My 70 year old mum, been on antipsychotic medication for almost 30 years, became very withdrawn and vacant.
Treated in hospital for a UTI - however she remains distant, very flat mood and has no memory.
Doctor diagnosed Dementia - then took her off her antipsychotic meds ‘cold turkey’ - causing terrible withdrawals.
Weaning her back onto her medication now.
She says her mind is blank and can’t remember anything. She is very withdrawn, and SO confused, wakes up every morning not even knowing where she is.
Still in hospital and going straight into Aged Care - can’t come home as now needs 24/7 care/supervision.
What on earth is going on? Can dementia really come on this quickly?
I’m having trouble excepting this diagnosis... am I in denial?
Please tell me there’s hope for my mum :(
*Kept a record of her (Altered Mental Status fluctuations.
* I got REALLY connected to mom's primary care physician.
* for a time, we had her catheterized to measure intake and outflow of fluids.
*also have an excellent relationship with pharmacist--they understand drug interactions.
*Never allow a doctor cut off her meds cold turkey..they don't even do that to hard-core addicts and jailed criminals...why in the world this is common with our tax paying elders, I have no idea...but the coma it triggered in my mom almost killed her.
Good luck--do something nice for yourself!
Yes, a UTI can create havoc. Poor lady. Can you seek another dr. opinion?
The other challenge to your mom's mental health is the hospitalization itself. The combination of unfamiliar surroundings, intrusive strangers, noise and light interfering with sleep ... all of that can bring on delirium, which can progress to dementia fairly quickly, alas.
Any chance of getting her home even while her meds are being rearranged?
I hate to say this but good luck....i had the WORST experience with doctors/hospitals and any care in Brisbane. I had to do all my own research and tell THEM what to do. I was more than vigilant to the point we couldnt leave my mother without a family member with her at all times. My sister and i started to clean her or be there when the nurses were as they did not do it proparely....it got to the stage when i knew a uti was on its way...if you want to help your mother unfortunately you have to do most the work.
In my opinion the only way to know is to watch her and listen to her because people with dementia arent always speaking 'rubbish' you need to see through it and try and work out what is really going on. There is a fantastic lady called Teeba Snow ...look her up ... i wish you luck
Any vey serious illness can cause symptoms of dementia such as sepsis which Mum probably had. Existing dementia is often worsened by a hospitalization for anything so it is very possible that Dad has been picking up the slack for many years and no body noticed anything wrong.
This happened with my inlaws. FIL was physically ill and MIL was physically fit so she was able to carryone being a good housewife while FIL minded the shop so as to speak. Once FIL died MIL showed rapidly increasing signs of what was later diagnosed as vascular dementia and within weeks had to be institutionalized. Any oddities MIL had shown over the years were put down to a fall off the roof many many years ago.
No one is expecting a loved one to develope dementia and the early signs can be very subtle.
As far as medications are concerned obviously if new ones show undesirable effects they do need to be discontinued. Any of these antipsychotic or anti depression /anti anxiety meds do take a while to become effective, so in this case two weeks is probably too short a time to see much improvement and of course it is highly possible she will just continue to become sicker.
Read all you can about dementia, don't worry too much about the cause as symptoms will be similar so try not to be upset when she fails to recognize family, forgets names, stops eating and any other changes like the incontinence.
As mentioned it is important to find the bacteria that is causing the infection so a sensitive antibiotic can be prescribed.
This is going to be a very hard time for you all so try and concentrate on keeping everyone as healthy and stress free as possible.
Yes I will definitely keep an eye on my dad, he is so sad...
Life is cruel sometimes
With your mother, just reassure her. She's in a safe place, being well looked after, and it's very early days after what must have been - whatever happened - a major event of some sort.
Are you near a city of any size?
Please keep checking in to let us know what's happening, and take care of yourself, too.
As far as I know they just did a straight forward urine sample in a cup (I will double check with my Dad/siblings/hospital) she also had blood tests, ecg, CT scan (they said to check for haemorrhage)
The doctor gave her one dose of a new antipsychotic that has less side affects apparently but then the next day said she would put her back onto her original medication - she normally takes a tablet morning and night but the doctor is still only giving her one nightly.
There has been no trauma or loss or any event that has upset her.
