slurred speech?

katie1

Registered User
Aug 5, 2014
122
0
Kendal Cumbria
We went to see Dad again in hospital today, I noticed on Friday that his speech was slurred a bit and told the clinical care staff on the ward who said they would make a note and keep an eye on him. I noticed today that his speech was still slurred, in fact, a little worse, so I mentioned it again this time to the ward registered nurse who said that it was probably because Dad had been up half the night wandering and had only got brief amounts of sleep and was exhausted! He has often been up and down all night and not settling until 1 or 2 a.m. but we have never noticed slurred speech before so I told her that. She said they would ring us if they were concerned.
I do not know anyone else personally well enough who has vascular dementia, so is slurred speech part of the condition?
 

Tin

Registered User
May 18, 2014
4,820
0
UK
Like your dad, my mum is a night time wanderer and although sometimes tired the next day, I never noticed any slurred speech. Can gp's contact hospitals these days to enquire about their patients? if so, get your dad's gp to find out whats happening.
 

Witzend

Registered User
Aug 29, 2007
4,283
0
SW London
Could it be a mild TIA? They are associated with VasD. I know my FIL's speech was affected once or twice and according to BIL who is a doctor it was down to TIAs, but it would recover within a few days. He was not in hospital at the time so it was never officially confirmed.
 

sdl

Registered User
Mar 15, 2015
4
0
Hi Katie, if I were you I would query with the medical team whether or not your dad has had what's known as aTIA (mini stroke). This could be an answer to the slurred speech?? Don't let them fob you off with generalities. Ask whether your dad would benefit from an mri scan. Hopefully, it is just the case that he's been overly tired x
 

lin1

Registered User
Jan 14, 2010
9,350
0
East Kent
Hi.. If you can , speak to the DR rather than the nurses as they might not have informed the team you Dad is under. sometimes it is best to make an appointment to see The consultant he is under rather than wait around for them to do w ward round.

I am also wondering could the slurred speech be caused by any medication they have put dad on., maybe to try and calm dad down.
 
Last edited:

Grannie G

Volunteer Moderator
Apr 3, 2006
81,444
0
Kent
Sometimes slurred speech is due to certain areas of the brain being affected. Your dads doctor is the only one who can give you an answer. There are so many possibilities.
 

Pete R

Registered User
Jul 26, 2014
2,036
0
Staffs
I do not know anyone else personally well enough who has vascular dementia, so is slurred speech part of the condition?

An alarmingly great number of times in hospital and a couple in the NH I found Mom with slurred speech. After getting nowhere with hospital staff I glanced at the fluid charts and noticed she had had almost nothing to drink. A few sips later and it wasn't only her speech that improved.:rolleyes:

Mom has Vas D and needs prompting to drink not all staff can be bothered as you have already found out.:mad:
 

Anniebell

Registered User
Jan 31, 2015
115
0
Hi we have just had the same with mum on mothers day we were at mums cooked a nice lunch and then mum became very unsteady on her feet got her sat down and then she was slurring her speech at this point the carer came and phoned an ambulance they took mum to stroke unit by the time we got there her speech was more or less back to normal but she was still very unsteady on her feet the consultant said he thought mum had ,had a TIA the scan didnt show anything and blood tests were ok .They sent mum home yesterday and we are none the wiser to what was wrong with mum so like you im wondering if it was connected to the dementia mum has AD ?
Annie xx
 

sleepless

Registered User
Feb 19, 2010
3,223
0
The Sweet North
TIA's are mentioned quite a lot on the forum, but can anyone tell me please, are they ever 'treated' in any way? My husband has Alzheimer's but I wonder sometimes if the deep sleeps he can have are perhaps TIA's.
 

katie1

Registered User
Aug 5, 2014
122
0
Kendal Cumbria
My Dad was rushed in to hospital after falling into a really deep sleep......well he slept very heavily on the night of the 25th got up and had a little breakfast cereal then sat in his chair and started dozing again then fell into a really deep sleep, where he was hardly breathing. His berths were laboured and not regular he could not be roused from this "sleep" and went from a pale colour to grey. An ambulance came and he was given CPR and put on a heart tracer and taken to hospital where he still is!
We have not been told exactly what it was, or if it could happen again. However, he has deteriorated so much since then that Mum could not cope at home with how is now is, she was barely coping before, he is waiting for various assessments and the outcome of the NHS CHC and room availability (along with professionals on annual leave etc) in a Nursing Home.
I believe these sleeps have happened before and are related to TIAs and dementia
 

love.dad.but..

Registered User
Jan 16, 2014
4,962
0
Kent
My Dad has mixed dementia inc vascular dementia, he is also a night time wanderer and doesn't generally get enough sleep. I haven't noticed any slurred speech even when really tired but recently I stayed with him for 10 days in hospital and brought to the attention of clinical staff that he was becoming dehydrated at different times (their monitoring of dad was inadequate but that's another thread!) and it was particularly noticeable that his speech slurred when dehydrated. Might be worth asking if they are monitoring his fluids and making sure he is having enough.
 

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