My mum sits a lot these days (she sleeps in her riser recliner chair as she finds her electric bed too difficult). She has developed 2 pressure sores on either side of her anus.
I spotted them coming & took her to the practice nurse but she was rather cavalier - suggested a cushion (which we’d already got - a foam one) & that we cream her with Sudocreme.
They haven’t disappeared - I try to encourage her to move regularly but it’s very difficult.
Does anyone who has personal knowledge of this have any tips or ideas? I don’t feel the practice nurse has been any use & her Parkinson’s Nurse is very hard to get hold of.
I’ve read somewhere that massaging with a massage oil might help…
You may get more help from one of the community (district) nurses rather than the practice nurse who usually has a different remit. Access to community nurses is (generally) via a GP with services configured differently in different areas.
Pressure sores need assessing and dealing with promptly to prevent things quickly deteriorating and in your situation I would request an urgent telephone consultation with her GP. Do it now, before winter increases the pressure on community services further.
I truly sympathise with you on this one. My Mum also sits lot these days, and we also have the cushions and pillows and everything. In my Mum’s case the pressure is directly on the tail of her spine and then the pressure has caused her some considerable pain. I can’t seem to get her to move slightly either end - left or right - to ease the pressure on THAT spot and yes, it’s sometimes itchy and she will scratch and break the skin. I do admit to putting Sudocrem very liberally on the affected area. I do this at least twice a day. I nag until she remembers to move her bottom throughout the day, even slightly. I try to keep her moving with my help throughout the day so that she is not sitting too much. It’s all like moving an oak tree anyway but I keep nagging until she does just one little thing for me and notices the difference it makes to herself … and she does it! The main thing I find is to ensure that the pressure does not become an open wound. Once it opens up it will never heal - or take forever - because of the constant pressure on it. My Mum’s skin there is apt to be a different colour to the rest of her bottom but the skin is not broken now. It WAS broken but I fixed it with the Sudocrem which I applied thick so that her skin would absorb it on its own instead of rubbing on the hurt skin. I do hope this help. Sorry for the long rambling explanation … !
Am wondering about the same thing now because my other half has become prone to such sores, for all same reasons plus significant loss of weight. I thought about cycle shorts with padded gusset as well as all other cushion options that we use, but none of them remove problem of skin rubbing…would one of those doughniut cushions help …the ones that mums who have recently given birth use to ease the pressure?
Pippa
We are extremely fortunate to have been appointed with an amazing PD nurse. She is so dedicated that we can call her anytime (bus hours) and she has helped so much with advice. As most PD patients all show differences to their PD according to their individuality it is very hard to pinpoint remedies. We have found that a complete knowledge of Mum has given us the ability to cope with HER needs. I can only share my experiences and hope and pray that some of it helps others. So long as the sores are not OPEN or WEEPING then there is always a way … I don’t let Mum’s sores ever get that far … on goes the Sudocrem (very thick) very quickly! She is not really incontinent but she likes to wear those incontinence panties (available at all Supermarkets/Chemists) and that is like a cushion and keeps the cream over the effected area. Skin rubbing is not a problem as we ensure that there are no creases in anything that she sits on. We also ‘‘pad’’ her out wherever she sits to keep her hips and bottom firm by pushing pillows around her at the sides in chairs or in her bed I push them into the side of her. She doesn’t like these things to be too tight around her because she says that she feels ‘‘trapped’’ so as I’m around 24/7 I keep an eye on things. If you have a PD nurse or how about the PD Specialist? They might be able to advice on any other forms of aids to ease this pressure? I feel sad that your husband has tender skin … loss of weight is a sign of the PD … my mother lost a lot but now she maintains it because ‘‘little and often’’ seems to work better for her now. There are specialist Nutrition experts available from your County Council to help you with this.
I’ve been using Sudocreme which is helpful & she a gel cushion, knows to move position as often as possible.
I have an appointment for her with the Practice Nurse tomorrow with a view to getting her referred to the Community Nurse if possible, so we can be in a ‘tissue viability system’ of monitoring! Such hard work to get anywhere (especially this week when I’ve discovered her previous local hospital have lost her details and haven’t referred her on to the bigger hospital Parkinson’s team upon the retirement of their consultant. So she currently dosesn’t exist, except to the PD nurse who I’m hoping will help)
I know what you mean. It’s hard enough dealing with it all but to have them lose information or chop and change appointments is annoying. There must be lots of people with problems I know and I also know about the shortages of staff in the NHS.
My Mum’s appointment with her Specialist Consultant at the hospital was for this November but for some reason it’s postponed until next April 2019! No explanation given. Travel is very awkward with Mum now and delays could mean problems with medication because only her Specialist Consultant can authorise changes. The man here was appointed only recently, is quite young, and here’s hoping that he doesn’t want to move too soon.
Yes indeed. I can sympathise because it’s all very frustrating …
Since last I wrote I’m now having problems with pressure from Mum’s buttocks. The place around her bum is bruised. The sores have begun to appear thick and fast. No sooner does one heal then another appears, usually worse than the one before…Mum does not seem to understand that she needs to keep moving so that this pressure does not built up. I show her videos from YTube and even the horrid pictures there don’t seem to scare her. She likes to sit a certain way and she automatically reverts to this position, even in her sleep. So when a new one came up, larger and more red than the last one, I got quite upset. I talked to her PD nurse and she came round the next day. By now of course this had healed…scabbed over…so there was little to see. Because of that and even though I asked her to tell Mum about the problems that could occur in the future she did not say anything with the result that Mum thinks that it was all a ploy on my part to get her to do something she does not see as important…anyway, at least there will be proper treatment coming from the PD nurse’s recommendations…a new cream as she thinks that Sudocrem is too greasy…a cover of some kind for the ‘wounds’ as she feels that Mum’s incontinence panties are ‘‘rubbing’’…but for me this is frustrating as I seem to be the only one who thinks that these bed sores are worth worrying about.
