Just thought I'd post this because after almost twenty years, it was an entirely new one on me and I thought others might find it helpful.
Got to work on Sunday night and was told by staff during the handover that one lady had started hallucinating and behaving in a very odd way (thinking water was running down her bedroom walls, that people were wandering in / out of her room and then vanishing through the windows)
It had started that afternoon although they weren't sure what was going on or why the sudden onset. Anyway, I went straight up to her room and found her very distressed and having quite frightening hallucinations. Initially, she said this improved a little when she put her glasses back on which made me query whether her eyesight might have been the culprit (i.e. Charles Bonnet Syndrome) but over the course of the night, she steadily grew worse and was completely delirious and so I rechecked her medication. She'd been prescribed Prednisolone (steroid) just a day or two earlier which I didn't imagine was related but just to be sure, I carefully read through the Patient Information Leaflet and found this -
“Tell your doctor immediately if you develop any of the following symptoms:
Mental health problems such as feeling depressed (including thinking about suicide), feeling high (mania) or moods that go up and down, feeling anxious, difficulty sleeping, difficulty thinking, feeling confused and losing your memory, feeling, seeing or hearing things which do not exist, having strange or frightening thoughts, changing how you act or having feelings of being alone”
After calling the surgery first thing the following morning, it was discontinued immediately however, symptoms may take several days or weeks to subside.
I have never heard of Prednisolone having this effect on anyone and never imagined it would / could either. Thought it worth sharing.
Got to work on Sunday night and was told by staff during the handover that one lady had started hallucinating and behaving in a very odd way (thinking water was running down her bedroom walls, that people were wandering in / out of her room and then vanishing through the windows)
It had started that afternoon although they weren't sure what was going on or why the sudden onset. Anyway, I went straight up to her room and found her very distressed and having quite frightening hallucinations. Initially, she said this improved a little when she put her glasses back on which made me query whether her eyesight might have been the culprit (i.e. Charles Bonnet Syndrome) but over the course of the night, she steadily grew worse and was completely delirious and so I rechecked her medication. She'd been prescribed Prednisolone (steroid) just a day or two earlier which I didn't imagine was related but just to be sure, I carefully read through the Patient Information Leaflet and found this -
“Tell your doctor immediately if you develop any of the following symptoms:
Mental health problems such as feeling depressed (including thinking about suicide), feeling high (mania) or moods that go up and down, feeling anxious, difficulty sleeping, difficulty thinking, feeling confused and losing your memory, feeling, seeing or hearing things which do not exist, having strange or frightening thoughts, changing how you act or having feelings of being alone”
After calling the surgery first thing the following morning, it was discontinued immediately however, symptoms may take several days or weeks to subside.
I have never heard of Prednisolone having this effect on anyone and never imagined it would / could either. Thought it worth sharing.