Could this be dementia?

[naturallydelicious]

My dad has been a drinker all his life , as of now I'd say he drinks about 1 bottle of wine a day & 4 cans of beer .

Since March 2020 he's had a serious of falls , breaking his arm , 6 months later another fall breaking his wrist and just recently a fall that has fractured his spine .
Since his recent fall he has been hospitalised while they try get on top of the pain .

He also had Librium to help with the alcohol withdrawals. He's now been in hospital 3 weeks and has progressively got more confused , agitated and paranoid.
Talking about dead relatives, saying they've been to visit . Thinking they aren't in hospital but been held captive somewhere. Getting confused about who he is talking to on the phone , for example will be talking to me but will think it's her sister .
Looking back there have been signs that he had been confused over things for the last while but because he's drunk the majority of the time I had been putting it down to the alcohol. But I'm wondering now if the alcohol has been making dementia?

Sorry for all the typos . That should say "alcohol masking "
& he thinks he's been held captive and isn't in hospital

Has he been checked for a urinary tract infection?

Is he hydrated?

Has he been scanned to rule out a mini-stroke?

@SolasAnla they have checked for infections through doing bloods and urine sample and have ruled it out .

Doctors are insisting it's a side effect of the alcohol withdrawal but I would of thought ,3 weeks in it would be a bit late to be showing these symptoms, but I could be wrong ?

I haven't managed to speak to a doctor yet so all the information I'm getting is coming from the nurses & we are in Ireland were we can't visit dad in hospital due to covid restrictions .

The nurse will say "oh he's having a great day , not confused at all " then I will speak to him to find out that in fact he is extremely confused and paranoid. I can speak to him in the morning and he won't be too bad but as the afternoon and evening approaches he gets really confused

I wonder if it could be delirium? There's nothing to stop it being delirium on top of dementia, though. I do think you really need to speak to a doctor. Can you make a nuisance of yourself? Be polite but just keep ringing until you can speak to one?

Have you told them that he is confused ?
If you feel that you’re not getting the information you want, do you have anything over there like PALS in the UK, where they will help you get information and make a complaint ?

I ring the ward every day at least once and ask to speak to the doctor or ask for them to call me back but they never do . I've got in touch with our equivalent of PALS on Monday but as of yesterday still no contact . Hopefully today.

Yeah I have told them he's confused but they seem to be brushing it under the carpet

Keep pushing and complaining.
I’d be wary about them discharging him like this.

@GoodnightGrandma yeah , I will definitely keep on at them

Wernicke-Korsakoffs or alcohol related dementia. Possibly a delirium due to an unrelated factor such as infection.

Yes, 3 weeks is too late for signs of acute alcohol withdrawal. That would be more like 3 days.

The good news is that if it is alcohol related dementia, you can get improvements if he stops drinking.
The falls are likely to be related to the drinking too. Do you know why he drinks?
Had he drink a lot more in lockdown? How does he get the drink?
If he has detoxed and it's more confused currently than he was before admission or is likely be has delirium which can just disappear and can last months.
Does he live alone? I am sure you have done this but just make sure the ward know what he is drinking daily and how often he falls.

It’s very easy to assume it’s alcohol related, but it could be something else, so I hope they’re dismissing other things like a stroke/TIA’s too.

Its horrible trying to manage this by phone all you can do is try to get the hospitals care plan.

The doctor will have a round where s/he visits. When you phone the nurses ask them what time this normally is and arrange with them that either you will call and hold or the Ward's nurse manager calls you.

If he has a phone with him ask to be video called at the time of the round or call him yourself.

If he does not have a phone, and if you can afford to can you get a phone to him?
Phone local taxi companies ask if they can do a package delivery to the hospital. Then phone the nearest phone shop or local supermarket that sells phones which will sell a cheap phone pay-as-you-go and do set it up with sim, wifi on video app on the home screen etc. Ask to do a video call if they need to check your id. They can get pre-authorisation on your credit card to make sure it's not stolen/fraud.
If you can get a neighbour or friend to go to the phone shop that would be even better.

Who else has he been seen by?
Has Physio been to check for mechanical function re falls.
Language and Speech if he is not making sense.
Etc
The doctor is part of a multi profession team with different levels of specialist knowledge.

Get the name of the doctor or their specialist department head they will usually have a contact number for messages listed on the hospital web pages.

Ask if there is a specialist older people's team and if there is a dementia team and if they have been.

It's nice to talk to the doctor but I would be focusing on the nurses.
They are the professionals in the Ward 24/7. They are his best advocate. Can you book a call if the Ward is busy?
They work shifts if you are calling during handover you may get a rushed answer. Find out about the doc they may know why you are not getting a call back and hint at how to change that.
Asking the nurses about how to track how he is across the day eg getting regular/hourly observations done to check his capacity and his food and water intake and output.

Also get the name of the medical social worker as he will need a care plan.
Call them and ask them for help. If he is confused he won't be safe going home and their job is to form a full picture of his needs. And they are in a position to do a face to face with the doctor.

Hi, did you find out the cause. I am just so worried about my father.

So recently, he has been repeating himself a lot.. he repeats the same thing over and over again. He is 61 years old turning 62 this year.

For example today he told me to make an appointment and he kept asking if I made the appointment when I told him that I can’t. He called me again at work and asked if I made the appointment and I told him again that I couldn’t make the appointment. I don’t know if it’s just age related or maybe something else.

He also has been acting very out of character. He has been arguing a lot when he is not like this and has done things which is not even him.

Sometimes we’d ask him if he would like some food he would say no I’m fine I’m not hungry then later he would say why didn’t you make me food? And we are all confused because he already has said he isn’t hungry.

could this be something?

Has he been given the yellow iv bags of vitamins in hospital or been put on Thiamin & Vitamin B Complex tablets? He should have been given them to protect his brain from alcohol induced dementia. Do you know the state of his liver? If his liver is badly damaged he may be suffering from a build up of toxins in his body that can cause forgetfulness & slow his brain down, there is a simple treatment for this, Lactulose which will help remove the rubbish from his system. You need to speak to his doctor & ask questions.