it is suspended in will make it look like it's more volumous. I wish you all well
Caring for dying loved ones can be emotionally and mentally very challenging. Not being able to understand some of the weird symptoms can make it even more challenging. Her current bowel movements may just be spurious diarrhea. When there is stagnation in the gut, the residual bowel contents are eaten up by the resident gut bacteria to produce some toxic wastes that may cause diarrhea. The good news is that it is self-limiting. It should stop once all the toxins as flushed away with the diarrhea. Since the bm is heavy the hospice staff may need to consider fluid replacement, if that is okay with you. Hang in there and take it one day at a time.
I have a family member with end stage Alzheimer disease and it is not easy, I feel for you , the bowel movement is from malabsorption and fluid secretion in the gut, the fluid is supplemented by the hospice nurse via an iv line, the strong odor is due to bacterial growth in the gut, I believe this is expected.
I will pray for both of us
I will pray for both of us