You might look into the Dash Diet.
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I have heard about it-- we're already using Dash seasonings with our food. I just hope mom's leg doesn't swell up again. I want to get this entire plan thing under way, I'm getting an app both on my phone and on hers to help her keep up with what she eats. But the problem is I don't even know what she needs. We haven't been recommended to a nutritionist so we have to just do everything on our own right now, at least until Monday-- but she won't be here Monday. I guess I can go visit her, though.

Well, I say that, but it already did a little, I think. She did have dill pickle chips, but only like 5-6 of them she said, and the full serving (which is ~20 chips) only has 180mg of sodium. Her leg started bloating a little again. I don't think it was as bad as it was last night, but this is still worrying. Although now that I've done a little checking her pills, she did seem to forget to take her amlodipine pill. The one for her blood pressure. She just took it now, so I guess we'll see if that helps. But still. I don't like this. The food we're eating has sodium too-- the oven-baked chicken, some shrimp, broccoli and some baked potatoes. what if it gets worse? What if she needs to go to the ER? Ugh, this is so stressful. She tells me not to worry, but it's not like I can just ignore this. I'm her caretaker.

Either way, she's eating the baked chicken with the Dash seasoning, some broccoli and a bit of shrimp seasoned with Dash too. Hope this helps. She also is drinking some water, within her restrictions at least. Maybe she doesn't need them anymore, though. Maybe that's why her leg is swelling. I know we walked today, too at about 4:50PM. 15 minutes.

Either way, I'm stressed, but she's going to my grandma's tomorrow. Maybe grandma will know what to do. I hope I'm just overreacting. I really do.

So mom's been doing better, she's been more active (we've been walking about 6 minutes or so every hour starting from like 2-4PM and doing her exercises by 8-9PM to top it off, occasionally practicing the stairs). She was given a cane recently by one of the physical therapists that came to check on her a couple days ago-- she's been trying to use that more when we do our walks. She also places her walker a little further away from her bed so she has to get up and walk to it on her own when she moves around-- just little changes to be more active. Proud of our progress.

Still somewhat forgetful, but technically treatment for that (in the form of the B1 her doctor gave her at least, and the B12 i've been giving her) only started a little over a month ago. I think she's doing better on that front.

I just have a question-- what kind of Magnesium should I get her specifically? There's a couple different forms, and I'm a little nervous since too much magnesium can cause problems and I haven't been able to ask the doctor about it or anything yet. I know she probably does need at least a little on account of her having once been an alcoholic, but I don't know which kind to get her. I've been thinking about this Magnesium L-Threonate kind with Magtein or whatever the site's calling it to help her memory/overall brain function, but again I just don't know.

Edit(like 2 minutes later): I also forgot-- when mom did talk to her doctor and mentioned her leg swelling, she said it's likely mom doesn't have diabetes or even prediabetes, but did say if we wanted to find out for sure we could come over and get mom's A1C to find out what that is-- since that's different from blood glucose levels. Her leg does still do a little swelling, but it goes down a lot more when she's walking/exercising. Although I don't know if the doctor mentioned what actually was causing the swelling, since this is all just mom relaying what she remembers of her video chat, but she did say she's off the fluid restriction (which has also helped the swelling) and confirmed that all of her lab results were in fact normal. Mom's still avoiding salt, and is still drinking/eating sugar-free or low-salt free stuff. We're using the Dash seasonings whenever we make food for her to eat still. I actually tried some baked chicken with it-- not half bad!

Hey SoulfulYin,
Thanks for the update,
Just a couple of things, reading through your messages

1. Pepper is fine. It helps aid digestion. This doesn't need to be avoided.

2. I take Magnesium Threonate, however I don't recommend it for you. One its very expensive and if your mom is magnesium deficient she will readily absorb any kind of magnesium.

I would go for Magnesium Oxide. This what I started off with. There are many types of magnesium because magnesium can't be by itself as a molecule it needs to be bound to something else to make it stable.

A Mg supplement is best absorbed on an empty stomach, but if she has any side effects (unlikely) take it with a meal.

Hope this helps, keep up the good work.

Atty

Magnesium oxide tends to be less readily absorbed into bodily tissues than other forms--it tends to get dumped into the intestines much faster, and therefore can have quite the laxative effect. Of course, some people use it precisely for that reason.

In terms of getting magnesium into the nervous system, it likely better to have it compounded it a more complex molecule, such as a malate or chelate, that is absorbed more slowly. These still may tend to have a laxative effect, but not as much (and these also tend to be a little more expensive than oxide).