Any nurses about? Sickness, nausea and falls.

[VivaLeBeaver]

just wanted to ask a few things about my dad.

He's been poorly in hospital for some time with a rare form of vasculitis and seems to be getting worse every time I see him.

For the last two or three weeks he has barely eaten or drunk due to nausea and actual vomiting. He's now on a drip and the dietician has prescribed shakes but he won't have the shakes due to nausea. He's lost a lot of weight. He's been having cyclizine and metaclopromide as anti emetics. I asked the nurse today if he could have ondansetron, apparently he's prescribed it on an as needed basis and hasn't had any. She said she would keep an eye on him and if he was sick enough she would give him some. She didn't seem very receptive to my polite suggestion that maybe having it even if he wasn't actually vomiting but to help with nausea might help. Am I being unreasonable?

He's had a fall while in hospital due to trying to move an oxygen cylinder that was propping open the toilet door. He's broken a rib due to this and has now developed a chesty cough and the dr says he can hear a rattle in dads chest. He's had some sort of scan or xray that shows his chest is clear. Does this mean it's not pneumonia?

Thanks.

he should be getting the anti-emetics a good half hour before meal times so they are working before he trys to eat.

has he tried the juice version of the nutrition drinks? you can mix them with lemonade or fizzy water to make them more palatable.

not unreasonable for him to have ondansatron as a first line anti-puke, rather than a wait-and-see one.

cyclizine can make you very dizzy so this isn't going to help with that.

if be broke a rib and now is rattly and coughing it could be a chest infection but you'd think the xray would pick it up. is he on antibiotics?

and what are they doing about the original reason why he is in hospital? why does he have the nausea and vomiting?

ondanatron is very effective but more expensive than the other two meds. He should be having it though if the other medication is not working.

I don't know about antibiotics, will ask.

He has the nausea and vomiting due to the vasculitis and they are struggling to know what to do. He's been in over two months now. He's had his steriods upped and also having chemp which has worked in the past but not this time. They have got the UKs leading vasculitis person on the case but even he is stumped.

Ondansetron can be very constipating, maybe that is why they are avoiding it unless totally necessary? If cyclizine and metoclopramide aren't helping though are there other anti emetics they could try? Prochlorperazine (stemetil) is good for dizziness as well in some cases although it can make people drowsy.

Just another thought, ondansetron is actually only licensed post surgery and for patients receiving certain other drugs, the nursing staff may be avoiding it for that reason?

Thanks will ask about stemetil. I've had ondansetron at the same hospital for nerve pain. I know it's expensive though and wasn't sure if that's was having an effect.
He is already constipated, but The nurse I asked today never mentioned not giving it o him because of constipation.