We have a family member that is currently living in a nursing home but has been really ill and is hospitalized right. He originally went to the hospital due to a fall from a possible seizure. When he seem to come out of the seizure, he seemed to be talking and knowledgeable. The staff was giving him meds that would ease him so they could do test. I left my mother their with him as she is his primary care giver. They omitted him for test and such. I didn't see him for a few days but my mom kept telling me he was just sleeping and didn't seem to know anyone when they could get him awake. Mom didn't feel that she could take care of him in this state so they moved him to the attached nursing home. Every time we seen him he was acting sedated. I started feeling concerned that he was medicated way too much. At some point he got real ill and they sent him to the ER. They moved him to the ICU. After a few days there he started coming around. We were able to talk to him and he would respond back. The doctor told us that his sleeping and not responding is dementia. He was transferred back to the nursing home where within 24 hours seemed sedated again. I guess our concern is that we are scared that they are medicating him because he is a "needy" patient. We are not ruling out dementia because we did see some signs at home. We don't know what to do. We have been told that he has not been given anything but...it's just doesnt seem right. Any comments would be appreciated.
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The first sign of a brain tumor or the spread of cancer to the brain is often a seizure.
Lots of reasons to request further testing so it can be decided what if any treatment would be apropriate. Abnormal changes in an MRI are often simply due to natural aging. My brain MRI showed these changes and the neurologist said if I was 40 it would be diagnostic of MS but with an older person it was exactly what they would expect to see.
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This is very early days, and your best bet is to "hope for the best, prepare for the worst." With rest and care he could recover, or it may be that there is still some serious risk.
Your mother should ask the doctor to sit down and explain properly what is happening and what the doctor expects next. Just saying "oh it's dementia" and scooting off out of the room is not good enough: she's entitled to detailed, comprehensible answers.
Did the ER do a CT scan or MRI after his fall? Do you know if there was any damage, stroke or other reason that he would appear to be so sedated? Is he being treated for seizures? I know that my young niece has a seizure disorder that they try to treat with medication and she is can sleep a lot during the day sometimes. She's not always drowsy though.
Do you know the meds he's on and the dosage?
I don't think there's anything wrong with advocating for this family member to ensure that he's been properly diagnosed and is being properly medicated.