topic Re: Hospital Psychosis or Delirium in Community Chat

Hospital Psychosis or Delirium

Sunnyfield — Fri, 10 Jul 2015 21:30:48 GMT

Wondering if any of you have encountered this?

My husband has been hospitalized for a month and has started having halluciinations. someites he is extremely fightened by them (i.e. nurses trying to kill him; Al Qaeda taking him prisoner, etc.) - other times they are just odd - like telling me he was just outside putting up a Christmas Tree...

They are very distressing and I had never heard of them before I started researching on the Internet. He is on lots of meds which the doctor has agreed to start dialing back on to see if that will help reduce/eliminate the hallucinations. The worst part is seeing my husband frightened and upset - having these very real (to him) experiences - and not being able to help.

According to what I am being told, the onlly things that seem to help are (sometimes) anti-psychotic medication or going home - neither of which is an option right now....

Just wondering if any of you have had eperience with this kind of situation...

Re: Hospital Psychosis or Delirium

NoelSeven — Fri, 10 Jul 2015 21:34:58 GMT

What are his doctors saying? Surely they've run tests and are trying to find out if it's a medication or his illness?

Re: Hospital Psychosis or Delirium

Maxine49 — Fri, 10 Jul 2015 21:38:17 GMT

Do you have a list of his meds and his dosages? You should. If you don't, ask for them. And you should start doing research on-line about them so you can talk to his doctors about what you "may" find. It sounds very distressing for you both. I hope there is a solution soon.

Re: Hospital Psychosis or Delirium

NickNack1 — Fri, 10 Jul 2015 21:43:02 GMT

I know someone who was just in the hospital for a couple of weeks. He was in cardiac ICU. The same thing happened to him. His doctors said that it was common when someone was in the hospital for a while. Is your husband in the ICU? They told my friend's family that it was more common in there. As soon as he left the hospital it stopped.

I'm so sorry that you and your husband are going through this. I hope they'll find something to help him.

Re: Hospital Psychosis or Delirium

meem120 — Fri, 10 Jul 2015 21:44:13 GMT

The same thing happenned to my FIL, he was very disoriented, hallucinating and picking things out of the air. Fortunately, he was able to be discharged home with care and it only took a couple days and he was fine. Once he could see he was home and safe he was ok. But its pretty scary to watch!

Re: Hospital Psychosis or Delirium

fortune — Fri, 10 Jul 2015 21:45:47 GMT

So sorry about your hubby, sunnyfield. This is upsetting to both of you! Did he have surgery? Sometimes anesthesia can really have a lot of side effects--especially for older people. My son's dad is still having side effects after over a year ago from surgery for spinal stenosis. I hope you have a team approach for his care and are being very assertive about getting some answers. Maybe a second opinion should be considered.

Try to get a list of the medications he's on and look up their side effects online. The best way for you to help him is to find out as much as you can. I can't imagine anyone being in the hospital without a family member or friend riding herd over his or her care!! Hugs to you and your husband!!

Re: Hospital Psychosis or Delirium

Vivian — Fri, 10 Jul 2015 21:46:34 GMT

When my father was in the hospital for gastric cancer surgery, he was put on high doses of pain medication. They made him hallucinate and lose all short term memory. It was terrifying to us all. The doctors were quick to change his meds when we told them what was happening.

Re: Hospital Psychosis or Delirium

Fashionista17 — Fri, 10 Jul 2015 21:53:12 GMT

Yes, I have been through this with an elderly relative who was hospitalized for a couple of months for major surgery and began to see things that simply weren't there. It was not due to drugs or the surgery, we were told that it sometimes happens with older people who are hospitalized for a long time. They get disoriented and their mind starts playing tricks. Not sure of your husband's age, but I guess it could happen to anyone even if not elderly. I am hopeful that it will go away once he is better or goes home. My relative was fine after she was released. Praying for you!!

Re: Hospital Psychosis or Delirium

Irshgrl31201 — Fri, 10 Jul 2015 21:55:14 GMT

Sunnyfield, I have no answers to this but I just wanted to say I am sorry you are going through this, it must be extremely frightening for you to watch your husband go through this and be so scared.

Re: Hospital Psychosis or Delirium

YorkieonmyPillow — Fri, 10 Jul 2015 21:58:14 GMT

Happens often in ICUs.

Re: Hospital Psychosis or Delirium

gailcoco — Fri, 10 Jul 2015 22:27:42 GMT

It happened to my Mom after surgery. We think it was one of her medications for pain causing this. When they stopped the medication she returned to normal. Plus, she was more active and able to eat after a few days.

