Are there any medical professionals who can provide insight?

[user2233]

Hi,

My dad hasn't been feeling well. He's had a really bad cough where he has coughing fits and gets out of breath and struggles to breathe. He got taken to A&E last night after struggling to breathe.

Just as some background: My dad has had two heart attacks and a stroke. He's diabetic and usually has high BP.

The staff at A&E have stated that they believe he has an infection based on his x ray reports. They're giving him IV fluids and antibiotics via IV to help.

My concern is that he is VERY confused. Extremely confused. He can't really answer a question properly or go to the toilet himself. He's also got low BP which isn't going up even though they've been trying to give medication to increase his BP.

My question is, is the confusion and low BP normal for an infection? He's 65. They've done a CT scan to rule out another stroke. However, the confusion and consistently low BP when he's usually being prescribed medication for high BP is making me wonder if they've missed something?

TIA for any responses.

Confusion from an infection, yes.
Im assuming the high BP medication has been stopped?

@DustyLee123 I was wondering the same thing. I live 4+ hours away so I've not been able to ask anyone. However, I've asked my mum to ask a doctor or nurse. But my mums really poorly with the infection too - but my dad's worse.

His face also seems swollen from when I saw him over FaceTime.

Personally, I would be concerned about sepsis with an infection, low BP and swelling of the face but I'm not a medical professional. It's always worth directly asking the doctors whether it could be sepsis, often it seems to be missed.

If he’s holding water I’d wonder about heart failure, particularly with his heart history.

What do you mean by struggling to go to the toilet by himself?

Yes confusion and low blood pressure can be caused by a infection, and as a PP said a low BP can be a marker of sepsis (which is a consequence of infection and not a separate condition as such).

With his history of heart problems- they will also need to rule out heart failure as the cause of his breathlessness- it is usually pretty obvious from the chest xray. This wouldn't cause facial swelling though.

If he's still in A&E, it's early days - he will probably feel a lot better when the antibiotics kick in.

Is he in a cardio or resp ward?

Have they checked urine output? Retention?

Yes, that can be normal for an infection. They will be querying sepsis I imagine. Did they do blood cultures?

How is your dad doing @user2233 ?