Another dad update

[cimorene]

They thought they had solved Dad's hallucinations but it was a false alarm.

The sequence of events so far is:

• He starts hallucinating mildly, images of animals etc


• The visual hallucinations escalate steadily and include audio - first talking to absent people, then thinking he is in a variety of different places, finally briefly not recognizing my mom, though he did a minute later


• A new antibiotic is discontinued


• They find a UTI, but all mental symptoms stop, so they think the cause was the discontinued antibiotics


• He starts hallucinating again, more mildly, before the medical team has had a chance to agree to release him from the hospital


• He briefly recovers almost completely, but then gets worse again

It seems his medical team is dealing with a mystery again. 😔

Comments

[wychwood]

I hope they get it sorted soon!

My friend's husband had MS, and for some reason that meant UTIs didn't show up using the usual tests, and somehow the medical staff never worked that out. She came in one time and described some of his symptoms and I said "oh no, not another UTI", and she said HOW COME YOU KNOW THAT AND HIS NURSING STAFF DON'T. But they always seem to have such outrageous mental effects, I would never have expected it.

Fingers crossed for your dad.

[princessofgeeks]

I am so sorry. I know this is really scary. Thinking of you.

[kellyfaboo]

Hallucinations are a known UTI symptom so I'm not surprised they thought they were going together. That plus some weird antibiotic sensitivities could be the culprit. But I hope they nail it down soon - so do they probably.

Hang in there, I know this is stressful for everybody, even if you can't be a direct carer.