Need Advice! E-Cig for someone with dementia and a pack-a-day habit

[pyrrhe]

My dad has been smoking for nearly 60 years. He has advancing dementia, COPD, and a host of other issues and needs to move to a Skilled Nursing Facility. They won't take him if he smokes so they suggested an e-cigarette. I need advice on the BEST type to get him that will be easy for him to learn and REMEMBER how to use. For example, if he has to push a button 3 times, it's probably not going to work. If he has to mess with liquids and so on, it's not going to work.

He struggles to learn new things and remember them and gets easily frustrated.

I call on the collective wisdom of the forum to guide me! Please help. If he doesn't get into a nursing home soon I'm going to lose it.

 

[p7willm]

The easiest thing to use would be one of the cigalikes. A disposable battery one would be the absolute easiest. Just puff away until it dies then start again with a new one.

Once you step up from that there is a little that has to be done. A simple ego battery needs to be charged.

If you visit on a regular basis get a bunch of batteries and turn them on before you leave. Then all he has to do is push the button and suck. When it stops working toss it into the box of dead batteries you will take home and recharge nest time you see him.

The simplest atty has to be refilled and even a simple one takes a bit of thought and dexterity.

Like the batteries, if you visit on a regular basis, get a bunch of cheap clearos and drop off the batteries with a filled tank attached and when the tank is empty of the battery dead he just tosses it in the box and gets the next set.

As far as pushing 3 times to turn it on and off just leave them on. It takes a VERY small amount of power to have it sit there turned off. Turning it off is pretty much just to stop it firing in you pocket.

I have seen a lanyard that holds an ego that might help not lose it and be a safe way to cary it around.

It may seem cruel but if the dementia is bad enough tell him he just had a cigarette and he needs to wait a bit for the next. There was a lady in the facility with my mother that wanted to get out and the staff told her to try the other door and by the time she got to the other door she had no memory of the first and they sent her back. She was perfectly happy doing this and had no idea she as doing it. I talked to the doctor and he said having her go back and forth between the doors was much better than telling her she was locked in and having her get upset.

Good luck with your father it is a sad thing.

 

[daleron]

My dad has been smoking for nearly 60 years. He has advancing dementia, COPD, and a host of other issues and needs to move to a Skilled Nursing Facility. They won't take him if he smokes so they suggested an e-cigarette. I need advice on the BEST type to get him that will be easy for him to learn and REMEMBER how to use. For example, if he has to push a button 3 times, it's probably not going to work. If he has to mess with liquids and so on, it's not going to work.

He struggles to learn new things and remember them and gets easily frustrated.

I call on the collective wisdom of the forum to guide me! Please help. If he doesn't get into a nursing home soon I'm going to lose it.

I agree, a disposable cig-a-like would probably be the best bet here although it would get expensive

Welcome to the forum hon

 

[Warpigs]

Yeah those disposable ecig's can get spendy real fast I'm sure. I never used one though so I have no idea how long they last.

 

[pyrrhe]

Thanks all!

I got him a kit from Greensmoke, told him he had to stop smoking real cigarettes (thought for sure it would cause a major meltdown) and he took to it like a duck to water!

The kit is pretty simple, just the battery and the pre-filled cartridge. He's still confused about how long it lasts and spent the first day asking me every 30 seconds. He did go through 2 batteries and 2 cartridges in the first day (!), but hopefully is slowing down. Because it doesn't burn down or go out like a regular cigarette I think he doesn't know when he should be done and to put it down so he's likely to turn it into a "pacifier." He started on the 2.4mg of nicotine, but he's only got 10 of those cartridges. He says its strong so the next 25 will be 1.8 and then we'll drop to 1.2 for a while. Hoping to get him down to nearly 0.

Another question: for anyone who was a serious smoker, when you switched to vaping, did you notice a change in mucus? He's been vaping for 2 days and this morning woke up with way more brown mucus, tinged with blood, than ever before. I've never seen it so bad. We're going to the doctor this morning, but wondered if this could be a response to the change in chemicals and his lungs trying to flush out the toxicity from the regular cigarettes?

Thanks so much to you all. I'm so relieved he likes the e-cig and that the transition was smooth! Hope it stays that way!

 

[Amraann]

It could be that or another symptom of the COPD. Best to talk to the Dr about it.

 

[Nana Gail]

Hi, I would suggest asking his Dr. to prescribe a nicotine patch for him. Instruct staff to place it on his back at shoulder level(so he can't remove it himself) these work well for about 12 hours but should be removed at bedtime (they can cause nightmares). The other portion of his addiction can be faked then with 0 mg juice. You should find the refillable cartomizers and use a higher VG (vegitable Glycerin) eliquid (makes more smoke) and keep rotating out his batteries and filled cartos'. The sad part of all this is he will slowly forget to use the ecig as his disease progresses. The patch can be titrated down as he settles in and begins to forget to smoke on his own. Sooo sorry about your Dad.

