Looking for advice: SNF won’t allow my mom to keep her inhaler in hand, but she’s anxious without it
My 81‑year‑old mother is currently in a skilled nursing facility. She has dementia and severe asthma. My brother visits her 1–2 days a week, and I visit every other Saturday due to distance.
Lately she’s been asking us to bring her an inhaler she can physically hold “just in case.” The SNF already administers a nebulizer every four hours when her breathing gets tight, and they do have her inhaler on standby. But she doesn’t feel safe unless she’s literally holding it. It’s become a fixation — part medical, part anxiety from the dementia.
The problem is that the facility prohibits any outside medications from being brought in, even if it’s the same prescription she already has. So we can’t give her one to keep at her bedside.
I’m planning to talk to the facility’s social services team to see if there’s a workaround — maybe a rapid-call device, a comfort-access plan, or even a non-medicated dummy inhaler she can hold for reassurance. I’m trying to find something that helps her feel safe without breaking rules or putting her at risk.
Has anyone dealt with this kind of anxiety around breathing or medication access in dementia? Any strategies that worked for your loved one? I’d really appreciate hearing what helped.