Our 88 year old grandmother has been in a state of sleepiness/unconsciousness from which she cannot wake up. She is currently being treated at a hospital. Has anyone else experienced this or can provide some insights?
She suffered from epilepsy 5 years ago. She was given 200 mg of dilantin per night and she recovered to a normal state. She was also at that time given a diagnosis of dementia/alzheimers in addition to the epilepsy. For the next 5 years after the diagnosis she was relatively normal, she had no memory issues and she could walk and go to the bathroom on her own. About 1 month ago she started falling/lying down on the floor, she complained about confusion. We put her on her bed and she has never been able to get off her bed since that point. Her condition has rapidly deteriorated from that point onwards. About 2 weeks ago her doctor also increased her dilantin to 300 mg a day but that has not helped.
She went from being normal to being confused and then being in a constant state of sleepiness over a period of 4 weeks. It got to a point where a week ago we had to call emergency and they took her to the hospital. The doctor's there determined she had very low sodium (113) an UTI infection in addition to her diagnosis of dementia.
However even as her sodium has gone up (today it is 126) and her UTI is being treated as well as minor nuemonia in her lungs which they have treated with antibiotics, she has not awoken or returned to any normal. For the past 8 days she has been in a state of sleepiness where she is not able to awake from or speak anything. When the nurses move her to clean her she sometimes opens her eyes very briefly; if she is pinched, she somewhat winces, but not much other signs of consciousness.
It has been 7 days since the doctor's began treating her in the hospital. We are wondering what is going on with her? Do you know why has there been such a rapid decline? Will she be able to awaken from this state? They now have her on a feeding tube but she is able to breathe on her own. All her physical vitals are fine. Can anyone provide some guidance? Thank you for all your help.
She suffered from epilepsy 5 years ago. She was given 200 mg of dilantin per night and she recovered to a normal state. She was also at that time given a diagnosis of dementia/alzheimers in addition to the epilepsy. For the next 5 years after the diagnosis she was relatively normal, she had no memory issues and she could walk and go to the bathroom on her own. About 1 month ago she started falling/lying down on the floor, she complained about confusion. We put her on her bed and she has never been able to get off her bed since that point. Her condition has rapidly deteriorated from that point onwards. About 2 weeks ago her doctor also increased her dilantin to 300 mg a day but that has not helped.
She went from being normal to being confused and then being in a constant state of sleepiness over a period of 4 weeks. It got to a point where a week ago we had to call emergency and they took her to the hospital. The doctor's there determined she had very low sodium (113) an UTI infection in addition to her diagnosis of dementia.
However even as her sodium has gone up (today it is 126) and her UTI is being treated as well as minor nuemonia in her lungs which they have treated with antibiotics, she has not awoken or returned to any normal. For the past 8 days she has been in a state of sleepiness where she is not able to awake from or speak anything. When the nurses move her to clean her she sometimes opens her eyes very briefly; if she is pinched, she somewhat winces, but not much other signs of consciousness.
It has been 7 days since the doctor's began treating her in the hospital. We are wondering what is going on with her? Do you know why has there been such a rapid decline? Will she be able to awaken from this state? They now have her on a feeding tube but she is able to breathe on her own. All her physical vitals are fine. Can anyone provide some guidance? Thank you for all your help.