Gail

Re: Hospital Psychosis or Delirium

wismiss — Fri, 10 Jul 2015 22:48:17 GMT

Sunnyfield, my mother experienced this when she was in the hospital for pnuemonia. She saw people on the roof on a building across from her room. They were installing a new roof. And, she also saw cotton tufts floating in the air and would try to catch them. I had a very similar reaction that you are experiencing, until our family doctor explained what was happening and gave us reassurance that this was temporary.

My mother was in the hospital for about two weeks, but as she got better, the hallucinations stopped. They were gone completely by the time she went home.

I can understand how frightening they are to him and to you. Mom didn't have anything like someone trying to harm her, so we would just go along with it and not try to convince her they weren't real. We would ask her questions like how many people were on the roof, etc.

The only thing I can recommend is stay calm and consider this as temporary. IMHO I would not consent to anti-psychotic medication unless they continued after a change in medication and/or placement. My Mom's was temporary and I hope that this will be the case with your husband. However, I am not a doctor. If your family doctor is not treating your husband but it is the hospitalist and the specialist(s), I would consult your family doctor to see what he/she can share with you about this situation. Perhaps this will ease your anxiety.

Will be thinking of you and hope that everything gets better soon.

Re: Hospital Psychosis or Delirium

Say Nay — Fri, 10 Jul 2015 22:50:51 GMT

My aunt experienced somthing similar. We were shocked to find out it was caused by a bad UTI.

Re: Hospital Psychosis or Delirium

skuggles — Fri, 10 Jul 2015 22:56:34 GMT

I was in the ICU not that long ago. I had hallucinations and was bothered by them. At the same time I was aware that they weren't real. In my case, they were caused by a certain pain medication, and they stopped when they dialed back the dose. Being sick enough to be in an ICU makes you more vulnerable to side effects, but also to altered sensorium from the environment itself, with disturbed sleep/wake cycles and continuous noise and or/light.

Re: Hospital Psychosis or Delirium

Vickiv — Fri, 10 Jul 2015 23:45:24 GMT

My husband was in the hospital due to cancer. He was on such strong pain meds and other drugs. He thought there were rats on the walls. Did not realize what state we live in. Seen many things that were not there. It all came from meds. Some of the meds today can really do tricks of the mind. I am always aware of side effects.

Re: Hospital Psychosis or Delirium

Tribesters — Fri, 10 Jul 2015 23:52:44 GMT

This happened to my BIL as well. My pharmacist son thought it was side effects from digoxin. Here is what he told us- "Too much digoxin can cause weakness, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, mental disturbances, hallucinations, confusion, and visual changes. A lot of those symptoms are pretty nonspecific, but the visual changes are often described as halos around bright lights and yellow vision. They say VanGogh had high levels of digoxin when he painted Starry Night and that's sort of how the vision changes are described (I'm not saying digoxin will make you a better painter though)."

I'm sure there are many other drugs that could also cause mental disturbances & hallucinations. I think most hospitals over medicate.

Re: Hospital Psychosis or Delirium

hyacinth003 — Sat, 11 Jul 2015 00:15:36 GMT

As an RN, I can tell you it is not uncommon. Especially in an ICU setting.

It is caused by illness itself, medication, and (ICU especially) the disorientation of the day/night cycle. Not being able to really get enough sleep to rest the brain.

They can try to take a guess at what medication (like pain medication) may be causing this and work on that.

Be patient and calm, and it usually will get better.

Hyacinth

Re: Hospital Psychosis or Delirium

lolakimono — Sat, 11 Jul 2015 00:21:48 GMT

@Sunnyfield

Any chance he has internal bleeding?

Re: Hospital Psychosis or Delirium

JustJazzmom — Sat, 11 Jul 2015 00:26:19 GMT

Sometimes its a combination of being in unfamiliar surroundings, and having had major surgery. The anesthesia takes longer to leave the body in older people-- liver and kidneys are not as efficient as younger people's and they can hallucinate.

Another factor is certain pain meds given routinely can cause really bad dreams or the very fact that in a hospital its hard to get really deep sleep due to all the noise around you constantly (on the floor or outside in the corridors).

Re: Hospital Psychosis or Delirium

Madisson — Sat, 11 Jul 2015 00:51:56 GMT

@Smaug wrote:
My aunt experienced somthing similar. We were shocked to find out it was caused by a bad UTI.

It's very common in the elderly when they have a UTI.

Also, lots of elderly patients sundown (have more psychiatric problems at night as the sun goes down). Ask the nurse or doctor if that is what could be going on.

I saw my father going through this after his open heart surgery. He would actually go through the motions of shaving himself and feeding himself...both with nothing in his hand. He even told us about the wonderful food he was fed...and he was on nothing but an IV.