Hi-caring for a neighbour with Parkinsons

Hi all,

just a little introduction and brief explanation of our situation

We are caring for our neighbour, he is an elderly gentleman of 82 years young and he was diagnosed with Parkinson's approx 3 years ago. 

When his wife passed away a few months after he was diagnosed we took on the responsibility of caring for him, as he has no family.

Over the past couple of years we have seen a steady decline in his health and we are doing more and more for him. My dad accompanies him to GP and hospital appointments, we makes sure he has all his medications to hand, we do his shopping and cook his meals and we pop in to see him in the morning, afternoon and evening. 

At the moment he is tending to his own personal cares unaided and he is managing to eat his food well.

Just a couple of question 

He is finding that his mouth is constantly dry which is annoying him terribly. When my dad took our neighbour to the GP he mentioned it and the DR gave him a spray to which my neighbour has described as useless (he is quite the character) 

Has anyone got any suggestions to improve the dryness in his mouth?

Are their foods he should be avoiding?

Many thanks in advance for any help

Kindest Regards

 

p.s should have mentioned his mouth is worse at night and it is disrupting his sleep

Hi Annabanana7,

I'm sure others will reply soon, but as we just had the same question this morning on Twitter, I thought I would jump in. We have a publication on our website regarding these symptoms - bit.ly/1x46JWI

Best wishes,
Alethea 
Digital Team 

Hi, Thanks for the reply. Just been informed via DS re. Twitter message. Fact sheet was useful... I'm happy to say he tried the chewing gum idea and it is really helping, he reports his mouth feels better than it has in a long time.

Hi It would be a good idea to also speak with the area Parkinson nurse or your neighbours hospital specialist if the cause is his PD they might need to adjust his dose of meds or Evan add something.

I am 49 and was dx 18 months ago & i have a excess saliva, I am at stage 2.5.

the different stages can add to the symptoms he is getting.

Hope things improve 

 

BB