Community Chat

[gailcoco]

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

[wismiss]

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.

[Say Nay]

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

[skuggles]

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.

[Vickiv]

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.

[Tribesters]

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.

[hyacinth003]

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

[lolakimono]

@Sunnyfield

Any chance he has internal bleeding?

[JustJazzmom]

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).

[Madisson]

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@Smaug wrote:

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

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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.