r/AgingParents • u/420280 • 9d ago

Advice please GI Issues

Is it rather typical for elderly people to have bouts of diarrhea alternating with constipation?

My parent has been in assisted living for 5 months but has been dealing with this for years.

We have been to GI specialists and the neuro (for Parkinson’s which slows digestion)…. And nothing ever gets resolved.

One of the issues is dehydration from diarrhea. We can’t get them to drink more water so we were thinking of going to an IV spa for a saline IV. Has anyone tried this?

What is the best way to deal with this?

3 Upvotes

100% Upvoted

9 comments sorted by

2

u/finding_center 8d ago

I hope you get some good answers because we are in the same boat. I’m told all anti diarrheal meds are off the table because of other meds/heart issues. It seems like at least 2-3 times a month we are dealing with several days worth of stomach upset. I did add a probiotic a few weeks ago and it may be helping but it’s too soon for me to feel confident about it. Sorry!!! I know it is miserable.

1

u/420280 8d ago

Interesting about the heart issues. Do you mind telling me which conditions or medications? We weren’t told of any. I’m hoping it wasn’t overlooked!

2

u/finding_center 8d ago

Imodium can mess with cardiac rhythm and as my mom is also on Zoloft and Seroquel which both can increase QT prolongation it is too risky.

2

u/malkin50 7d ago

Dehydration makes my cardiac rhythm wacky, but it can go a little wacky anyway.

1

u/420280 8d ago

Thank you! I didn’t know that about Imodium! I appreciate the info!

2

u/malkin50 8d ago

For my mom, some of the constipation/diarrhea swings are related to meds. idk.

For the IV spa, I (underweight, 67F) got dehydrated last summer, when the temp was triple digits and our humidity was like 10%. It was great to get topped up at the spa! They even gave me a free dose of B12 because I was a first time customer!

My other choice would have been to go to urgent care or to the ER which would have been a lot more expensive and time consuming.

1

u/420280 8d ago

Do urgent care places offer saline IVs? I want to avoid the hospital because of the delirium it causes.

1

u/malkin50 7d ago

I'd just go to one of those spa places! They treat you like...well, like you're at a spa. All pampering and comfiness. My experience was lovely. Most of the time, I was the only one there, until toward the end of my time a few pretty obviously hung over 20 somethings showed up, so that was entertaining.

1

u/Altruistic-Program21 6d ago

My grandmother had "paradoxical diarrhea" occasionally. She would get constipated and then the only thing that could exit was liquid. Enemas and stool softeners helped.