Mum vomited blood . What does it mean?

[Dowser]

Bit of background. Mum has dementia and is in a nursing home which seems very good. She's 88 .
Yesterday through the night she vomited and there was some blood.
Today she vomited again ' a significant amount of blood'.
They managed to take blood today, yesterday she wouldn't let them.

A dr has been called. They hope to get the blood results tomorrow.

It would appear if it's anything nasty, it would not be in her best interests to treat it.

She's stopped eating and drinking but they are monitoring her all the time to make sure she's comfortable.

Now the confusing bit...she's not on the end of life pathway but can treat her as if she was. She's alert and sat up in bed where she is most comfortable. If she's in any pain they can give her morphine. They are trying to temp her with food but she doesn't want it. She normally has a healthy appetite.

Sept 1 st they went in to see to her and she she couldn't move out of bed. The day before she walked all around the home. They thought it had brought on some sort of arthritic pain. Mum has never really suffered with arthritis. She was checked out at hospital and then returned to the nh.

They gave her pain patches which has kept the pain under control. They definitely don't think she's had a stroke although she has vascular dementia and has had Tia's in the past.

They did get her on her feet and walking to the dining room with help but then she went back over and the walking stopped.

I just can't seem to make sense of it at all.

Has anyone else experienced this with an older relative.

At least I know mum's in good hands. Vomiting blood though ..what on earth could that be and is it connected to the events of sept 1st.

Vomiting blood should NEVER be ignored. I can indicate an upper GI bleed. Please get the nursing home to take your mum to hospital to be fully checked out - this really can't be ignored

NHS pages suggest to go to GP or A&E if vomiting blood:

www.nhs.uk/conditions/vomiting-blood/Pages/Introduction.aspx

Was she vomiting a lot the night before? She might have burst a blood vessel. It hasn't happened to me, but my nurse warned me about the possibility when I was vomiting a lot on chemo a few years back.

Otherwise it could be a stomach ulcer or something. More serious causes would be things like cancer.

Hopefully it is only a burst blood vessel or something else harmless

The doctor said something about an endoscopy as possibly being too traumatic / not in best interests.

Maybe this is why the end of life pathway has been mentioned.

Mum has lost weight.

How's her health generally, OP, other than the things you've mentioned?

Weight loss and vomiting blood can be symptoms of advanced liver disease.

Ah, they are testing for liver.

She was pretty good apart from advanced dementia i.e. Total loss of capacity, awareness , personal hygiene, dressing , toileting etc
Other than that pretty good. She was walking quite vigorously around the nh at the end of August.

Her sister also had advanced dementia. She was taken into hospital with bleeding / diahorrea from the rectum. They did tests and found bowel cancer.
They said it was not in her best interests to treat. Auntie was in a real pitiful state and passed away in hospital three weeks later. It was awful.
I want to spare my mum that.

Auntie didn't know what the heck was going on.

I was asked to find her a nh so I was runniy round like a headless chicken as she couldn't go back to ch.
It was a nightmare.

Vomiting blood can be serious but the investigations are tough and you need to decide if your mum could cope with this. Keeping her peaceful and comfortable may be the best option. Running to hospital for investigations is not always appropriate.

Thank you musical theatre mum, that makes a lot of sense.
Hopefully I'll know more tomorrow when the blood results are back.

Fingers crossed for the blood results

I agree that an endoscopy would probably be very traumatic for someone with advanced dementia, especially if the possible treatment would likely not be appropriate.

Sorry, I know it must be awful for you to be told your mum would not be offered treatment and it's much easier for anonymous posters on the Internet to rationalise things.

I hope that it turns out to be nothing to worry about

Thank you Leslie.

Haven't slept much.
My lovely mum been on my mind all night.

I know they won't let her suffer but I worry that she might.
I'm steeling myself for bad news :-(

There's a long list of relatively benign things it could be, too.
But she sounds fragile in other respects, and not that able to manage her own health issues.
Best of luck. xx

Lljkk that went years ago. She's been in care for four years and it's been one long slide downhill.

Occasionally she remembers my name or recognises me . She talks but words are jumbled up so nothing makes sense.

We are nearing the end of our 64 year long road together and demy has robbed me of at. Least 6 of those precious last years.

Dementia

I'm so sorry Dowser it's such a cruel illness

I hope that whatever happens she will be comfortable. You sound like a very loving daughter.

Dowser I'm sorry to hear about your Mum. The worry I would have about Mum being transferred to a hospital for investigations, aside from the physical trauma, is that she'd be a prime candidate for Delirium, which is an awful condition which is very distressing and can contribute to death itself. It sounds like the NH are carefully considering her needs.

No advice to offer but just wanted to let you know I'm thinking of you

I've been where you are and felt completely helpless - it's so very hard

How were the blood test results?

Aww thank you all so much.

Well the blood tests haven't come back.
My son went to see her and gave me a good update which calmed me down quite a bit as I hadn't slept much.
I also spoke to the nh staff who say she's not in imminent danger.

Then he sent me the photos.
Oh dear. She looks so poorly I didn't expect her to look so frail, pale and poorly.

I don't want her to go to hospital.

It's grim.

Thinking of you.. hope the results are back soon and you can work out a plan of action x

Dementia is a total nightmare in that it complicates everything so all you can do is decide what is best for your DM as and when it arrives.
I have known healthy young adults vomiting blood with chest infection complications and excessive drinking so not always worst case scenario.
Sympathies OP.
for your Mum.

Thank you all so much.

I think what's at the heart of all of this is how in just two months mum has gone from someone who would be aggressive if she didn't want help with her personal care. Not that I endorse that, I don't and I witnessed it on my last visit and it was horrible and she did it to me too.

The photos tell a different story ..she just looks like all the fight has gone out of her.

That's the sad truth.

And breathe...and try not to cry.

Thank you.
No news about blood test results so am not expecting any more news today unless anything untoward happens.
I don't know how much information the blood tests will tell us. I know a blood test can tell if you have cancer. I think they were testing mums liver function also.
Whatever they say mum won't be having invasive tests. The doctor has already said that certainly there doesn't seem to be a need to to send her to hospital.
There's actually another wing to this nursing home where the really poorly people go. Although they do try to nurse there in the dementia unit where mum is.
I'm impressed with the care she's getting and the nurses and carers are doing a first class job.
Had a tearful morning yesterday but now feel surprisingly calm . It may be the calm before the storm I don't know.