87 year old dry heaves when eats or drinks

@mrskdoe

I have had dry heaves and they are no fun. My worst was after a upper abdominal surgery and it was caused by swelling. They tried steroids .. no luck with it and while I was on the medication in hospital I had a nasal gastric tube to suck the mucus out. They eventually did an endoscopy and stretched the area and repeated another time while I was in hospital and a couple of more times over the next couple of months out of hospital.

Yes, hiatal hernias which can cause reflux disease can cause dry heaving.

Are they giving your mother medications for it? Where they able to endoscopy here. I know with age they sometimes deem it unsafe to do one.

My mom came to live with my husband and I when she was 90 in 2018. I am still in rough shape from all the upper abdominal surgeries I had (3 in akk.. last was an open one). Somehow I was given the strength to take care of her for two years. She had another stroke and I could no longer handle all the care even with my husband's help. We had to put her in a nursing home for rehab because of a stroke. Before we had managed with home rehab for her after mild strokes. She did well from first week of January until her 92 birthday in March. But the rehab was not helping. The nursing home that would take her insurance was an hour drive from us … so daily visits were not possible. So phone calls in between visits. I had an older brother in the area, but he seldom visited or called her and her grandchildren .. children of my older brother… that lived in the town did not visit her. Covid hit right after her birthday and they closed the nursing home down. We were bringing her a phone she could use… a handset like she was used to at home. My brother gave her a flip phone and she could not even get it open. We left the handset phone and finally after many calls got someone to plug it in for her. It was her own private phone… we got it through Verizon. She could use it when the did not put it out of her reach. Every month her insurance company.. Medicare supplement… sent me an EOB with her medications they paid for. They changed her medications a lot!! A couple I fussed about that doctors did not want her to take because of unknown bleeding and a heart problem. Mom had her last stroke in August of 2020.. I finally got someone to answer a phone at the home and they went to help her with the phone and I could not make out what mom was trying to say. I asked the lady .. the best person there, the activities director what was wrong with mom's speech. She said “I will have the nurse reevaluate her” Hours later they call me back and tell me she is at the hospital. We talked to the doctor and he said the stroke had probably happened about 4 days ago. The stroke caused a bad brain bleed. She could live on with a feeding tube .. and live a few more months … but never be any better than she was right then. Mom chose not to have the feeding tube. We had talked of it when my husband's mom was ill in 2017.. she too chose not to have a feeding tube when she had a severe brain bleed. Mom could not talk but gibberish but she could indicate yes and no. She understood the options. We brought her back to my home town to a very nice hospice facility that kept her clean and pain relieved. She passed about a week later. I sat with her as much as possible… because of Covid they only allowed one person at a time and only two caretakers. To my surprise my brother did take the evening shift. I wish I had chosen my husband to be there… mom had said he was the best son she had.

This was just to tell you I understand about nursing homes… and family. We made calls to the administrator about care. It helped as long as we were able to visit. We never told them when would visit. After Covid hit it was difficult to get anyone on the phone. I am sure things have opened up more. Your mom has a social worker… or a representative of some sort. You need to find who that person is .. ask the administrator of the nursing home if no response on their part go to the department of human resources in the city or county the nursing home is in if in USA. .. other countries I don't know. The social worker can help.. sometimes… on getting better care from the nursing home.

Some other causes of dry heaving can be you mom's medications. You might want to ask what she is taking. Dry heaving can be caused by a swallowing problem. .. such as achalasia, Barrett's esophagus, esophageal spasm. Ripe bananas are good to try as well as applesauce, pureed meats.. which taste awful. I am sure other things can cause the awful problem Oh… for nausea I now wear a Reliefband instead of taking nausea medications. Sucking on a peppermint candy might help your mom.. but also make reflux worse. Try products that keep the mouth moist.

ZeeGee