Dementia a Side effect of the infection?

[bisous]

I posted before that my Dad is in the hospital with a horribly infected leg wound, apparently a complication from his diabetes that none of us knew about! Well, I visited him yesterday and he just doesn't seem "all there" to me. He's on tons of antibiotics and he had a high fever for several days (just now did it break!). Is this something temporary? Did he permanently hurt his brain? Is this a side effect of diabetes that I don't know? Or just a 70 year old man thing?

I'm afraid. This is new territory for me.

TIA for any information you might have!

[JBaxter]

It could also be from his pain meds Some pain meds make elderly people a little ( or a lot) out of it)

[BunnyBee]

There's something called hospital-induced delirium that can look a lot like dementia. Make sure the staff (nurses and doctors) are aware that he is acting very "off." I hope he recovers as well as possible.

[KrisM]

There's something called hospital-induced delirium that can look a lot like dementia. Make sure the staff (nurses and doctors) are aware that he is acting very "off." I hope he recovers as well as possible.

I was going to mention this, too. My grandfather had some delirium in the hospital last year. He was 93 at the time. Once he was more adjusted to being there, most of it went away. Once he moved out and into a rehab center and now senior living, it has disappeared all together.

[NCGrandma]

There's something called hospital-induced delirium that can look a lot like dementia. Make sure the staff (nurses and doctors) are aware that he is acting very "off." I hope he recovers as well as possible.

Definitely a common issue (but disturbing to family members). One reason to make sure that the staff is aware of this is that they will probably want to implement "falls precautions." Falls are a concern with delirium so they will want to do a variety of things to reduce the risk.


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[mom2binsd]

It is very common to have some cognitive deficits following any type of illness/surgery etc. Even a UTI in someone over 65 can cause a severe change in personality and cognitive function. I'm a SLP and I work in geriatric rehab in nursing homes and I often have patients on my caseload for a few weeks following an illness similar to what you described, I work on reorienting them, establishing safety protocol and strategies to maintain indpendence and be able to safely return home at their prior level of functioning (taking meds etc). It sounds like your father is experiencing this type of reaction to the illness. You could ask for a Speech eval for cognition, although not all hospitals are receptive and prefer to have that dealt with at a rehab/nursing home. Will he be returning home? Alone? Maybe home health will have some ideas.

[bisous]

I just mentioned to my neighbor that he has a dilaudid drip. She thinks this could be the cause! I'm reading over all of your posts very carefully. It is hard to think of my dad as old. My grandmother, who had an incident in Fall 2016, that I could imagine but my Dad is still so active but yeah, he's old and now he has diabetes.

We'll be watching him very closely. I can't imagine a fall right now but who knows. He was evaluated by an OT because of his leg infection and was fine. Maybe we need to keep an eye on him for a few weeks.

To put his usual activity into perspective, the week before he spent driving out to Texas (a 20 hour drive) and painted almost 1500 square feet of my sisters new house. He fixed almost everything in the house and regularly babysits for my sister and for me. This is a big shock! But I'm hoping (crossing fingers!) that it is from the medication or is otherwise temporary.

Thank you for your information!

[Indianamom2]

Yep, your dad has two factors that can cause dementia like symptoms: an infection and pain meds. It is extremely likely for an older person with "just" a UTI to be confused and have mental status changes. I'm sorry your dad is ill. Hopefully when the infection clears and he is back to himself, he will be willing to make some changes.

[firstbaby]

Yes, could be the infection and / or the pain meds. My dad had a very bad infection and was hospitalized for weeks. He was pretty delirious. I would strongly recommend you are very vocal in sharing with the hospital staff that this is not typical for his frame of mind.

[corrie23]

Sounds like delerium vs. dementia. Not uncommon following illness/surgery, etc. especially in older adults. Once the cause is determined and addressed (e.g. medication, the infection, fever, unstable blood sugar, etc.) he should return to his baseline level of functioning, assuming nothing else is also going on that just happened to spontaneously co-occur with this incident.

ICU psychosis, which some of the other posters alluded to is when factors consistent with lengthy stays in hospitals (e.g., sleep deprivation, extreme illness, bright light at night, disconnection from family/friends/home) cause a significant shift in reality for the individual and can result in psychotic experiences (e.g. hallucinations, delusions, etc.) This also generally resolves once the individual gets healthier and leaves the hospital setting/reconnects with normal daily rhythm.

I am sure that this is very scary for you, and I hope that it resolves soon. Wishing your dad a speedy and complete recovery.

[Pear]

We've seen this multiple times in family. Just being in the hospital can negatively impact people. One of the many reasons to get home as quickly as possible

[Kestrel]

It sounds like he hasn't been caring for his blood sugar correctly for some time. Make sure his diabetes is noted on his chart and his levels are being tested often. Off blood sugars can cause behavior / personality differences. My family calls it "loopy".. :) (As in Dad's acting loopy.... hey Dad, you need to test....)

[vonfirmath]

I posted before that my Dad is in the hospital with a horribly infected leg wound, apparently a complication from his diabetes that none of us knew about! Well, I visited him yesterday and he just doesn't seem "all there" to me. He's on tons of antibiotics and he had a high fever for several days (just now did it break!). Is this something temporary? Did he permanently hurt his brain? Is this a side effect of diabetes that I don't know? Or just a 70 year old man thing?

I'm afraid. This is new territory for me.

TIA for any information you might have!

Definitely. A friend of mine thought her mother's dementia had gotten worse -- bad enough she could no longer care for her. After going to the doctor and finding out she had a UTI, they treated the UTI and she went back to normal. (Still cannot live alone, but in a range my friend can work with.)