Please help with my confused Dad!

[Freetodowhatiwant]

Yes I know you might not be a doctor (although you might!) but I have found the threads here so supportive over the years in terms of real lived experience and even helped me find a cause and treatment (years ago now) for my recurrent miscarriages.

My dad is 86 but until December been in excellent health for his age – walking 10k steps daily and doing weights at home and completely sound in his mind. He did go through a stage a few years ago of having pain in his lower legs (calf area) but this seemed to resolve with changing his diet – he felt that it was an intolerance to milk and other things. Anyway whatever it was he changed his diet and it seemed to fix it.

For a few years he has struggled with balance, but this didn't stop his daily walks, however in December he began to have ‘wobbly and buzzing’ legs which means he cannot walk well and is worried about leaving the house. The buzzing comes and goes and lasts about half an hour and he has to sit down.

Very soon after that – almost overnight at Christmas – he began to have episodes of being very mentally confused, repeating things and thinking that there are people in the house or garden (not scared, just wondering why they are there and looking for them) and forgetting a lot. BUT this comes and goes too and at times he is fine.

He has had MRIs which don’t show anything and is hopefully having more investigations however they are abroad and it’s not always easy to keep up with what is going on.

Things we have considered –

B12 deficiency – he did have some injections pritavely but the GP said to stop as it showed he then had an excess (although apparently this isn’t a problem so I am tempted to get them again)

UTI – I remember my grandma having one in her 80s and she did go very confused, it cleared up with treatment and she was fine again. Whilst he had a test a few weeks ago which was negative my mum called the paramedics today when she was worried about him and they did find evidence of one. He is seeing the GP again tomorrow so I hope will get some antibiotics anyway.

We are also considering things like dementia, but would this come and go? And have come on so suddenly?. And it doesn’t explain the buzzing and weakness in the legs. Of course that could be a separate thing.

If any of this resonates or you might have any thoughts about what it could be do please shout. We are all at a loss and very worried about him. I know we have been very lucky that up until now he has been in great shape.

It does have some flags for Parkinson’s disease.

how does he walk? Is he shuffling and finding it difficult to lift his feet? Stooping over? Other flags would be handwriting getting smaller and facial expressions becoming much less. Only ask because of the hallucinations you are describing - they could be part of Parkinson’s and the dementia that sometimes goes along with it - Lewy Body Dementia. Lots of visions and hallucinations, but as you describe it can be quite inconsistent (experience of this with my own DF)

Neurological.

(possibly)

the buzzing in the legs is interesting and points towards nerve related issues (as do the balance problems).

what’s the sensation like in his legs? If you stick a small object on the skin can he feel it?

Delirium ? Effects attention memory and awareness , it presents similarly to dementia but its temporary and reversible . Triggered by something like a uti or other infection , dehydration etc

He has now been diagnosed with a UTI and got antibiotics so we will see if that helps. @statetrooperstacey the doctor in Spain said it is probably that AND maybe some dementia. But no one seems to be looking at it as well as the wobbly legs which started a few weeks before the delirium did.

@Octavia64 yes the buzzing does sound neurological doesn't it? He seems to have normal sensation in his feet and legs when touched but they buzz and vibrate, he says, for significant periods and make him 'wobbly' and not able to walk without losing balance. But then it will stop and be ok. I am trying to work out what neurological condition would also cause the delirium though, although they could be two separate things.

@girlwhowearsglasses that's interesting about the parkinsons. I guess he does lean forward a little bit but not really stooped. No visible shaking or tremor. the buzzing is a feeling inside his legs and not visible. Sorry to hear about your Dad too. Was/is his also intermmittent?

Totally sounds UTI tbh if you say he was of completely sound mind less than 2 months ago. Fingers crossed that antibiotics will help - you could ask for a longer course too

If he is getting confused, as you say, then could the leg sensations not be part of that? As in there's nothing actually wrong with his legs and the sensations are part of the hallucinations?

What part of Spain is he?

Could be some kind of mental impairment - Parkinson’s or Alzheimer’s. Issue with the latter is that without a brain MRI from when he was around 40 or younger they can’t see what has changed. And all brains are a bit different. So it makes diagnosis tricky. The legs sounds like RLS - can be common in Parkinson’s or Dementia with Lewy Bodies. But it’s also apparently common in old age anyway so could be unrelated to the confusion.