klooty Posted December 2, 2003 Share Posted December 2, 2003 Okay... so my dad is still in the hospital... Still on medication and we're still looking out for him... However,,,, tonite he seemed to me slightly dillusional. Kinda not all there. He'd do strange things and say strange things,,, none of which made sense to us... We just passed this off as the meds getting to him... (perhaps he is getting to many, or a certain mix that made him do these things) He said he saw a helicopter this morning land across the river and two boys run out. When my aunt came up earlier, he said he saw it again and when my aunt looked, there was nothing... He's also very figidity... His hands have been so so sore lately that he could hardly move them and tonite he was playing with wires and his bed sheets as if his hands were feeling good... He also is twitching a lot more than normal. Quick spasms that sometimes cause both his legs to jump... There are also times when we think that he is purposely trying to confuse us,,, like just trying to mess with our minds to have a lil' fun.. BUT ITS DRIVING US NUTS... we really really feel that he is not joking around and is actually really out of it right now.... So we talked to the head nurse tonite to ask that they watch him closely and perhaps take his pain medicine done a few notches... This is really weird... Has anyone had an experience like this??? I'm going in early tomorrow to check on him and make sure he is okay.... I mean, its good the meds are easing his pain,, but we don't want them to cause him to lose his mind.... Take care of yourself, everyone.... You're all in my thoughts and prayers tonite.. God Bless.. Adam Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lilyjohn Posted December 2, 2003 Share Posted December 2, 2003 Adam Is your dad by any chance being given Ativan? That does strange things to some people. I saw Johnny go through a night similar to what you discribe after he took just one extra milgram of Ativan. That was when he first started with the anxiety and was trying to get it settled down. Instead we had to live through one of the worst nights of his illness up to that time. Later they gave him 4 miligrams in his IV and the reaction was ten times worse. Research has taught me that Ativan does that to quite a few people. It is very common and most of the time dose related. Maybe if he is taking Ativan they can switch him to Xanax. It works better in some cases and does not seem to cause the problem as much. I know how frightening it can be to watch that. Hang in there and try to find out the cause. If it is medication there is a way to change it. Just insist on knowing what he is given then look up the medications on the net. You will be surprised how much you can learn that way. My best to you and I am hoping it is the meds and will be corrected soon. Lillian Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kimblanchard Posted December 2, 2003 Share Posted December 2, 2003 Adam, The first time my mom was in the hospital she was given Ativan. It totally wacked her out! It seemed like Loritab (sp?) did that also. However, this last time in the hospital she didn't have either one of these and we believe because of the level of morphine she was on her head was fuzzy again. She said things that just didn't make sense and she saw things that weren't there. She was released yesterday (Monday) and even at home she was seeing things and the fuzziness was still there. The doctor believes it's the meds but she is having a brain scan today to rule out mets. Kim Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Don Wood Posted December 2, 2003 Share Posted December 2, 2003 Morphine and such can also give delusions. So sometimes with pain medications, you have to find the middle ground between pain ease and cutting out the constant delusions. What your dad is going through is normal. Don Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kimblanchard Posted December 2, 2003 Share Posted December 2, 2003 deleting all posts Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
poggie Posted December 2, 2003 Share Posted December 2, 2003 We are new to cancer and this board so please correct me if I'm wrong. What you describe about the hallucinations sound familiar to me. Not with regard to my mother in law (the one with NSCLC) but with my father. He had triple bipass surgery 2 1/2 years ago. He was in the hospital for a long time. At first in CICU and then a regular room. He often saw things that weren't there and even after coming home from the hospital would talk about what he saw as if it really happened. We had to point out over and over again how what he was saying could not have happened (like making pancakes for the entire hospital in the basement with his father~his father died in the 70's). The nurse called this ICU psychosis. She explained that because the lights are on most of the time, the meds that they are getting and the lack of a good night of sleep (he would nap but never really sleep through the night) it caused the brain to do this. She explained that it's similar to the way some prisoners of war are tortured. We asked several doctors and they all said the same thing. Again, I'm new to cancer and the meds that go along with it so this idea may be way out of line. I wish you and your family strength and peace. Poggie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest jonathan Posted December 2, 2003 Share Posted December 2, 2003 Hi, I am not a doctor, but it does sound like the clinical features of a brain met. You may want to have that looked into, even though they are not treating him aggressively, they can give him antisiezure medications. Jonathan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hersheydaley Posted December 2, 2003 Share Posted December 2, 2003 my dad was on oxycodine and that caused him to have some weird disalusions happen. He also had mets to the brain that caused some of the things to happen.one time he thought he was warming his hands over a cold burning stove like in the old days when he was really in front of the stove in my brothers house. Thank god the stove was off. ( and doctors said he could be left alone) What ajoke thank god we didn't listen to them on that one Donna Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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