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Hi all,
In the past 2 weeks my mom has been extremely fearful about things like the air conditioning. Is it working? Will it break down in the heatwave? Wakes my dad up multiple times a night to check it.


Her bills getting paid. Fear in general.


She was just hospitalized for 3 days for low sodium. It may have been that. She's close to normal range now. She, got home and said she was scared. Of what. She didn't know. She has Lexapro. Doesn't want to take it. She's been on a low dose of Reglan for nausea. I'm wondering if that's the culprit, it’s a serotonin blocker.


I talked to hospitalist this AM about UTI to be sure she was tested. She was tested for UTI, she had about 50k bacteria E.coli, Dr. said 100k would be worrisome plus no physical symptoms. He is going to send in a script for antibiotics 3 days. She's going to ask her pcp for a psych referral.


Am I missing any other possible causes? Well, onset of the usual suspects I'm hoping it's something like a UTI that can be cleared up.

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Hi and thank you for all the responses. Mom has said she would like to talk with someone so we have an appt on Tuesday with a psychiatric nurse practioner who was an RN in rehabs and nursing homes since 1998 and a certified psych NP since 2001. Her bio says helping people "reduce distress regardless of diagnoses" is her goal and her expertise is with older generations so seems like an excellent fit. She can do med management as well so hopefully will tell her get off the Reglan nausea be damned (she did not react well to Zofran).

Mom gets extremely anxious if dad leaves the house. He is her primary caregiver so she is concerned about not being able to reach him or know if something happens. Example, he went to go get a haircut this morning and I had to go over earlier than I normally do so she wouldn't be alone. But if he goes to do laundry or use the gym in the building she doesn't worry as much. He likes to walk outside but now that makes her too anxious.

I'm getting them both set up with lifeline devices this hopefully will alleviate some of that worry. Dad says he does not need one but I told him to suck it up. Plus it will count his steps so he liked that (he's a firecracker). She gets extremely upset with herself if she makes a mistake or can't immediately fix something like the TV was "frozen" the other day and I guess she freaked out with my dad until I came over (was, super proud of myself for googling the error code and fixing it lol!) . Or she clicked the wrong address for an Amazon shipment and called me to come over (she realized she could cancel and start over...)

Anyway MiaMoor your comments were super helpful in particular. I sense she is fearing becoming more dependent and worried about the "what if's" understandably so. I've told her I've made dozens of mistakes using Amazon and if it weren't for my techie husband I could barely operate my TV. This world isn't designed to be easy. However many of her reactions have been outsized and a change for her so hopefully "early" intervention will help. I hope she can teach mom some skills for being more gentle with herself and letting go of perfectionism and accepting the both/and of life. Her cognition still is fine, memory long and short term, conversing etc. We went to see her great granddaughter yesterday and it was a beautiful visit involving a car ride and a formula feed at my nephew's (I'm normalizing bringing the crap with us! We had our lunch and so did the baby and so did she!!)

Samad1 yes the hospital does a number on a person for sure, she is also getting over the trauma of her 9 day stay in March and the trauma of reinsertion of the feeding tube she thought she was done with... She did complete a course of antibiotics for potential UTI. Thanks again group it's helpful for me to write it out and I'll update more.
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Reply to casole
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Prayers sent.
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Reply to Llamalover47
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I would think that it is partly the hospital stay. Staying in a hospital, unfamiliar environment, and unfamiliar people will do a number on anyone, especially someone suffering from dementia. That trauma will wear away slowly.

UTI, I think is the more important element to watch. Even the slightest levels of E. coli or any other bacteria will grow to a full-blown infection over a short period of time. In our loved ones, there may be no other symptoms like fever.

Look for another external culprit; Pain, skin rash, flu, upset stomach, constipation, and the like as well.

Psychiatric problems in my view should be at the end of the long list of potential problems. Find a way of making sure she takes her Lexapro, in pudding, ice cream, etc. Check with your pharmacist to ascertain that you can actually powder the pill.
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Reply to Samad1
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My Mum suddenly became anxious and didn't really know why. She worried about me getting home safely, where her granddaughter was and if she was safe, and sometimes for an unspecified reason.
This was before her dementia had progressed significantly. Now, it seems that it was part of her cognitive decline. I'm glad that she is passed that phase, as the low level dose of antidepressants (which was all her GP was happy to prescribe, due to possible interactions with other meds) weren't helping that much.

