My father had 5 heart attacks over the past 12 years and last year he had a bypass surgery done. Well his heart is very weak and he's in the hospital now but is restricted from fluids because his body and lungs are retaining water.
He's very thirsty and dry in the mouth. They can only give him enough liquid for his medication but they're still waiting for his lungs to drain out. He couldn't breath at first but he's doing better now.
I was wondering if anyone knows of a product or special gum of any kind that could help quench his thirst? Or is there anything out there that can trick the brain into believing that the body doesn't need that much fluid for people who are restricted?
It's kind of a silly question but my dad is going to have to watch his water intake for the rest of his life. His heart is so weak that he has developed other health problems as well. (Diabetes, some kind of infection in the lungs and they found a spot on one of his kidney during a catscan.)
2006-06-10 07:42:06 · 6 answers · asked by Anonymous in Health ➔ Diseases & Conditions ➔ Heart Diseases
I am sorry to hear about your dad,it annoys me when people on yahoo answers tell people who have kidney failure to drink plenty,as this is the wost thing you can do, anyway your poor dad may find relief from swabbing his mouth with moistened swabs.chewing gum wont help as he wont be making much saliva at the moment.
2006-06-10 07:48:32 · answer #1 · answered by dumplingmuffin 7 · 2⤊ 0⤋
How about some plain old trident sugar free gum or sugar less candies for him? I've seen my patients use this and it helps. A fluid restriction is rough on the patient and I try not to order one very often. Best of luck.
2006-06-10 10:06:17 · answer #2 · answered by Amy P 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Theres a product you can buy from pharmacies. Its called HydroGel..its exactly that...a gel you use in your mouth and on your lips to make them wet and comfortable. Its used a lot in patients who have radiation treatment of the head and throat because that dries up all the saliva. I wish him good luck.
2006-06-10 15:04:13 · answer #3 · answered by jane d 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
hi, i am a respiratory therapy graduate and a nursing student, so i think i may know some areas here
even though it looks like your dad is very thirsty (dry mouth and all) and even if he is very uncomfortable about it, you don't need to worry about dehydration because i am guessing that he is hooked up to an IV (you know that plastic tubing that is injected in his hand?) and that IV contain some water in it also which keeps his body hydrated. he is just not able to drink water through his mouth that's why it's very dry.
your dad is very lucky to have survived 5 heart attacks. and he has to take care of himself. based on my experience, one of the people that is very hard to treat is a diabetic person. since he is under medication, the medication that he takes don't usually match most medications. since he has heart problems also, he has to take medications for those too and it's very tough looking for medications that matches the ones that he is currently taking.
i am not sure about watching his water intake, but i know he has to watch his SODIUM (salt) intake. because sodium has an effect in the body that makes you retain (hold on to) water. what happens is... the reason why he's having heart attack is because of the water retention. it could be that he's been eating foods that are very high in sodium for quite a long time alreay. so now, water is everywhere his body and it makes it harder for his heart to pump all those liquid! (blood and water) imagine that you are a water pump -- you are pumping let's say 5 liters of water through a hose... then suddenly, you need to pump 20 liters of water through the hose, you will get tired of course because it's meeting resistance.
our bodies are like dominoes. when a person is diabetic, because of too much sugar in the blood, the enzymes in our body break down the excess sugar into what we call "ketones" -- this travel in our blood and then through our kidneys. ketones make the kidneys very very sick. that's why his kidneys are very sick as well.
now the water in his lungs... it sounds like your dad is retaining waaaaaaay too much water. water also runs in our blood. blood goes to every part of our body, even in the lungs. now the body senses that it has too much water in the blood, so it dumps some of them in the lungs and other areas of the body. try looking at your dad's feet... i bet they are very swollen. press on it for 5 seconds... i bet the skin will not come up as fast as it should -- that is an indication that he has too many water in the body. the condition that he has (just an opinion -- im not a doctor, i can't diagnose) sounds like "pulmonary edema" -- water/fluid in the lungs.
im not sure with the water intake though... but if the doctor says he should watch it, then he should watch it. so try to be on the look out also. read the labels of the things that your dad eats. watch out for: sodium and sugar. as much as possible, let him eat fresh vegetables (steamed) and very lean meat. no canned goods or anything with preservatives (those are high in sodium) no sodas (both high in sodium and sugar). fruits are high in sugar also (some of them) he doesn't have to completely get rid of them, but watch his intake.
i hope this is able to help you. my father is diabetic as well.
2006-06-10 08:06:32 · answer #4 · answered by PC 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
he could suck on ice, the cold makes you feel less thirsty and he'd be taking in a minimal amount of water
2006-06-10 17:59:51 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
He can RINSE his mouth with water very often. Just don't swallow it. Just like boxers do it between rounds.
2006-06-10 07:48:15 · answer #6 · answered by ladybugewa 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