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Diabetes and Juice Help Plz

D

dutton

Member
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5
hi i know of a 94 year old lady with type 2 Diabetes and her helper is giving her very high amounts of no added sugar juice mainly lemon and orange .
the volume of juice she gives to the dear little old lady is the volume we would put in as water its nearly neat juice straight from the bottle which makes her like she has damenture over night .
the high volume of juice makes the old lady confused and forgets to eat , she is also really unstable on her feet i know it is the high volume of juice making her ill but no one beleaves me not even doctors or the police ,can anyone give me some real information about the effects of no added sugar juices can have on a type 2 diabetic as i fear if she keeps being fed the juice she will fall hit her head and die which i cant let that happen i need real help from you guys and girls and asap please ... kind regards paul
 
I think you need to get advice from Social Services and her doctor.
 
ive tried social services , doctors and police they keep saying its not illegal to give juice to an old lady with diabetes, i looked after her for 12 years volentary and had to walk away a year ago and i have been fighting this case since the day i walked with no hopefull outcome ,they just dont get it its the volume amount of juice she gives her is the problem not the juice itself , i was lead to beleave that its illegal to give a substance knowing that that substance you give will damage there health which it does she goes confused and unstable on her feet and falls and she is back in hospital yet again 5th time this year its like shes hanging on in there for me to help her and that thought distroys me inside ... paul
ps soz for spelling mistakes lol
 
Maybe try help the aged then. I feel for you, because these ignorant people are killing her. Or point whoever cares for her in the direction of this forum.
 
Hello Paul

There are some differing issues here that aren't quite clear. Is the lady a friend or neighbour of yours? You said you looked after her for a long time on a voluntary basis so I would assume that you still had regular contact with her?

Are there any family involved with her care, even at long distance who should know about your concerns?

You have mentioned that you have spoken to doctors and police about this but I don't quite see how they would be prepared to discuss it with you unless you are directly involved. There is also the strong possibility that some of the lady's symptoms are caused by her age and general frailty, it isn't unusual at all for someone of this advanced age to become unsteady on their feet and forgetful. Falls could be due to many things, low blood sugar being one of the culprits, high amounts of sugary drinks (I think) would not cause her levels to drop but to rise.

If you have been present when the helper has given her these amounts then by all means, state your concerns. Failing that, there are other steps that can be taken when a care agency are not looking after someone properly but you don't really have enough to bring a complaint, not going by the info you have posted here. Bottom line is, unless someone is monitoring her diabetes and bg levels regularly (which they should be) then you can't really say that the juice intake is the direct cause.

Do you know if her diabetes is being looked after in the community or at home by district nurses ect?
 
Maybe I am reading your post wrong Paul but you say that she is being given virtually undiluted no sugar added lemon and orange flavoured cordials.

Now if that is true I don't really see how the drinks themselves could be the cause of the deterioration in her health other than maybe, with them tasting so strong, she is not actually drinking enough fluids. I know from personal experience the damaging effect dehydration can have on the frail and elderly.
 
I'm not clear here if the problem is with juice or squash.
Pure juice can be pretty high in sugars. "No-added sugar" squash still contains natural sugars,
It's the total of sugars which has to be considered, but unfortuately not all carers know this.
I do some voluntary work with people with learning difficulties and I'm keeping a watch on a diabetic, whose carers think pure juice is ok in pretty much any quantity, because it has no added sugar and is "natural".
It's difficult to intervene, because I have no official status in this man's life.
Hana
 
hi to all ive just got in and havent had time to read all of your posts she is my friend and neighbour on a voluntary basis i looked after her for 12 years breakfast at 8am , make sure dinners delivered at noon , tea at 5.30pm and help her into bed every night at 8pm the lady that gives her the juice is a lady that cleans her house for 3 hrs every monday and started turning up every day of the week ,she met her while delivering the meals on wheels and became her cleaner as i trusted her because she also does nhs care work with the elderly but i noticed the old lady had a coff all the time and she had jiuce left out for her every day which i never gave her , i even banded juice from the house but it still found its way back in via the cleaner i found her bringing it in with the laundry so i drank some myself what she left out and it was as if the jiuce was straight out of the bottle this amount of juice makes her sugar levels high gives her urine infection and make her like she has dementure i even found that she was getting the old ladies pension every 2 weeks and make her sign a receipt saying she recieved £0.00 and the police didnt even find this as thieft ..
 
dutton

A couple of questions first..

Why do you believe these sugar free fluids are harming this elderly lady... And do you know what quantity she's actually drinking! A litre jug or more per day!

Who's arranged a cleaner to go in for 3 hours a day!