Do dementia patients have that level of self awareness?
She really has not said much in the last fortnight at all - except
“My minds blank”
“I can’t reme anything”
She even said one night “I’m trying so hard to remember but I can’t, it’s all gone”
I’m very sorry to hear of your mums condition. It sounds very sudden also... it’s makes it very hard for the family to mentally process the situation.
It is 2 weeks today that she has been in hospital.
She has always had fairly good physical health- unfortunately she struggled with Mental illness though.
Being prescribed this medication decades ago she was never actually ‘labeled’ with a particular mental illness - she would always say ‘it’s anxiety medication’
Her condition was always good when medicated - a loving mother & wife, calm but low energy (wasn’t ever able to work) obsessive tendencies (highly highly religious- not in a healthy way) but could always do general home duties and had a friendly disposition.
However when she would take herself off her medication she would become very cranky and short tempered and I would even say void of emotion... so very very different when unmediated.
I am in Australia.
My mum just saw a local GP for her scripts and I don’t feel there is really a great level of care there.
It’s so strange that she now just stares and can’t answer any questions even as simple as “would you like a cup of tea”
She was at my sons birthday party just 6 weeks ago - helping me with food, walking around admiring my garden etc
And now she is sitting in a hospital bed with no memory and even wetting the bed the last 3 nights the nurse told us today...
The hospital did tell us that usually the spouse compensates for the early dementia signs and they don’t even know it...
My gut is just telling me there is more going on here...
You stated that the doctor "took her off her antipsychotic meds (that she had been taking for 30 years) ‘cold turkey’...{OH WOW!?!}...-- causing terrible withdrawals...{Of COURSE, IT WOULD!}..."Weaning her back onto her medication now." Is he weaning back on the same medications or different medications? How is she responding to the restarting of the medications other than "She says her mind is blank and can’t remember anything. She is very withdrawn, and SO confused,"?
Urinary Tract Infections (UTIs) have a nasty effect on the elderly and a person who is usually alert and oriented can become confused and disoriented and not act like themselves if they have a urinary tract infection. Sometimes it takes more than one prescription of antibiotics to treat the UTI. Did the doctor do a "Urine Culture" to see exactly what organism is causing the UTI or just a routine UA (Urine Specimen)? If the doctor did not do a Urine Culture than I think I that you need to ask that one be performed along with a Follow-up Urine Sample to check whether the UTI has be resolved. Your Mom may need to have a "straight-catheterization" done for the Urine Culture.
Has your Mum experienced any major trauma or loss (like the lost of a sibling or other close family members or lost of ability to attend activities or any other major changes in her life) other than the hospitalization the past 6-12 months?
{My Mom experienced Major Depression with Delusions after her younger brother, age 83, died in March 2017, and her older sister, age 91, died in April 2017. Their deaths were too much for her to handle along with some other major changes in our family dynamics that occurred in 2016 and 2017. Mom went from being mostly independent to not being able to do any of her ADLS within 48 hours and now resides in a Memory Care Unit. She now uses a wheelchair and has to have help with all ADLS.}
I don't know if there is another underlying cause other Dementia that might be causing your Mum to "became very withdrawn and vacant...She says her mind is blank and can’t remember anything. She is very withdrawn, and SO confused, wakes up every morning not even knowing where she is." Has she been assessed for a possible TIA or stroke? What other tests were done while she was in the hospital? Or did the doctor just "assume" that your Mum has Dementia?
We need more background information especially as to what tests the doctor did while you Mum was in the hospital.
The other thing that strikes me is that your mother's health overall must present quite a complex picture. She isn't old, but thirty years is a long time, if she's vulnerable to a uti bad enough to require hospitalisation then clearly physical care isn't going so well, and her range of psychiatric signs could have any number of causes.
How long has this acute crisis been going on? I'm wondering if it's still early days, and the best thing might be just to take deep breaths and give it time to settle down before you try to figure out the best way forward.
To answer the first question, though: yes. Uti's can develop into severe infection just like any other, and infection is one of the (reversible) causes of dementia. But your mother's u.t.i. didn't come out of nowhere - there is just too much going on even to guess what your mother's chances of full recovery are.
What country are you in? And what doctor is leading your mother's health care? - that's the person you need to work on establishing a good relationship with.