I'm not saying that your mum is in cognitive decline, but she has been through trauma, which also affects how our brains work.

Yes, it's important to look into the cause but, in the meantime, try and help relieve the symptoms. Simply counteracting your mum's fears probably won't be enough to allay them.

Be reassuring, but try not to belittle your mum's anxieties. Instead, use distraction techniques to move your mum out of the anxiety loop.
After reassurance, change the subject and find a brighter topic of discussion. Encourage your mum to engage in activities with other people, so that she doesn't get stuck inside her own head.
Turn your mum's thoughts towards others, such as helping out with any fundraising or anything that helps other people.
Look into building resilience and see if there's anything that can help your mum to realise that she's stronger than she thinks - she's got this far in life without breaking into pieces, she'll cope with whatever else comes along.

I do hope that your Mum feels better soon.
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Reply to MiaMoor
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If this is sudden and unusual then it could have to do with the UTI.
If not, this could have to do with medications, or a need for medications or a need for diagnostic workup, but anything we say here is pure guess work. Ultimately this needs to be in the hands of your loved one's medical team. I wish you luck with finding out what's going on.
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Reply to AlvaDeer
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My aging mothers psych issues, fears were related to UTI. It is very hard to manage infections because it's a breeding ground. There is microwaving that can be used therapeutically to prevent infections. Talk to her doctor about a once daily pill.
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Reply to AngelaWhite
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My Dad was hospitalized with low sodium and they traced it to the anti- depressant he was taking. ( Effexor-Venlaxafine). They said many anti depressants can cause low sodium. They weaned him off of it and his sodium returned to normal. His anxiety and paranoia increased also. He is on Buspar for anxiety and Seroquel for the paranoia. It has helped a little. Frankly I’m not sure much helps once they have this. They give him Ativan at night to help him get to sleep. He is 93 in Assisted Living. He has COPD which can cause anxiety because of the difficulty in getting enough oxygen. It’s so hard to see him suffer like this because this personality is nothing like he used to be. He doesn’t have full blown dementia but because of his age he has a few of the beginning symptoms.
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Reply to Mds1954
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Reglan caused tardive dyskinesia and severe confusion in my father. Thankfully it wasn’t permanent. Get your mom off of Reglan ASAP.
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Reply to PattyBinWV
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My mom was on Reglan once and it made her EXTREMELY anxious. I will never allow her to be given that again.
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Reply to AmyInPA
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Reglan can cause depression and tons of other side effects including confusion. I'd switch her to Zofran as needed only.

Abruptly stopping Lexapro is a very bad idea, if that's what she's done. Weaning off slowly is necessary to avoid side effects too numerous to mention.

Best of luck.
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Reply to lealonnie1
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Bring her to her Primary care doctor and discuss the Issue . If she Has trouble swallowing that May make her fearful of choking . So she projects that fear Onto the AC . I have dealt with OCD in My Brother , Father and I had some OCD after an accident .
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Reply to KNance72
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I would say low sodium was the problem and now that has to be watched. 3 days in the hospital probably did not help.
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Reply to JoAnn29
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The sudden onset of all this makes me think it could be either a NEW medication or a UTI, and you are already on those possible culprits. I sure wish you good luck in tracking down the cause. Unfortunately this sort of paranoia and fearfulness is common in some dementias, but they usually manifest a good deal more slowly. I wish you the best and hope you will update us. Congrats on being so quick to pick up the possibilities. Low sodium can have a bad affect and if hospitalization was required, that in itself is very disturbing to the elder's equilibrium if there is underlying dementia.
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Reply to AlvaDeer
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KNance72 Jul 25, 2024
Good to see you Alva
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Sounds mostly like OCD and anxiety, could be cognitive decline.

I would check out Teepa Snow on YouTube, see if you see any other symptoms of dementia.

One other suggestion if your thinking UTI, would be a sinus infection. My mom was really off for a while, then she got really stuff, after giving her antibiotics for sinus infection, her cognitive decline improved
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Reply to Anxietynacy
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Thats More Obsessive compulsive disorder . Personally I dont like anti depressants . You May try getting her off that and see if her demeanor changes .
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casole Jul 25, 2024
Hi knance. She never actually took any of the Lexapro at all. She was prescribed it bc she was terribly depressed after her swallowing issues resurfaced and she had post hospital trauma (understably!). Her outlook had greatly improved over the past two months until about 2 weeks ago...
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