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My mom (84) fell and broke her kneecap. It took the EMS and local firefighters to get her out of the house and into an ambulance. After 1 day in the hospital she began having hallucinations that were pleasant sometimes, and quite terrifying at others. After 2 days of hallucinations, they stopped. She did not have a UTI. She was released to home with a knee immobilizer. When she had to have her ortho appt. an ambulance service was called, but did not take her to the appointment, but turned around halfway there and took her to the ER. She was in a , what I would describe as an catatonic state. She had her eyes open but did not respond to any commands or pain (sternum rub, pinches, etc). She did "awake" after 2 days and began the hallucinations yet again. She was transferred after a few days to rehab, where she had one day of hallucinations/delusions on the 2nd day there. Is this "normal" for dementia patients? She had been on Haldol but it was discontinued after a terrible tremor reaction. She now is on Seroquil and I worry about her homecoming (to my house) in 4 days. Any thoughts? Thanks!

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I'm thinking multiple strokes. Did they check for that? I would feel a lot safer if she went to rehab instead of home. Preferably a rehab attached to a hospital.
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I have read somewhere that over 90% of elders who go into the hospital for whatever reason have what is called delirium.... 20% of younger people get this after having surgery.

What happens with the patients they find themselves in a room they don't recognize, faces they don't know, noise in the hallways that sound scary, different smells, the lights or sunshine don't seem the same. They panic.

That happened to my Mom [98] when she fell and went to the ER, while in bed all of the sudden she was kicking like she was riding a bike, as fast as she could, then she started to reach up to the ceiling with her arms... and kept saying she was falling over and over again. After getting some meds to calm her, she settled down.

Once Mom was moved to another room where she shared a room [she and another patient needed a hospital "sitter" to watch them over night], Mom had the delirium once again.

Same happened when she was moved to a rehab facility, and later moved to long-term-care. It is so very difficult to see our parent that way, and we feel helpless as we can't do anything for them.
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Thanks, Pamsteqma. They did do catscan and mri on her head and did not find any bleeding/strokes.
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And I'm very worried about bringing her home this Friday. We have ordered a hospital bed to (hopefully) make it easier for her to get up and use the bathroom. Back in Jan/Feb she had horrible hallucinations/delirium, and would wake me in the wee hours of the morning with complaints and accusations. I could never settle her down during these times and I am terrified of this happening again. I do work part-time.
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momsjanet, I just have the ugly feeling they missed something. Be sure when they discharge her they order a visiting nurse once a week. Medicare will cover that for 60 days if they order it.
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Thanks Freqflyr and Pamstegma for your comments. I, too, think they've missed something. She will have OT, PT, and visiting nurse when she comes home. I was so very sure she'd had "mini" strokes or something, but they couldn't find anything. The could not do intensive testing because of her 5 y/0 pacemaker and the MRI would upset that. So, I don't know if this is the dementia/altz coming into play, or just a reaction to the stressful circumstances. Truthfully, I would love for her to stay in rehab a bit longer, but they have their rules, too. I'm just trying to figure out what in the world is going on with her; mainly because when she is in the hallucinating/delusional state she hates me. Really. She is so very hateful to me and says very ugly things and I'm the one doing full-time caretaking of her! It's so hurtful, and I do try to remember that it's the disease talking, but it isn't easy.
Thanks so much for reading & commenting! janet
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