 

[pyrrhe]

Thanks Amraann and Nana Gail! (my name is Gail too ). He's currently not in a home since they won't take him if he's smoking real cigs, but this is a good suggestion. I'll ask the doctor about it. There may be something about the patch and all the meds he's on, but you know, he sees a cardiologist, a neurologist, and his family doctor and all told me to make him quit (to which I'd say, you come and make him do it - see how easy it is!), but none suggested e-cigarettes or the patch!

But yes, the patch and 0mg juice is a great idea!

I am worried about COPD exacerbation.We'll see what the doc says!

 

[gandymarsh]

Hi, I would suggest asking his Dr. to prescribe a nicotine patch for him. Instruct staff to place it on his back at shoulder level(so he can't remove it himself) these work well for about 12 hours but should be removed at bedtime (they can cause nightmares). The other portion of his addiction can be faked then with 0 mg juice. You should find the refillable cartomizers and use a higher VG (vegitable Glycerin) eliquid (makes more smoke) and keep rotating out his batteries and filled cartos'. The sad part of all this is he will slowly forget to use the ecig as his disease progresses. The patch can be titrated down as he settles in and begins to forget to smoke on his own. Sooo sorry about your Dad.

I agree with this wholeheartedly.

My mother developed Alzheimer's disease in her early 70s. As it progressed she was unable to remember what happened 5 minutes previous but talked a lot about things that happened 50 years previous. It's terrible watching someone deteriorate like that.

Vaping 0mg juice will probably satisfy the inhaling part of the habit. Maybe the caregivers there can fill his cartos/clearos and charge his batteries for him. I don't know about that though.

 

[pyrrhe]

Thanks again all.
He has a touch of bronchitis, but the doctor agrees that his lungs may be flushing the toxins from real cigarettes. Now I just need to figure out a way to slow him down! He's gone through 6 cartridges in 3 days (should be one a day at most), but I can't monitor him the whole time. He just doesn't have time sense any more.

Hmmm, maybe I should invent one for dementia patients that lets them take 15 puffs and then no more for 20 minutes! Of course, somewhere around minute 8 he'd throw a fit

 

[classwife]

A thought along with this...how would you feel about refilling his cartomizers and keep taking him in a new baggie full of filled ones and taking the empty ones home to refill ?

That would help keep costs down.

 

[roosterado]

Good Luck My Mom is 75 and started using a greensmoke in her senior apt. It is to expensive. I have been filling blanks cartomizers-10-12 at a time. But I bought her a couple of ego bateries and 2 MTs3 Clearomizers to try. The Mts3 hold about 3 mil of juice. If she likes them I will order2-3 more MTs3 for her and fill them for her when I can visit. She can charge batteries -her eyesite is not sharp enough to do refilling . She only smoked 5-6 cigs a day for the last several yrs partly because of the cost. She has been switching back and forth between cigarettes and e-cig but there is no smoking in her senior apt and we are in MN and winters near. BTW She is the reason I switched to Vaping 6 months ago.

 

[pyrrhe]

I guess I don't mind filling. He's currently on two pre-filled cartomizers a day, which is costing about $4 per day. He seems to need a new battery and a new cartomizer about once every 6-8 hours. His usage is heavier in the evening when he's watching TV. During the day, I often find him asleep in his chair so it's getting less use. But when he is using it, it's constant. I switched him from 2.4 to 1.2 and on the second cartomizer he complained so we moved to 1.8. Problem is, it's really affecting his sleeping. We're on day 10 since the switch and twice I've discovered he's slept in his chair all night. Last night I spent 2 hours trying to get him to bed and he kept saying he wanted one last cigarette - trying to explain the e-cig won't "burn out" is tough. I finally got him to bed, but he must have been up half the night again because I changed his battery and cartridge around 10:30pm last night and he needed new ones at 8 this morning. His sleep patterns have definitely changed and he's on a whole lot of meds to help him sleep so it must be strong to overcome those meds! I don't know if it's the more direct nicotine or the he's more addicted to always having it in his mouth or what, but it's definitely a trade-off. I'm loving not having the smoke in the house, but it's costing a lot more and really affecting his sleep, which means it's affecting mine!

He won't be able to keep up this level of smoking in a nursing facility although I don't know when that transition will happen.

 

[wonner]

We went through this my mother-in-law and went with disposables

We picked up several different brands to see what she liked, then found a local supplier and explained the situation and asked to buy in bulk.

In our case, the supplier was local convenience store that made us a great deal.

Once you know what he likes, there are lots of possibilities (eBay, vape shops, online vendors, etc.) for finding them at a good price.