Anyone ever dealt with this problem. Its common and can last a few days up to
a couple of months? I'll find out more details.
delirium after surgury
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Shannon Nelson
- Posts: 8848
- Joined: Fri Jun 28, 2002 10:00 pm
Re: delirium after surgury
I don't know much about this, but have been told that even hospitalization of an elderly person can cause this--temporary, and (I was told) basically due to disorientation from the unfamiliar surroundings and lack of accustomed stimulations. Maybe there's an additional effect from surgery, tho.
Shannon
Shannon
Re: delirium after surgury
My aunt who is in her eighties went in hospital for jaw surgury(cancer of the
jaw). She came to and was convulsing. The last six weeks she has been in and
out of delirium, in and out of being coherent. She now has a urinary tract
infection or they would have taken her out of hospital and put her in nursing
home for recovery or possibly no recovery. She is on feeding tube and keeps
try to pull it out so they say she needs to be on a full time watch. This is
my concern. She was on a low dose of synthetic opiate..tromadol..for the last
two years for pain due to a fall. She was supposed to be taking 4 doses a
day..but she only took one at night. so..low dose. I found out today that they
stopped cold turkey giving her that. Now i'm not a doctor but i'm pretty sure
that cold turkey would illicit some pretty awful withdrawal symptoms even
though it was a low dose. Cold Turkey! Am i wrong in thinking that the
hospital made a big mistake here?.
jaw). She came to and was convulsing. The last six weeks she has been in and
out of delirium, in and out of being coherent. She now has a urinary tract
infection or they would have taken her out of hospital and put her in nursing
home for recovery or possibly no recovery. She is on feeding tube and keeps
try to pull it out so they say she needs to be on a full time watch. This is
my concern. She was on a low dose of synthetic opiate..tromadol..for the last
two years for pain due to a fall. She was supposed to be taking 4 doses a
day..but she only took one at night. so..low dose. I found out today that they
stopped cold turkey giving her that. Now i'm not a doctor but i'm pretty sure
that cold turkey would illicit some pretty awful withdrawal symptoms even
though it was a low dose. Cold Turkey! Am i wrong in thinking that the
hospital made a big mistake here?.
-
Jean Doherty
- Posts: 1576
- Joined: Fri Apr 12, 2002 10:00 pm
Re: delirium after surgury
This happened my son. Stramonium 1M relieved and gave him some sleep. He was absolutely struggling to survive. Was ghastly. I was then forbidden to use remedies. It was so hard,, I felt that though the surgeons actually dod a terrific job they have a responsibility to look laterally.
Jean
Jean
Re: delirium after surgury
Carol,
Cold turkey and very likely wrong drugs and wrong dosages could all be part of the picture. Hospitals are not good for your health. I watched 24 hours a day with both of my parents during various incidents. On average I would catch two drug errors per night. If I had not been there questioning (and they were not happy about me doing it) each of those individual incidences would have caused deterioration or death. One incidence I did not catch (I went outside to have a cup of soup), put my father in ICU – and it was definitely a medication error. I watched as they simply murdered one of my mother's roommates one night with one drug error after another. Another time I watched as they continuously 'medicated' one elderly lady – the medication putting her into violent delirium. One evening the nurses 'forgot' to medicate her and the next morning she was sitting up and talking – a very pleasant lady. The mid morning nurse found the error and immediately injected her prescribed meds – about 30 minutes later she was back in violent delirium.
If anyone must be in the hospital – they MUST have a family member with a notebook stay with them 24/7.
Donna
D C Rona, PhD, ND, DHM
www.NaturopathOnTheWeb.com
rona@consultant.com
From: Carol Orr >
Reply-To: >
Date: Wed, 22 Dec 2010 16:47:32 -0600
To: >
Subject: [Minutus] delirium after surgury
My aunt who is in her eighties went in hospital for jaw surgury(cancer of the
jaw). She came to and was convulsing. The last six weeks she has been in and
out of delirium, in and out of being coherent. She now has a urinary tract
infection or they would have taken her out of hospital and put her in nursing
home for recovery or possibly no recovery. She is on feeding tube and keeps
try to pull it out so they say she needs to be on a full time watch. This is
my concern. She was on a low dose of synthetic opiate..tromadol..for the last
two years for pain due to a fall. She was supposed to be taking 4 doses a
day..but she only took one at night. so..low dose. I found out today that they
stopped cold turkey giving her that. Now i'm not a doctor but i'm pretty sure
that cold turkey would illicit some pretty awful withdrawal symptoms even
though it was a low dose. Cold Turkey! Am i wrong in thinking that the
hospital made a big mistake here?.
Cold turkey and very likely wrong drugs and wrong dosages could all be part of the picture. Hospitals are not good for your health. I watched 24 hours a day with both of my parents during various incidents. On average I would catch two drug errors per night. If I had not been there questioning (and they were not happy about me doing it) each of those individual incidences would have caused deterioration or death. One incidence I did not catch (I went outside to have a cup of soup), put my father in ICU – and it was definitely a medication error. I watched as they simply murdered one of my mother's roommates one night with one drug error after another. Another time I watched as they continuously 'medicated' one elderly lady – the medication putting her into violent delirium. One evening the nurses 'forgot' to medicate her and the next morning she was sitting up and talking – a very pleasant lady. The mid morning nurse found the error and immediately injected her prescribed meds – about 30 minutes later she was back in violent delirium.
