Covid - Delirium - Decadron - LBD

tommysgirl

My mom is early stages of LBD. She lives in an ALF. Before covid, she was with it cognitively, for the most part. She could hold conversations. Correct the med techs if they brought her the wrong medication. Remembered events that happened earlier in the day or week. She caught covid at a short term rehab after a hospital stay for MRSA (wound on chin). She was hospitalized with Covid for 10 days.. She did not require oxygen or ventilation. They put her on Decadron (for 5-7 days?) and then released her back to short term rehab to finish her quarantine. About 5 days later, she started to experience delirium. Dr thought it was related to liver function (they said abnormally high levels due to covid) and took her off all her pysch meds. This caused severe withdrawal symptoms...paranoia, agitation, anxiety, panic. They sent her back to the hospital to make sure she didn't have a brain bleed, stroke, inflammation of the brain. Hospital put her back on Decadron (10 days) and all her psych meds and released her 2 days later. She was lethargic and weak, but no longer experiencing extreme delirium or the withdrawal symptoms. However, within 5 days, the delirium returned. I found out she was taking Decadron (something no one told me about previously), and did some research to see that it can cause steroid psychosis. I immediately asked that the medication be stopped believing it was the cause for the first delirium episode also. It has now been 7 days since her last dose and the delirium is no longer in a hyper/manic state, but she is still not back to where she was before. So now my question....has anyone else had a similar experience with delirium with their LO, either related to covid or steroids? Did your LO return to their original state? I'm fearing this is our new normal and I feel as though we have been robbed of time. I'm angry at the hospital for not allowing me to be a part of her treatment, at the short-term rehab for not telling me the medication she was on, at the dr for not noticing the side effects of the steroid and stopping it, at the ALF for not informing me of her medication change.

Quilting brings calm

My LO had delirium ( or dementia squared) due to a UTI.  It can take weeks to come back to normal.  She was better after clearing the UTI but it took a couple months to improve to what her level of function is now. Delirium can happen from just the hospital stay for LO with dementia.  Don’t beat yourself up.

Holis

My mom has had dementia for a couple years. She got covid about a month ago. Her covid symptoms were fever, cough,weakness,loss of taste,and mild respiratory difficulty. However, since she has recovered from covid, her mind is a lot worse, where she sometimes doesn't know who her children are,where she is, and has been a lot more mean. Much of the time she refuses to eat or drink, which may be due to note being able to taste still? As a result her body has gotten much weaker, where she has difficulty walking. This has been an extremely challenging time!

M1

Yes on both fronts, Covid clearly causes mental deterioration and steroids can too, though that ought to be out of her system at this point. Tough situation, no easy answers. She probably had to have the steroids to even survive the Covid. So sorry, but probably nothing you could have done differently.

windyshores

My mother's dementia is much worse after COVID and she is also depressed, which wasn't true before.

She has experienced agitation on steroids and in the hospital, wandered the halls looking for me.

I hope they tapered your mom's Decadron properly.

I am shocked that anyone would just take someone off psych. meds without tapering: sometimes tapering is needed for months. Withdrawal could be another factor.

Moving to hospital, then out of hospital to rehab or home, has also caused a lot of disorientation and confusion for my mother. That could be a factor too.

ps Can you get medical proxy? I cannot tell you how many times I have prevented medical folks from harming my mother. Keep her med list up to date. And with a proxy they will communicate only with you, and you can talk behind the scenes, email and use the portal too.