Page 1 of 1

Psychosis after receiving Haemodialysis

Posted: Wed Aug 31, 2016 1:55 pm
by Rugbyleaguer
Hi All,

my name is Guy and I am the son of an elderly mother (75) who has had kidney disease compounded with GBM. She is undergoing HD at the moment but in the last few weeks has started becoming mentally confused and also to the point of talking about suicide and that she thinks everyone in the hospital is against her. I read that this sort of thing is common on certain sites but I am at a loss as what to do? She has currently been admitted to hospital after she became violent in the dialysis unit, threatening to remove her fistual and they had to take her to A&E. I am thinking is it the medication, or is it the dialysis causing this as she is normally a quiet mild mannered lady?

Thanks in advance.

Guy

Re: Psychosis after receiving Haemodialysis

Posted: Wed Aug 31, 2016 3:27 pm
by wagolynn
Hi Rugbyleaguer,

I must say I have not heard of a reaction like your Mums in relation to HD.

It is possible for patients to become disoriented, and/or black out if too much fluid is removed. This is caused by the volume of blood being reduced to the point where there is insufficient to circulate properly, causing the brain to be starved of blood, therefore oxygen.
The remedy is to lay the patient flat at once, allowing blood to flow to the brain easily. Followed by adjusting the amount of fluid being taken off, some units also give a drink.

This is a risk until the correct dry weight is established, the initial dry weight is an intelligent guess.

One problem is, as far as I can see, most dialysis unit staff are very keen to get the patient down to their prescribed dry weight without bearing in mind that it is no more than a guess.

Mum being admitted to hospital, should enable the problems to be ironed out or she may be diagnosed with some other condition.

One other thought is, kidney failure tends to lead to depression.

Best wishes to you and Mum.

Re: Psychosis after receiving Haemodialysis

Posted: Wed Aug 31, 2016 5:11 pm
by Rugbyleaguer
Thanks for your reply, having talked with some of the staff today, they are under the belief that it is a UTi, so she is on antibiotics. Hopefully this will stop her confusion and aggressive behaviour which is so out of the ordinary with my mum. I read on here that there has been some issues with the drug Prednisolone and changes to mood/aggression, so if anyone has any experience of this that would be great. I also read about dialysis induced dementia.

Re: Psychosis after receiving Haemodialysis

Posted: Thu Sep 01, 2016 9:01 am
by rheaybou
I can't comment on the issues your mum seems to be having regarding confusion while on dialysis, however I can comment on steroids and the impact they have on your mood/aggression!

Post transplant I was on a 20mg dose that was slowly tapered down to 5mg. The side effects were mood swings, aggression, being irritable....this could be something that is adding to your mums problems

Re: Psychosis after receiving Haemodialysis

Posted: Thu Sep 01, 2016 8:37 pm
by wagolynn
Hi Rugbyleaguer
Rugbyleaguer wrote: I also read about dialysis induced dementia.
I would be very interested to read that, if you have a link to the item.

I think, dementia is a long term process of degradation which progresses more or less regardless of any other conditions.
Bearing in mind that kidney failure tends to be prevalent among older people, I can see that some people on dialysis will also be diagnosed as having dementia.

How's Mum getting on?

Re: Psychosis after receiving Haemodialysis

Posted: Fri Sep 02, 2016 9:47 pm
by Rugbyleaguer
Well I had thought my mum had turned a corner as she called me from hospital and was laughing and joking with the odd confused injection of total randomness. Then today when I called she had reverted back to being paranoid that they were keeping her in hospital against her will and wanted me to call the Police. What makes it more difficult is I live in Stoke and she is in Bradford so can't get over to her all the time and only hear what the nurses and doctors tell me.

Re: Psychosis after receiving Haemodialysis

Posted: Sat Sep 03, 2016 3:57 pm
by wagolynn
Hi Rugbyleaguer,

I am very sorry to see Mum is still unstable.
I hope they find a way to stabilise her soon.

Living in different places must make it even harder to cope with.

Best wishes to you both.