Yes, the Seroquel was prescribed because she kept trying to get out of bed and ripping out her IVs. Quite agitated.
She remained in the hospital longer than planned because her sodium levels were so low. I would hesitate to cut out too much salt.
We do have an RX Tylenol we use on occasion, though rarely, when things are really bad.
If/when we hire help the thing I would insist is that this person take my mom for walks, something she and I used to do on the regular.
@Youdon’t_say was your mom suffering from hospital-induced delirium? This happened to my mother. Rather than medicate her the hospital provided a 24 hour aide who sat in the room! She had a nasogastric tube and kept lunging for water, which would choke her.
This delirium completely disappeared once she left the hospital (though dementia remained of course). It was a hard two weeks of delirium inpatient but I was glad there were no meds to taper her off of, honestly. The hospital did not want to medicate her and make her dementia worse.
No one called it that, but I assumed it was. I wish we had a 24-hour aide!
What’s difficult, for me, is not being there and trying not to impose my will on those who live near here and would have to carry out all the things. Truthfully, they simply don’t have the capacity to deal with all her issues, but my sister, specifically, refuses to admit that they need help. For those not on the caring for parents thread, one of the three of my mom’s caretakers were in the ER themselves in January, February and March. I am trying to get them to recognize that their plan for her care is not sustainable. I am hoping a geriatrician would help them see that, too, but the last time a doctor suggested a facility for my mom my sister got mad and refused to do anything else the guy said.
As you know I have been on the caring for parents thread for a long time. The resistance to a facility is so common but often the elderly parent is happier once placed. It must be so hard not to be able to influence things!
I had a PCP in a practice that focused on geriatrics, even in my 60’s. The doc saw me routinely every 3 months to go over care and the NP saw me for specific problems. My mother’s doc was an internist, not family practice, and that helped. We also have a local center for healthy aging with geriatric docs. Hope this idea appeals to the other caregivers.
One other thing: transitioning out of hospital requires that someone really go over the med list. There are often errors or drugs that are continued or deleted inappropriately. Your mom may also need some tapering advice beyond “cut in half and then stop.”
My mother went to a geriatric psych. for a couple of weeks and that is another resource. But I understand you don’t get to make these decisions.
In the end hospice services were our salvation. My mother went on hospice three times. As you know, you don’t have to be on the edge of dying and dementia is often a hospice diagnosis. Hospice gave us access to a doc and frequent visits by NP’s and nurses who worked with me on a near constant basis handling agitation issues.
I know hospice sounds scary, but sometimes it’s worth asking about. A friend’s mother benefited greatly from the hospice resources. In fact, she improved greatly due to good care and after a year was released. That was a year or two ago.
OK, I called her PCP and talked to his nurse. Got the OK to write her a letter to be included in her file for Friday’s visit and was told how to get me added to her HIPAA so that I could be on the phone if I want. I think we should add my brother, too. No reason not to have all of us on there, right? I mean on the HIPAA, not the phone call.
Sent you another PM. Do you have secondary proxy?
I think so. I will confirm.
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