My mother is back from the hospital but she seems a bit confused. Is this a normal reaction from being hospitalized?

ginger123, No not my mother. I was talking about when I was in the hospital and how they almost killed me with medications. If I would have died, my family would of thought it was my heart.
I am taking care of my husband who has Alzheimer's. He is in the last stages.

Hi Reba, sorry to hear about your mother. Yes, anytime she is moved out of her normal surroundings, it can bring on some confusion. Also, her condition and medications can cause her to be confused. I would watch her for a few days and if you arent sure about her mental state, get in touch with her Dr. Do you have home health coming in to help you??

I wanted to say watch the doctors. They can kill you.

It is all about money. My doctor lives in a $500,000 house and who know what he drives, so he needs the money to pay for it.

It seems like every doctor my mom goes to, sees her age and throws pills at her. Where are the geriatric doctors these days? I'd think there would be money to be made for these young doctors looking for a specialty. After all, a person is going to need a doctor right up to the time they die, so why do they NOT have doctors that are specializing in helping old people? I guess it's not all bells and whistles and fancy equipment dealing with the old. Therefore not exciting enough. Too bad.

Swelling of the legs could be one of the medications she is on. I kept after our doctor until he changed my husbands meds. Guess what, it was the meds. Do they ever listen - yeah if you keep yelling about it. His legs are back to normal. They do over medicate too, so watch out for that.

I had a heat attack and I told them I couldn't take high blood pressure meds. Well they didn't listen and I didn't know what they were giving me. My blood pressure drop into the 30s. My kidneys didn't work anymore. Gee I wonder why I could of died and my family wouldn't have known what I died of. So they called in a Dr. for the kidneys and he took me off of all blood pressure medication. You would of thought they would have known that.
Doctors can kill you. What them!

Any change of routine will confuse an elderly person. My mother has dementia and hospitalizations in the past have devastated her and the disease progresses at any change in environment.

Every time my mom was in the hospital, she would be very disoriented when she got back home, it would take several days for her to get reoriented. If I had not been her full-time caretaker I do not know if she could have made the adjustment each time. It seemed like each time I would bring her home she would lose a little more of her memory. Unfortunately now she is in the nursing home after falling down too many times in the apartment and I got worn out caring for her full-time. I saw the same thing happen with her boyfriend who had dementia, each time they brought him home from the hospital he would lose more of his memory and go downhill, however his kids were not with him very long and did not help him adjust every time, they expected me and my mom to try to get him adjusted after he would get back home from the hospital.

Marie, how strange my mother went through the very same symptoms a few years back. Considering her potassium, don't let the docs brush it off. In later years, I found out she has Congestive heart failure. I attribute it to the potassium thing, that was over-looked. Certain meds can make potassium drop and this can lead to failure. Her antibiotics could have even caused this.
There are so many things that are just being uncovered about the harm some meds (including anibiotics) can cause. The antibiotics could even be confusing her. My mother is allergic to Cipro. Reactions can cause confusion. It made her completely out of it.

Marie, do I get this right? They just want to accommodate the swelling instead of addressing the swelling itself? What tha...? Her shoes are probably too tight from the swelling anyway. Diabetic sox would only (supposedly) be looser so they wouldn't cause a line at the top, but in any event she may just have to get some wide shoes. My mother has these same issues, but she is also diabetic, so Medicare buys her special shoes every year. What about good ol' Ted hose or the stronger prescription ones? Those should also be covered.

I forgot to mention - she is not diabetic, but they suggested diabetic socks because of the swelling in her ankles and legs.

Thank you for your responses. The AL just raised her from tier 1 to Tier 4 for now based on how she was doing last week. She is doing so much better today. She dressed herself and got herself in the wheelchair to the bathroom on her own. She is busy going though her "Stuff". She told me she always takes care of herself. She really doesn't remember much of what happened to her. I don't think they ever increased her potassium while they were doulbling her lasix and added another pill that is a diuretic before Christmas to get the swelling in her legs down. Now I have to find "diabetic" socks that are thin enough to fit in her shoes. The ones I bought today where to padded at bottom, and so we could not get her shoes on. They are also questioning if she has demetia because of how she was acting right before she went in hospital, in hospital, and for a week after the hospital. I don't think she does. She remembers things she hears on the news, etc and has strong opinions.

Make sure she was getting her usual meds. while in the hospital they are famous for substuiting a persons usuall meds for others that are cheaper or a sales rep has convinced her doc to give her another in the same class that might react differently-they did this with my husband often.

A UTI by itself can cause confusion. She may have been medicated or sedated with something that takes some time to work out of her body. Low potassium also can cause bizarre behavior/thinking. Dehydration piled upon these two things only makes them worse. I know there can be resistance to drinking water when prompted. Been there. In the case of my own mother, she resisted because she was incontinent and not properly protected, therefore reasoned that the less she drank the less likely to have "leakage". Too bad we are all so "rubber-stamped" as to symptoms and condition, to the point that the patient has to have wild swings in symptoms and behavior before someone takes notice. I know it can be a slow and steady decline to where the caregiver hardly notices, becomes accustomed, (then WOW! What's this?). But medical professionals are trained and should be able to catch these things sooner if they only weren't always so rushed. If she is out of the hospital, that's the first return to normalcy. It may take her several days to rest and get the proper sleep, returning to the home routine and off meds, etc.
Try to get her to use her words to describe how she is really feeling - now - and help her think through whether descriptions she is hearing from others is actually how she feels about certain aspects. Try this every day, make notes, and ask about specific ways she is perceiving herself and her condition. This helped me a lot with my mother, then I was able to describe to medical personnel what she had told me. This helped all of us. Lots. Another thing I try to do is to have her make decisions about what she wants and when, go or stay, in or out, etc. then make it happen just how she has decided. So often she will express her wishes and someone will talk her out of it, or just say "no" not now or not this or that way. Makes them feel powerless, after spending their life making their own plans and being able to carry them out and run their life. Some of the big issues have to be the way they are, but lots of the detail can be easily planned out by honoring your mother's own decisions. This is very satisfying. I know.

She sounds like she might need more than wraps or TED socks. She might need those wraps that look like shin gaurds with wires that help with circulation in the lower legs. Is she on a diuretic to help with fluid build up? If so, are they giving her extra potassiaum to keep her electrict lights from going out again. The confusion should continue to clear up.

Your mother's eletrolytes were imbalanced before she went into the hosptial and they will still take some time to balance after getting out. Just the mere fact of moving to and back from the hospital is enough to cause some confusion.

When anyone's electrolytes get unbalanced it's like their electric lights go off in their brains and everything gets messed up. One lady I knew had a great sense of humor. She told me that her problem was that her electrict lights went out and did not come backon until she got into the hospital. I'm not sure if she really grasped the biology of that, but she had the illustration down pat.

Now they are wrapping my mom's legs to cut down on swelling. On Friday her feet were so swollen from the wrapping and we could not get her shoes on. Sat and Sun they wrapped they from the toes and it was much better. I can't help but feel frustrated when I see something being done wrong. She is less confused, but still fuzzy on some things. I guess that will clear up?
Thanks.

Bless her heart, I would say it is very normal. Just keep reassuring her. Also medications can have side effects.

Yes, this is normal for what she's been through.