Paranoid Spouse

Philburt

My husband is acting irrationally and is paranoid.  He freaks out if I try to take the dogs out or go outside for work. This is going on 3 days now. Our adult daughter came over to cut his hair and he told her he didn't want his haircut, but wouldn't let her leave. I know in his heart of heart he feels like he is protecting us from "them" outside, but it feels like being taken hostage. He say we are all "done" and won't let us move about when he is in the middle of an episode. I am new here, and at a loss for what to do in situations like this. Any insight or help would be appreciated. Thank you. 

Phyllis

M1

Hi Phyllis, welcome. Do you know his stage, and is he on medication? The atypical antipsychotics like seroquel and Zyprexa are typically used for this kind of agitation.. worth a phone call to his doc. Many times if the behavior change is abrupt, it's worth looking for a urinary tract infection also.  Good luck-

Joe C.

Hi Phyllis, Welcome but sorry you needed to seek us out. I agree with both M1’s suggestions about medication and checking for UTI. My DW’s fears were just the opposite, she was afraid to stay in the house insisting people were coming to hurt us. Her neurologist prescribed seroquil, it took about 3 weeks of tweaking the dosage but it worked wonders. I also changed what I would let DW watch on TV, I think to much Law & Order might have had something to do with her fears.

Phylburt62

M1 my DH is at stage 5. He was tested for a UTI and it came back negative. Prior to his ER visit he was taking 10 mg of Memantine daily until the delusions started, and he now believes he can't take any meds because "they" won't let him. He was given a temporary script at discharge for 25 mg of Seroquel to be taken at bedtime. Last night's dose sedated him for maybe 4 hours, but we were right back at the paranoid and delusional stage before midnight. Today has been hourly delusion, with him stripping down to nothing and stating he has to go outside to freeze to death because "they" are waiting for him. I was finally able to get him to take some melatonin in a brief lucid moment, and that gave us a reprieve for about 2-3 hours. We are now going on 3 hours of him either standing naked in front of the door waiting for "them" to take him (I have a security bar on the door that, thankfully, he hasn't figured out how to remove; door alarms have been ordered), or wandering around our kitchen island. He is telling me he just needs to take care of "that", and then we can go to sleep. We see our PCP tomorrow for a post-ER follow up, and I am hoping to increase his Seroquel, but if he refuses to take any meds it will be very difficult to manage his delusions. I work full-time and cannot manage caring for him in this delusional state. I want to keep him home, but can't without help as I work FT and need to leave home when I am assigned an investigation. Due to the virus, he experienced a rapid progression of his disease.

M1

Yes, the Washington Post had a story this week about COVID being a risk for dementia and cognitive decline, there's an international study being started.  Not that that helps you now.  As in other threads this morning, it sounds like your DH needs hospitalization to get straightened out.  Good luck---