Possible over medicating... I (son) joined hoping to help my Mom

[Tracelyn]

Like all the others have said, thank you for looking out for your Mom.

I have taken all of those meds at the same time except for the pramipexole.

I had to work at adjusting the times I took the medications to try to avoid being excessively tired and sluggish.

One things I do not see on the list, which has me curious is there is nothing for depression. I am not saying she is depressed, but it is very common when dealing with an illness like MS.

[MSW1963]

I'll just chime in here to say I agree that you're a good person for being involved in your mother's wellbeing and being concerned about her medication. Well done mom and dad.

My daughter would take all my meds away if she was in any position to do so. Thankfully that's not the case. Not that I take many medications at all, because I don't. But she's pretty clueless and I've managed to keep some of the darker aspects of MS a well guarded secret, or on a need to know basis, and will continue to do so as long as I can.

I decided soon after my diagnosis that I would not treat every symptom, realized I would need to pick and choose the sx's to treat because many of the sx medications cause drowzyness, not a good thing considering my MS fatigue and mild cognitive difficulties. The combination would probably lead to a general slowing down and compromise my mobility and cognition further. Slowing down while struggeling to keep the body in motion, defeats the purpose.

There are no easy choices when treating a disease that results in such wide spread problems, mobility, pain, stiffness, tremors, spasticity, weakness, fatigue, cognitive problems, etc., particularly considering each symptom medication has it's own side effects, add meds to offset medication side effects, it's complicated to say the least.

Keep up the good work. Your mom does need you, maybe just not as her medication gate keeper at the moment.

[misslux]

Has your mom had any neuro-specific PT and OT (i.e., not sports or injuries)? That is also really important if her mobility has declined. She may also want to look into neuro psych testing to see where she is at with things.

One things I do not see on the list, which has me curious is there is nothing for depression. I am not saying she is depressed, but it is very common when dealing with an illness like MS.

That is a good point.

morpheus, has she seen anyone for emotional support? Someone at the MS society or a support group? Have you all as a family attended information sessions? If not, contact your local NMSS and see what they offer.

Emotional support (social worker/therapist/PT/OT/MS society) outside my family has been vital in my outlook on life with MS. Without it, I would have sunk into despair. My family is great but I needed to connect with other people IRL who know this disease from a personal and professional level.

Is she up for learning more about how to cope with a chronic illness? See this thread for book and workshop info. It's really great but it is something that the person needs to do for themselves and if she does decided to do the workshop or read the book, it can be empowering and give her back some independence.

http://www.msworld.org/forum/showthread.php?t=129716

I know you and your dad are concerned (and I don't get a sense of your mom's personality or involvement, so I might be off base) but there are things she will need to do for herself like learning to being her own advocate. It is a crappy disease and the patient needs to be informed as much as possible.