If anyone must be in the hospital – they MUST have a family member with a notebook stay with them 24/7.
Donna
D C Rona, PhD, ND, DHM
www.NaturopathOnTheWeb.com
rona@consultant.com
From: Carol Orr >
Reply-To: >
Date: Wed, 22 Dec 2010 16:47:32 -0600
To: >
Subject: [Minutus] delirium after surgury
My aunt who is in her eighties went in hospital for jaw surgury(cancer of the
jaw). She came to and was convulsing. The last six weeks she has been in and
out of delirium, in and out of being coherent. She now has a urinary tract
infection or they would have taken her out of hospital and put her in nursing
home for recovery or possibly no recovery. She is on feeding tube and keeps
try to pull it out so they say she needs to be on a full time watch. This is
my concern. She was on a low dose of synthetic opiate..tromadol..for the last
two years for pain due to a fall. She was supposed to be taking 4 doses a
day..but she only took one at night. so..low dose. I found out today that they
stopped cold turkey giving her that. Now i'm not a doctor but i'm pretty sure
that cold turkey would illicit some pretty awful withdrawal symptoms even
though it was a low dose. Cold Turkey! Am i wrong in thinking that the
hospital made a big mistake here?.
-
Marc Kalmanson
- Posts: 8
- Joined: Fri Aug 28, 2009 10:00 pm
Re: delirium after surgury
I agree with Rona after having worked in hospitals for fourty years. The best way to stay healthy is to stay out of hospitals and away from doctors! Allopathy drove me to study and practice homeopathy.
Marc Kalmanson, MSN, ARNP
Marc Kalmanson, MSN, ARNP
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Marc Kalmanson
- Posts: 8
- Joined: Fri Aug 28, 2009 10:00 pm
Re: delirium after surgury
Carol, The convulsions/seizures could be caused by many things, among them sequelae of hypoxia, effects of the anesthetic, an embolus from an irregular heart beat, complications of the cancer. The tramadol is less likely to cause the seizures at a low to moderate dose, but can cause the confusion and delirium. Elderly patients however, frequently become confused and disoriented in hospital even without sedation or analgesia.
Marc Kalmanson, MSN, ARNP
Marc Kalmanson, MSN, ARNP
Re: delirium after surgury
Carol,
Donna is right about hospitals being unsafe places, and your aunt's definitely goofed big time in making her go cold turkey. In the best of all possible worlds, a family member would stay with the patient 24/7 (actually, in the best of all possible worlds the hospital would be so competently run that family supervision would be unnecessary!). But how likely is that in this day?
I've done "stealth homeopathy" for family members in this situation, taking the case (by observation only if the patient is comatose) and administering the remedy in water via a moistened Q-tip applied to the lips in the guise of "moistening dry lips." If the case isn't clear, however, you'll have to do some leg work to find out what meds she's on, what interactions and side effects are possible, and what needs to be discontinued.
Good luck.
Peace,
Dale
Donna is right about hospitals being unsafe places, and your aunt's definitely goofed big time in making her go cold turkey. In the best of all possible worlds, a family member would stay with the patient 24/7 (actually, in the best of all possible worlds the hospital would be so competently run that family supervision would be unnecessary!). But how likely is that in this day?
I've done "stealth homeopathy" for family members in this situation, taking the case (by observation only if the patient is comatose) and administering the remedy in water via a moistened Q-tip applied to the lips in the guise of "moistening dry lips." If the case isn't clear, however, you'll have to do some leg work to find out what meds she's on, what interactions and side effects are possible, and what needs to be discontinued.
Good luck.
Peace,
Dale
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Fran Sheffield
- Posts: 676
- Joined: Sun Nov 28, 2004 11:00 pm
Re: delirium after surgury
Hi Carol.
This is a suggestion to consider only if all other causes have been eliminated and the problem still remains.
If your aunt had a hard swelling of the jaw prior to the cancer diagnosis and surgery, Hecla lava may be of assistance.
It is well known for treatment of cancer of the jaw when there is hard swelling but as its materia medica is limited, there are few mind / mental symptoms.
--
Kind regards,
Fran Sheffield
Homeopathy Plus! (Tutorials - Remedies - Immunisation)
http://www.homeopathyplus.com.au
Do No Harm Initiative (Free Information on Homeopathic Immunisation)
http://www.d-n-h.org
Homeopathy for Autism (Guidelines for Treatment - Search for Practitioners)
http://www.homeopathy4autism.com
This is a suggestion to consider only if all other causes have been eliminated and the problem still remains.
If your aunt had a hard swelling of the jaw prior to the cancer diagnosis and surgery, Hecla lava may be of assistance.
It is well known for treatment of cancer of the jaw when there is hard swelling but as its materia medica is limited, there are few mind / mental symptoms.
--
Kind regards,
Fran Sheffield
Homeopathy Plus! (Tutorials - Remedies - Immunisation)
http://www.homeopathyplus.com.au
Do No Harm Initiative (Free Information on Homeopathic Immunisation)
http://www.d-n-h.org
Homeopathy for Autism (Guidelines for Treatment - Search for Practitioners)
http://www.homeopathy4autism.com