Confusion and Short-Term Memory Loss. Help!

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  • October 28, 2009 at 3:24 am #32257
    sharon_teammarian
    Member

    Just wanted to close out this post. We did indeed find out that mom has hepatic encephalopathy. Luckily we caught it early enough that she can start treatment with lactulose and with prevacid.

    Thanks so much to to Patty and Walk for suggesting it as it turned out to be exactly that.

    Here’s hoping we’ll see improvement in her short-term memory and confusion soon.

    Thanks again!!!

    October 21, 2009 at 4:27 pm #32256
    walk
    Member

    For us, we would agree with him as much as was reasonably possible, tried to keep him calm. In retrospect, I guess we did more suggestive conversation than Q&A. For instance, “I heard the neighbors came by today” rather than “Who visited today?” If he became agitated from paranoia, we would reassure him that things were fine and try to re-direct him. Sadly, even near the end, my dad would say things and realize mid-sentence that it didn’t make sense. We just tried to act like we didn’t notice and move along.

    (Sorry, tia, didn’t see you mentioned encephalopathy.)

    October 21, 2009 at 2:11 pm #32255
    sharon_teammarian
    Member

    Thanks so much everyone.

    Right now my mom does not have any medication other than the occasional tylenol. She did have blood taken yesterday so I will pass on to her doctor some of the suggestions here. We have a follow up appointment with her on Tuesday next week.

    I will also search hepatic enephalopathy. To be honest the dementia/early stage Alzeiher’s sounds scarily familiar when I read about it…

    Patty and Walk, was there anything that you felt was particularly helpful for your mom and dad when this happened?

    October 21, 2009 at 1:23 pm #32254
    walk
    Member

    Sharon, I can so sympathize with as my father was this way as well. We had all types of tests He had good days and bad days and some very paranoid days also.

    Things to check:
    – hydration
    – ammonia
    – potassium
    – glucose

    Sometimes patients suffer from a condition is called hepatic encephalopathy and get days and nights mixed up.

    I have since discovered that the following that I posted:

    Alzheimer

    October 21, 2009 at 3:44 am #32253
    marions
    Moderator

    Sharon….could it be that your Mom is responding to some of the medications she is taking? Also, a blood test may reveal reason for her memory loss. These are two things I would check in to but, others may have more suggestions.
    Best wishes coming your way,
    Marion

    October 21, 2009 at 3:43 am #32252
    tiapatty
    Member

    Sharon,

    This happened with my mom as well and we were told it was due to hepatic encephalopathy, if you put it in the search function, you should find some posts.
    It seems lots of docs don’t bother to explain this.

    Patty

    October 21, 2009 at 2:58 am #2796
    sharon_teammarian
    Member

    Does anyone have some input on CC causing confusion and fairly strong short-term memory loss?

    My mom – Marian – was diagnosed in July. The cancer is nonresectable, the primary tumor is large (over 6+cm and spread through liver). She is not actively seeking treatment, is considered palliative and has been doing fairly well since she came home from the hospital.

    However she seems to have no, or very limited short-term memory. She has trouble remembering what day it is, what time of day it is, who has seen her or come by to visit, etc. It frustrates her as she has always been a independent and smart, smart lady (she raised me and my 5 brothers and siblings single-handedly after my father passed away when I was 10).

    I was visiting her today and it (the short-term memory loss) was really getting to her. Has anyone come across this and have any suggestions on how to help her?

    Also any advice on helping increase energy levels would be greatly appreciated.

    Thanks so much

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