My mother is in the hospital ( non coronavirus related)

[Ex Lurker]

She's 81 years old, very high functioning, but has had a couple instances of confusion. In the hospital to try to determine what it is. Dr comes in, talks to her a little bit while she's groggy from medication and says to me, "dementia." He further said we see this all the time and she has something that is exacerbating it which they're running tests for. This was a woman driving herself to the grocery store two days ago.

Later he sees me in the hallway with a freaked out look on my face, pats me on the arm and says, "very mild, don't worry." WTF doc?

Maybe I posted in the wrong place but I had to get it off my chest.

[onecaliberal]

1. It is common for people to be confused while in the hospital.

When my husband had a stroke 3 years ago, even I didn’t know what day it was.

[elleng]

2. Very sorry to hear.

Sounds like the 'doctor' needs re-educating, at LEAST in 'bedside.'

I'm NOT a doc, but I wonder how a 'diagnosis' could happen, given: 'talks to her a little bit while she's groggy from medication and says to me, "dementia."'

Check with others, in 'health,' and several sub-groups.



EDIT: IF her hospital stay was for a procedure of some sort that involved pain meds, or at least something that affects 'consciousness,' possible that caused her 'grogginess.' Happened to my mother. Check it out.

[dawg day]

3. A friend's mom had sudden confusion...

And it turned out to be the effect of a urinary infection. The doctor said this was quite common. Something to check anyway.

[KT2000]

4. my brother too - in his 50s

There were posters around the hospital that listed the reasons a person may experience confusion while in the hospital. Urinary infection was one of them. I was in the waiting room with a man who was there to make sure his elderly mother did not have any surgery since she did not recover her mental faculties after her last surgery.

[virgogal]

5. I'm 85...ignore the doctor.The accusation of dementia is

far too frequent these days.

[Ms. Toad]

6. One thing to check -

Hospitals have started pulling in prescriptions directly from pharmacies.

They pulled in mine. They were completely wrong (missing several prescriptions, wrong doses, wrong times of day). I fixed it with them 4 times during the 3-day stay - they still repeatedly brought me the wrong meds at the wrong time. I spoke with the head of the pharmacy & fixed it - it was still wrong after that. I spoke with an ombudsman. I'm coherent. I know what I take, at what times, in what doses. It is VERY dangerous for (1) the wrong meds to be pulled from the pharmacies and (2) to be consistently wrong, even after repeated correction. I have the ability to decline the meds or correct them when they are wrong - but many patients don't.

After that I spoke with my doctor. His mother was recently hospitalized - same story (but more similar to yours). He went to visit her - she was barely functional. When he checked her meds they were giving her daily doses of a med that she takes PRN (as needed) that impacts her mental ablities. Because they had overdosed her on the med, she was no longer functional to tell them that they were giving her too much medicine.

So - check your mother's meds and make sure they are not giving her more (or less) of a medicine she is regularly taking. (If you don't know - make sure after she gets out of the hospital and is coherent again that you get an accurate list of what she takes, when.)

[Ex Lurker]

7. So...talked to two different doctors

An internist and a neurologist. They are doing more tests to rule out stroke or seizure. If those are negative, they say the diagnosis will be dementia, which they are treating as not that big a deal. The internist says everyone who lives long enough has some level of dementia, and he doesn't see any indication of alzheimers (I didn't know there was a distinction). The neurologist implies that with some lifestyle changes aimed at reducing stress, she will be fine and her life will continue pretty much as before.

While I'm processing all this, a nurse comes in with an Exelon patch, which Google tells me is used to treat alzheimers. Needless to say, I'm super confused and have a lot of questions.

[OhioChick]

8. As someone else up-thread said...

Possible UTI.

My mother was hospitalized, talking batshit crazy and was very independent a few days prior. She had a UTI which often causes this type of behavior in the elderly.

After treated, my mother was herself again. (She doesn't have dementia)