Dad went into a coma for no reason we can find.

[Carrie37]

Hi all, it is a while sice I posted but I was wondering if anyone can shed some light on this.

Dad has mixed dementia Alzheimers and Lewy body. On Friday he just didn't wake up. He was fine on Thursday walking and talking. He had hallucinations and his sight was sometimes affected but he was Ok. We were managing him at home. With a bit of prompting he could feed himself etc

So Mum called the Dr on Friday and he was sent to hospital with suspected pneumonia but then his blood pressure suddenly dropped and we were told he wouldn't make it. He then rallied but he is very unresponsive. Can't walk, can barely talk his oxygen levels keep falling to 91 when they remove the oxygen but there is no infection on the chest xray. Brain scan is fine too.

We are seeing the consultant tomorrow but just wondering if anyone has experienced anything like this.

We weren't ready for this just yet. Thanks.

 

[Carrie37]

I should say brian scan find apart from the atrophy

 

[MerryWive]

sometimes they miss things first time around?

Hi Carrie, that sounds scary, I hope you are okay.

It reminds me of something that happened with my mum in law last year, it sounds like it is something different but I thought I wd share my story in case it helps at all.

MIL cannot communicate but will be bright eyed and smile/laugh when she sees us and was eating quite well (we feed her by spoon). She was fine at night then didn't wake up in the morning. Then she was kind of awake-ish but not opening her eyes. She was moaning a bit, but would not wake up properly or open her eyes. We managed to get a bit of water down her but it was very hard. The doctor didn't know what it was. Then we had two evenings of the most awful howling, but she still wasn't properly awake. Still they didn't know what it was. She picked up a bit. Eventually they did a brain scan and couldn't see anything apart from atrophy. Then the next day a different consultant called us and said he could see a small stroke that had happened. So at least we got an explanation. She is a lot better now but not the same as before.

Sorry this disease can be very dark at times. XXXX

 

[henfenywfach]

Hi all, it is a while sice I posted but I was wondering if anyone can shed some light on this.

Dad has mixed dementia Alzheimers and Lewy body. On Friday he just didn't wake up. He was fine on Thursday walking and talking. He had hallucinations and his sight was sometimes affected but he was Ok. We were managing him at home. With a bit of prompting he could feed himself etc

So Mum called the Dr on Friday and he was sent to hospital with suspected pneumonia but then his blood pressure suddenly dropped and we were told he wouldn't make it. He then rallied but he is very unresponsive. Can't walk, can barely talk his oxygen levels keep falling to 91 when they remove the oxygen but there is no infection on the chest xray. Brain scan is fine too.

We are seeing the consultant tomorrow but just wondering if anyone has experienced anything like this.

We weren't ready for this just yet. Thanks.

Hi!..what an emotional situation..im so sorry you are all going through this..
My dad has lewy bodys and the only thing i can offer is that i am aware of that lewybodys can cause bloodpressure to drop for no reason and without warning..im not medically trained but have done several courses and researched for my dads sake..this was something i noticed with my dad hed be fine one minute then hed drop without reason which was sudden no warning....thankfully it was permanent but left him weaker...he also has a sleep disorder which makes him renact his dreams and gets hallucinations and delusions too!..when he is asleep he seems so deep into it sometimes i can see an expression in his face as he seems to go deeper into it..

I was unaware that the hypocampus which is generally the first part of the brain to be affect by dementia..they dont know why!..regulates the heart...

I wish i had a magic wand id wave it for you and the hundreds of thousands of others.

Best wishes

Sent from my GT-I9505 using Talking Point mobile app

 

[Carrie37]

Thank you, sometimes it is nice just to know there are others out there who understand. I do wonder if there is small stroke or something because he can't keep his oxygen levels up when they take the mask away.

If we thought this was the end stage we would take him home. But frustratingly no-one seems to know.

I will post tomorrow after we see the consultant.

This morning I had a million questions but now I don't know if I should ask them. I am very scared of the answers.

 

[nitram]

My wife suffered from LBD, When the midbrain was affected all the autonomic functions went haywire from time to time, sometimes they returned to normal but mainly they remained impaired to some extent.

The autonomic functions are those which are controlled sub consciously, blood pressure, heart rate, breathing rate, body temperature, digestion, production of saliva/sweat/tears, continence,/.....

A SPECT scan may identify the progression of LBD better than an MRI or CAT.

 

[Carrie37]

Thank you Nitram I was afraid that it may be that. I will see what the consultant says about SPECT scan but here in NI i think we are miles behind everywhere else with Dementia care.

 

[henfenywfach]

Thank you Nitram I was afraid that it may be that. I will see what the consultant says about SPECT scan but here in NI i think we are miles behind everywhere else with Dementia care.

Hi!.just for you to know when i took my dad to a professor at the local uni hospital if hed been on certain tablets the new scan would have been not appropriate or wouldve given a false picture....the reason im saying this is that i wouldnt want you all to be as upset as my mum was when she found out.
I hope they can do it..and it might be worth you looking on the web for university hospitals with professors in expertise in memory problems and dementia..no matter where they are ni or uk they might be able to communicate some expertise..

Hopefully it wont come to that..im sure your consultant is one of the best.
I just felt as a daughter i needed to do more whilst they scratched their heads
Best wishes

Sent from my GT-I9505 using Talking Point mobile app

 

[nitram]

If you are going to start querying what scans are available to you it may be useful to know the basic difference between 'structural imaging' and 'functional imaging'.

Basic CT and MRI scans are structural imaging, they provide information about the shape of the brain and can therefore show atrophy, they do not give any indication of brain activity.

The functional scans can provide details of brain function in various areas of the brain. A SPECT scan is one such scan and is the one I was able to organise for my wife, there are other techniques.

 

[Carrie37]

The consultant has told us Dad has severe right sided pneumonia. He is fairly sure it has not been caused by the dementia because the infection markers in the blood were up from the very start. Although it is aspiration pneumonia so in a way it is caused by dementia.

He said we need to get him on the right antibiotic as he hasn't responded to thd first two and then when the pneumonia is sorted we can reassess dementia drugs, swallow reflex etc

 

[Amy in the US]

Carrie, I am very sorry to hear your dad has pneumonia. It sounds like you have had a very stressful and frightening time with this sudden change in your dad's health and the hospitalization. I am glad you at least have some information about his medical condition and hope they are able to treat the pneumonia.

Please hang in there, and keep us updated on your your dad is, and how you are.