Impractical home treatments. How common?

[Solasum]

My dad is getting on a bit, and while pretty sharp, he is increasingly shaky. He has been getting slowly deafer, and was advised to keep putting oil in his ears to clear them. He went to the practice nurse, and we were expecting her to syringe his ears quickly to get him started. But he was apparently told it wasn't necessary and that he could do it at home with any oil. The problem being that he is far too shaky to actually get anything into his ears, and far too stubborn to let anyone else do it (it was a big fight to get him to go to the surgery at all). So even though there is a simple solution, it won't happen so the problem won't resolve, because the nurse didn't take account of his infirmity.

It strikes me that he will not be alone in being given unworkable solutions. Has it happened to anyone else, and was there any eventual solution?

Dad is really annoyed that his time was wasted now, and still very deaf

[Floralnomad]

In Lloyds chemist ( and probably others) they sell ear oil in a spray , I think its called Otex , its much easier to use as you stick the nozzle in the ear and push the top . TBH it is the best long term solution for wax .

[IsItMeOr]

It does sound like it's going to be pretty difficult to effectively treatment somebody who is so reluctant and inflexible.

The standard would be for somebody else to put the oil drops in his ear for him. But if he isn't willing to have that, then I guess he doesn't mind not hearing as much as you mind him not being able to hear?

[CMOTDibbler]

I think most audiologists will do an ear clean out, and he could get a hearing test at the same time to see if he needs hearing aids. I know Specsavers do NHS tests for free, so maybe worth trying.

I have no end of problems with treatments being given to my parents which are totally unfeasible. Fortunatly, now dad is seen by the geratology team who are wonderful.

[Floralnomad]

My DS got his hearing aids from specsavers ,they will not syringe ears - we had to go to the GP to get his done before she could do the fitting .

[Floralnomad]

Just checked and the spray oil is called EAROL ( not Otex) .

[whataboutbob]

Until I came on the scene and had to take control of Dad's many health problems, he had an absolute chest of drawers full of medications and insulin, which he never took. Dementia set in and we were told district nurses were far too busy to help with taking medication, so we would have to pay for private carers to do that. Which we did.

[Solasum]

Thanks all. I mentioned the Earol to him and he said that the nurse had said normal oil was all that was needed and it would clear up in no time and that other products are useless . Fine, if the oil went into the ears. Putting it on the surrounding hair I suspect is less useful.

I have visions of legions of older people on their own stockpiling medicines they can't manage to use :(

[Floralnomad]

EAROL is just the usual olive oil stuff but in a spray ,it's not anything fancy . We use it because my son has ITC aids and very waxy ears and the dropper bottles are too messy .

[Solasum]

It sounds perfect to me Floral,thank you for the recommendation

[Theas18]

I'm entirely with you op. The practicalities are just not recognised.

Mum has injections for wet macular degeneration. After each one she has a week of 4x day eye drops. She can't see and it's all very fiddly. She tell the hospital " I'll manage" but clearly can't. Dad can't do it for her. What happens is the neighbours have been doing a rota - which is lovely but completely above and beyond what's expected. I'm going to do tomorrow as well as other jobs for them. However it's almost impossible as she can't even tip her head back as her neck is stiff!

And don't mention the pump cream that is too thick for her to be able to push the pump down!

[PurpleWithRed]

I once happened to be at a lady's house when her medication was delivered by the pharmacy. Excellent, home delivery. The prescription attached had a stern note at the end saying her medication review was overdue and she needed to see her gp. Sadly the lady was blind and completely incapable of reading the prescription. Absolutely nuts.

[pinkcheese]

FIL's dementia tablets last month came in blister packs where you can't just pop the pill through the foil - you have to separate the layers at one corner using a thumbnail. Totally ridiculous for a person with dementia (probably old, possibly not able to see well, loss if fine motor skills, etc). The pharmacist apologised but it's down to the drug manufacturers what they package the pills in. He suggested using sharp scissors to pierce the packets!! How safe