Delirium – Dr Rod’s Odd Blog (almondemotion)

Confusion Screen

In today’s blog Rod tried to explain what he meant when he wanted to say something was to complicated to be summarised by the word ‘screen’

Muffled sounds, drum beat and dementia

Norwegian Wood

Yesterday

Michelle

Penny Lane

All resonating, taking me back and creating an atmosphere.

Broken sleep & Coronavirus (Bruce Lee, the philosophy of time and space and this week)

Getting rid of the routine allows people to focus on what is important. (Bruce Lee said this in the 60’s – ‘Hack away the un-essential’)

This afternoon I described death.

In the Yorkshire and Humber Clinical Network for Dementia we are working to increase knowledge and understanding of delirium. This is a state of reversible confusion and disorientation that occurs more frequently in those living with dementia and at times can be mistaken for dementia itself. It isn’t, dementia, that is. It is different, withContinue reading “This afternoon I described death.”

Why is delirium so much worse than dementia?

Even Stephen King says that dementia keeps him awake at night.

‘Behavioural’

Just as with suffering, it is not something that can be measured and compared, it isn’t absolute, it is relative like everything else in the universe.

Delirium (2)

Our health and social care staff need to gain a better understanding of this condition – how to identify the early signs, how to diagnose and treat.

This is me (&you)

Many of you reading this will be familiar with This is me – the person-centred document we have been using in the hospital for the past five or six years. It was originally developed by the Alzheimer’s Society working with the Royal College of Nursing, then, a couple of years ago I got together withContinue reading “This is me (&you)”

Gouda and This is me

All these little bits, these fragments of who we are, where we have been and what we have done contribute to our whole

Night at the hospital

There is an assumption that when the lights go down and the night-staff appear on the scene that things become quiet and still – a little like a scene from Bambi.

Medicines, etc.

Nevertheless, within the dark underbelly of medicine, where geriatricians live, there are some quite stunning effects often, from stopping and sometimes starting medicines.

Teacups

In other words, intravenous saline although a fundamental part of modern medicine is nowhere near as good as a cup of tea.

I don’t like pathways

To a box, the world is the world, is the world.

Habit, hospital & older people

Habits are our liberation, they are also a limitation

What is dementia?

Whether we follow the Japanese and find a new name, or work to continue to change attitudes and behaviours, steering people away from the stigma currently associated with dementia is unclear – it is certainly the bogeyman that TB, cancer and HIV once were, we just need to work towards finding better solutions and ways to support people until we find a way out.

Catheters, old men & dementia

As time marches on, with each passing decade, more men will develop these symptoms, until, in their 80’s and 90’s, they are almost universal.

Reducing restrictive interventions

Take a moment to think of those nurses, healthcare assistants, therapists and domestics who daily see beyond the fear and the worry of an old person, to the human being who is hiding in the shadows, obscured by layers of disease, for they are what keep us human.

Therapeutic lies and false promises…

I have spent the past few days feeling bad – It is strange, when you discover that something you have been doing, that you had considered ‘right’ is explained to be wrong; it is a little like breaking the law when you don’t know something is illegal … I can’t think of an instance (or,Continue reading “Therapeutic lies and false promises…”

Locked-in, drugs & the 60’s

Here is a question… What do you do when someone you are caring for, refuses your attention? When you, the ‘carer’ – doctor, nurse, therapist, father or son are unable to find a position or a stance that makes sense to the other person, to the extent that you are viewed as a burden, anContinue reading “Locked-in, drugs & the 60’s”

Dentures, specs & hearing aids

Amongst the piles of lost-and-found that accumulate in wards, care homes, clinics and hospital laundries across the UK, surely the missing dentures, spectacles and hearing aids point to something wrong with the way care is operating. ‘I’m fine, thank you,’ smiles Mary. ‘Do you know where you are?’ No response A little louder, ‘Mary, doContinue reading “Dentures, specs & hearing aids”