My dad has Alzheimer's and fell. He went to the hospital where they gave him Dilaudid for pain and he hasnt been the same since. Its been days and now they dont seem to know why his dementia has gotten so much worse. They are now saying that they want to take him the psych ward. My sister fears it is to evaluate him that his decline was normal not due to the heavy drug side effects.. Is this a scary place for an alzheimers patient?
We're with you on this. Take care,
Carol
I bet you get some other responses to this from those who know much more about it.
In my mom's case, she had had a knee replacement. She was doing great, participating with PT etc. until one of the nighttime nurses gave her dialaudid. She was so zoned out and floppy like a rag doll. She could not sit up on her own. She could not do the PT. A one time administration of dialaudid kept her in the hospital for an extra three days.
As his advocate find out the following:
- why did he fall? ( infection, stroke, decreased heart rate and dizziness, tripping or poor balance, dehydration)
- did he hit his head?
- why did they put him on Dilaudid ( pretty heavy med)
- Get Pain Management team involved to evaluate his pain and treat it.
- Only have you Dad see a geriatric psych practitioner or a geriatrician. These practitioners know these situations best and will deal with them with more experience.
- medications and anesthesia can cause ( increased) delirium in people over 65.
Yes, being hospitalized or doing anything out of the norm is difficult for anyone. It is impossible for a demented person to deal with until he feels that this is his " new normal" Your father needs to feel reassured that he is safe, and that he will be well cared for. You may need to let him know this many many times a day.
In any case, a logical step by step procedure of finding out the cause of the fall, and correcting that cause will lead to remedying everything else. Just let the most competent Nurse Practitioner, MD or D.O. who has experience with dementia patients be his primary care provider.
Take care of of yourself too
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