As this on the face of it sounds like to be a private arrangement between the elderly lady and the cleaner or something privately arrangement by a family member on the elderly lady's behalf! As social services do not normally provide this type of care package. A basic max standard care package, would be 4 visits a day, breakfast, dinner, tea time and night time if help going to be is necessary (each about 30minutes even if personal care is required) shopping/cleaning is normally limited to an hour each per week! And believe me extracting this care package out of social services is a nightmare! (I used to build and oversee care packages for the disabled, chronic illness, Elderly if somebody from the age of 0 upwards need care I bulit and oversaw the care packaged required)

If she's been admitted to hospital, then due to her age the hospital will have to before discharging her, assess her needs and if needed ensure a care package is in place... If family or friends are providing support then the hospital has to have conformation that her care needs are being met!

There is a couple of things that I do need to point out...

You can not ban these drinks from her house or even denial her access to them, as you could find yourself in court on abuse charges.. Even if you had a legal document that give you advocacy or power of attorney, you still wouldn't have the right to depict whether the drinks entered her house or she chose to drink them... As you would be abusing her basic human right of choice!

If you remove said items from her house, you could if somebody decided to be petty be charged with theft!

So do bare in these in mind...

What can you do..

Well you could try to speak to the cleaner, and ask if she could dilute the drinks more..
If she has a family member overseeing things for her, try speaking to them about your concerns.

Other actions..

The police will only investigate if they believe their is enough prove to suspect a crime is being committed... Supplying fluids that are legal is unlikely to be considered a crime..

Social Worker,

You can express your concerns, but in reality there is only so much a social worker can do as, if she hasn't got a social worker, one can be sent to speak to her but if she refuses help there's nothing they can do really they can't force her to except help unless they can prove she is unable to to make this decision, which is a very complex and lengthy process...

If she is admitted to hospital again, this is probably the best time to express your concerns to both the hospital and the social worker...

About the only thing you can really do, is just keep a general eye on her the best you can...
 
jopar said:
You can not ban these drinks from her house or even denial her access to them, as you could find yourself in court on abuse charges.. Even if you had a legal document that give you advocacy or power of attorney
Click to expand...

Yeah, I can really see the Crown Prosecution Service biting on that one: "She wouldn't give me my Barley Water your honour".

Watch out for the blue flashing lights.
 
Oh you may Jest!

Abuse isn't about just causing physical or mental harm to an individual or swindling somebody out of a lot of money!

It's much more subtle than that and is based around Basic Human Rights! And any breach of these however minor it is...

Many times I have when working in care deal with relatives who believe because they have been awarded Power of Attorney so can control money etc... They have also the right to impose their choice on to that relative, and can inform staff they no-longer want their relative smoking or drinking (as in alcohol) because they believe it isn't good for them or that the relative has do or may not, dress in a certain way, eat certain foods or drinks or even be in bed at certain times! It actually doesn't!

Again, Jest about blue lights...

But it only needs someone to be petty and you could be saying your honour!

Where I live nicking 4 bars of chocolate worth less than £2, landed one chap with a criminal record and a very hefty fine more than another individual who appeared before the same judge for the procession of class A drugs...
 
jopar said:
Where I live nicking 4 bars of chocolate worth less than £2, landed one chap with a criminal record and a very hefty fine more than another individual who appeared before the same judge for the procession of class A drugs...
Click to expand...

It depends how big the procession was but, in my opinion, theft is a much more serious offence.
 
Dutton, in general, the advice you have been given here is sound.

Jopar, What I will point out at the risk of being seen is argumentative is that not everything is always as clear cut it seems. I don't wish to derail the thread in anyway but must point out that the care package system you have alluded to is what is supposed to happen before hospital discharge. It is not at all unusual for patients to be discharged without a suitable care package in place..highlight on the word suitable. This is why there are so many re-admissions among the elderly, bickering about cost between continuing care and Social Services. It is also mentioned in the that the lady in question has had repeated admissions so it looks as if her care until now hasn't been that wonderful.

Regarding human rights..again not always as clear cut as laid out here. Not a topic that is necessary to elaborate on here but there are circumstances, albeit very unusually, where relatives can impose their choice onto a relative IF it has been shown that the relative cannot make suitable choices for themselves. I am speaking only on the subject of food and drink.

I think we are all agreed that the best thing for the OP is to have a word with the social work team at the hospital, voice his concerns and then observe the situation.

Dutton, I should have mentioned that is it good you are looking out for this lady. Too many elderly and vulnerable people fall through the net of supposed "care" and the cases are well documented. It's a shame there aren't a lot more people like yourself out there.
 
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