What is more frustrating than doctors who can tell you NOTHING?

Question

My 82 year old dad is confused--at times not lucid at all.He is in the hospital,and the doctors are running all kinds of tests,and have for 2 days now.
Still they do not know why this is happening.The CAT scan showed no acute stroke...they are doing an MRI tomorrow.
He is aggitated and confused.I try to comfort him and most of the time he just wants to be left alone.This is not like him at all.
Stroke?Dementia?Infection?
The not knowing is tearing me apart.
Can anyone offer me any words of advice please?
Thank you.

Answer 1

I'm sorry that your doctors are not communicating well with you. I'm sure that they are busy and that they are frustrated because they haven't found out what is the matter.

Perhaps if you could pester the nursing staff into getting one of the doctors (even the junior of the team) to spend a little time and answer your questions - that might satisfy you a little more.

Some of the questions you should be asking are:

After 2 days of testing I'm sure they have eliminated most of the usual suspects ...
They've done a urine test - was there any urinary infection?
They've done a chest x-ray - was there any chest infection?
They've done a full blood count - was the white cell count up? (WBC are infection fighting cells and increased numbers indicates infection or inflammation but can be tricky because elderly folk can have bad infections but not raise a good WBC response)

When they examine him - are they suspicious of any other places where he could have infection?
Tonsils
Heart (- does he have a heart murmur, splinter haemorrhages)
Joints
Bones (including Spine)
Brain

Are they doing the MRI to look and see if he has a viral infection in the brain? What are they looking for?

Have they done a lumbar puncture (spinal tap)?

Do they think the condition is NON-infective?

Answer 2

I understand how you feel; I have a very painful "condition" that I have had to live with for years now, and the doctors can't do anything about it. I would suggest that you stay positive and hold on to the hope that they will eventually figure out what's going on. I'm sorry I don't have any more advice for you, but there really is nothing you can do expect keep a positive outlook and have some faith. I'm sorry for the turmoil you must be going through, and I hope you find out what's going on soon!

Answer 3

sometimes the doctors, the people we are supposed to be able to turn to for knowledge, are just as ignorant on subjects as we are
they are just us but with a degree

ive had so much experience of doctors all around this city not having a clue about all number of different problems, i started looking it all up myself and now i go to them with the information i have and tell them what it is
which is not my choice btw

anyway, sorry your dad is ill
it does sound like altzhimers or dementia, and as hes 82 is is most likely age related
although obviously i dont know

what you do is look up all the info you can by yourself, its a crappy burden while your going through this, but no-one can help you better than yourself
i found taking control of the search for info and knowledge rather than waiting for them to give it to me was the best approach

obviously dont stop seeing the docs and getting tests, eventually with your info and their info combined you will find the problem

hope you find out

Answer 4

You didn't state how suddenly the symptoms appeared. My next door neighbour many years ago had a stroke and what you are describing sounds similar. Good luck, I hope everything turns out alright.

Answer 5

Your not going to increase your knowledge of what is happening to him from this forum. You are going to have to rely on information from his attending physicians. I am sure they will tell you what they know, when they have concrete information to give you.