Dementia symptoms post heart surgery - experiences?

Is he on a statin? Dementia and confusion can be side effects from those - I know someone whose mum was in a terrible way until she googled the side effects of the drugs her mum was on, demanded they take her off the statin and she was back to normal within 48 hours.

Must be terribly worrying - I hope they find out what's going on soon.

I've no idea, he's diabetic as well as epileptic so he's on a real cocktail of drugs. It's possible as he's had heart disease for 25 years (that's when his first heart attack was).

He is on diuretics as he developed fluid on the lungs and they had to put in a drain. A quick google shows that that could cause some post op confusion but this sounds like it's approaching full on psychosis.

I will get Mr L to ask about it though, thanks Boop.

Sorry to hear this, another thing to consider, is morphine if he is on it.

I've looked after alot of patients post cardiac surgery, albeit paediatric, and alot of them have confusion from their morphine infusion or ketamine.

From asking me for money for the van at the end of their bed, to asking if i can catch the pink bunny thats sitting at the top of the curtain rail.

Hope things improve soon x

My Grandfather just had those symptoms after a recent hip replacement operation. He was great immediately post-op, then two days later went down hill. It turned out that he'd suffered renal failure and the drugs he'd been given (and taken off, the changes to the medication he was on for his heart and BP also factored in) combined with the resultant electrolyte imbalance caused the symptoms you have described. He's a very gentle man normally, I've never heard a cross word from him - amazing, as I was a sod of a child - but he was really aggressive during this period. He thought the nurses were trying to kill him and didn't recognise my Grandmother or Mother. At one point he was convinced he was an Australian soldier.

Fortunately, he's home and back to himself again now. It was two weeks and a stint in intensive care before he was out of the woods though. It was Hell for my Grandmother, she said it just wasn't him and she was afraid he was gone for good, As you said, we expected the operation to be the hard bit.

I hope that your FiL is sorted out and home again soon ?

So sorry you as a family are having to go through this. My dad had a quad bypass in 2002 and some of what you describe sounds quite familiar from the days immediately following his operation. It took some time to get his drug regime right and once that was stabilised he began to improve. He is also diabetic, and also takes a statin.

Its very frightening. I do recall the marvellous staff at St Thomas's explaining that he needed the morphine/ketamine/whatever it was for a while longer as the pain wouldn't be anywhere near bearable without it - and when that was reduced, things would even out. Which they did.

Poor you and your husband - its a hellish time. PM me if you want a chat. I am still eternally grateful for all the support I got here when Dad was ill/had his bypass.

Could he be dehydrated? My Papa had very bad dementia symptoms that were sorted after fluids, especially since you are saying they've given him diuretics. He might have gone too far in the fluid balance.

My Grandad also had this problem (not post op) and it was due to dehydration.

Hope he makes a swift recovery Nic x

Hi Ladelley,

My dad had very similar symptoms following a triple CABG a few years ago, they called it "post-pump syndrome" and somehow attributed it to being on the heart-lung bypass machine. Apparently it's quite common. I don't know a lot about cardiac surgery, but it was a scary time. My thoughts at the time were perhaps it was caused by temporary brain ischaemia from the transfer to the bypass machine, or maybe it was the morphine. He started off by thinking there were second world war soldiers on the unit sent to kill people, and the nurses would do nothing about it, to thinking that other patients were trying to kill him (they had to reorganise the whole ward, he was very embarrassed!). He was phoning my mum at 2am to ask her to come in to be a witness as she was the only person he could trust. It passed after a couple of days, and turned into more pleasant hallucinations where the ceiling tiles were moving around, to a reef with tropical fish and swaying weeds. He remembers it all vividly.

I tried to research it further at the time but there wasn't much info about. Perhaps there is more now.

HTH

Thank you all for your responses. Mr L says thank you also.

I'm sorry for those of you who've experienced similar with loved ones ? My grandfather had a quad bypass 18 years ago but I don't remember any symptoms like this, although I'm sure I'd have been sheltered from them were they there.

He was hallucinating. He thought he saw SiL in the hospital when she wasn't there and he saw a young girl on a bike also.

The hospital have said it's probably because he had to be kept under for longer (they had to open him up several hours after the first op to stop him bleeding) and also due to the fact that because of the pain (he's been off morphine since the morning they woke him up) in his ribs he's not breathing deeply enough so he's not getting enough oxygen in. When SiL and their cousin (a nurse) went to see him this evening he was on the nebuliser and was definitely less confused than he had been in the afternoon.

I did wonder about dehydration and UTIs as I know they can cause similar. He is on the diuretics and they are moderating his fluid intake as they've had to drain a lot of fluid from his lungs, which also won't be helped by the shallow breathing he's doing. I did wonder about an electrolyte imbalance.

The fact that other people have been through this and it has been temporary is reassuring. Thank you all so much for replying. ?

Just a quick update this morning for those of you who were kind enough to help. They had him on oxygen all night and he seemed less confused. He was able to tell them his name and date of birth and why he was in the hospital, so that's an improvement. His wife and daughters are going to see him today, hopefully they will have a better visit.

Unfortunately, MiL's brother died in the night, but they're not going to tell FiL about it yet. Hopefully he will be out in time for the funeral.

Thank you all again. ?

Very glad to hear he's doing better but sorry to hear about your loss ?

Glad your PIL is improving, hope he continues to do so. So sorry to hear your other news .....

Thanks Hazel and GMT. The uncle was a lovely man. He was diagnosed with Luekaemia about 15 months ago and was given 6 months at the time. They rang on a Saturday morning and told him to go to hospital immediately. He asked them how long he'd had it and they said 12 months. He said in that case a couple of hours wouldn't make a difference and he'd finish the shopping first. They gave him 6 months at the time and he responded with his typically stubborn attitude. Last week h decided he'd had enough of the pain and his wife also said she was ready to let him go. I'm glad he's not suffering any more. He was always really keen to talk to me about Australia as well. He had an atlas he would just sit and study. He loved our daughter as well. He will be missed a lot.