Hi Dr., I am a caregiver to an 87 year old and a hospice patient with congestive heart failure, has an oxygen 24/7, has liquid morphine .5ml every/hr. She is in nebulizer and bedridden and alert. She has an episode of shortness of breath attack once in a while and it happened at 3 or 5 am when she wake up. The hospice nurse told me just give her 1 push of morphine every 10 minutes. What is the other relief for her. Sometimes she s yelling, she needs help, she wants to have treatment in the hospital, but she is hospice. Thank you. Jean
Dear MadamThanks for your query. The exact treatment for this episodic breathlessness depends upon the cause of breathlessness. If you could find any disturbance of rhythm at that particular time? If her diuretics dose need to be adjusted, especially the time? If she coughs a lot followed by sputum production at that time indicating need of clearing her airways frequently. A little dose of home oxygen helps sometime. Hope this helps to some extent. SincerelySukhvinder