Mystery symptoms on hip pt.

Nurses General Nursing

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UPDATE 7/28 I have had a few days off. Day after this post, I go in to find my pt. up in a chair, talking to friends, lucid and cheerful; helped back to bed, a lot of pain, but only tylenol. Still, her wound is still weeping serous and dressing soaks out in 2 hrs. Still has a foley but UOP good. Anyway I go back tomorrow. First I spoke with a nurse friend and was suprised to learn she is still there.

SHE HAD TO GO BACK TO THE OR FOR AND I&D OF HIP, NO ANESTHETIC CEPT A SPINAL AND HAD HEMOVAC PLACED. So, the upshot is she is not draining more than 5 ccs in the drain a shift, cultures of the hip are pending again, and she was SO MUCH pain that night the MD was called and because she is on coumadin tx and has allergies to IBU, the only thing they could come up with was neurontin. Guess it worked well for her. Cant wait to see what tomorrow brings.

Okay everyone is stumped on this lady. Lets try and figure it out without me breaking any HIPPA's

Elderly

Hx. CHF, aneurism (which left her very slightly off)

broke R hip, came in and had ORIF

oriented and talkative at admit and up to day after

Meds: pca dilaudid, removed day two Heparin GTT removed day three, on Coumadin. Multiple bruises even on her pubic area. Has had three or four units of PRBC's. Percocet, removed day four, Onadestron schedule twice daily, PRN Vicodin .5-1 Q6, Lorazepam po or iv .25 Q4 only. Daily meds include Potassium and antibiotics, prevacid, doc, senna and Lasix.

Now, the pca, percs, some phenergren were all d/c'd because the pt began to have altered loc. She also panics and has a sense of doom and hyperventilates, thus the lorazepam. Often the pt is diaphoretic and states she is hot.

She is a COMPLETELY different woman then when I first saw her.

The wound is stapled and well approximated but weeps so much serous fluid that the dressing must be changed Q2H. She obviously has much pain when turning.

During the day she becomes a bit more lucid but is unable to get up with PT more than sitting up. When she is "sundowning" or whatever is happening at the eve/noc period, she is practically having to be restrained as she is so confused she doesnt even realize she has a broken hip.

Yesterday when I took her over she had had only lorazepam X2 and TYLENOL for pain. UGGGH. This is because she denies pain when you ask her and because her son did not want her to be so loopy as it scared him.

She was becoming more and more disoriented and anxious. I and the NTL consulted everything and did vitals.. O2 sats normal, temp normal, bp normal WBC normal, blood cultures and wound culture growing NOTHING. Gave her lorazepam X1 and her vicodin, .5 X2. She only got worse. LUO on shift (250)

Our thoughts - Pain, sundowning and ARF?? Other theories were sepis but the signs are not pointing that way. Small stroke, but grips equal, no noted drooping.

She had to have Narcan X2 for sedation and guess what, she snapped out of it a lot, but that was after 10 doses of percocet the day and night before. However yesterday she had had no meds all day and still became very agitated and disoriented.

SO, what more can we do? If its been tried I will let you know. If we find out what happened, I will let you know. :uhoh3:

Specializes in Postpartum.

She has a foley. She WAS on a heparin drip but that had to be stopped she was bruising so much. Now she is on PO coumadin. But thanks for the thoughts...

Specializes in Postpartum.

She actually did have a UA previously but is on abx of course and that has been treated. Hmmm..

Specializes in Postpartum.

I love the thought of tele and ekg but the docs are all saying its the opiates. Weird thing is she was lucid again all day, just a little confused. And she had nothing all day but tylenol at noon as the docs dc'd everything opiate. Yet at 5 after her dressing change she started going off again, hyperventilating, screaming for help, etc. We called the family in and in 20 minutes she was calm. She is still seeing floating things in the room and stuff, but was able to tell us how and why she fell and broke her hip and endured another dressing change. The ONLY other thing is she is anemic and got two more units of blood tonight. PT actually got her out of bed in a chair today also. Cant wait to see her tomorrow....

Specializes in Peds, ER/Trauma.

Have the docs ordered a head CT yet??? Any time anyone has changes in neuro status like you've described, they need to have a head CT. I agree, it very well may be the opiates, but she should still have her head scanned...

Specializes in ORTHOPAEDICS-CERTIFIED SINCE 89.

What's her K+ and Na? I'd bet her serum albumin is down causing the wound weeping (serous-right) and what's her Ca by the way?

I've seen any/all these make the elderly go bonkers. If she denies pain then don't give her anything Tylenol will make most people perspire even the young. Ativan as already said will paradoxically make some if not all elderly froot-loopy. What's her DVT protocol? It looks like nothing since the heparin was d/cd or did I miss somethng? 1 ASAis what our gerontologists used rather than coumadin.

Specializes in Community, OB, Nursery.

I was also thinking about her lytes, P.

If she's still acting crazy, I would love to see a head CT ordered, as well as a general health panel.

Postop elderly folks can be so tricky to treat/diagnose.

Specializes in Emergency Room.

I work ER, so this is all pretty foreign to me, but I have camped a few pts in my day. Is there any chance she's an alcohol abuser having some weird withdrawals? I've had some pts that went through ETOH withdrawals in a very odd fashion. Maybe that combined with a UTI or something else.

Just brainstorming here.....

Specializes in LTC,Hospice/palliative care,acute care.

did she get IV pepcid intra-op? I've seen similar reactions from it...

did she get IV pepcid intra-op? I've seen similar reactions from it...

reglan, too.

leslie

1. As far as I know the Benzodiazipems disturbs the REM cyle. The brain the next day wants to catch up on sleep. But with Elderly pts it affect them like an extremly tired toddler. They tend to act out and may get short-term memory loss. and if she is getting it PRN or not consistent she can withdrawl from it and that too make a pts agitated.

2. Percocet is an opiod can cause short-term memory loss too.

3. How are her Fluid and Electrolytes?? if they are imbalances they also cause the short term memory loss. I guess what I am trying to say is she can be acting out because of the meds given to her. Hypernetremia (agitation). How is her output??? Is she dehydrated?? This can be causing the lytes to go out of wack.

You've mentioned ARF??? How is her out put?? Is it less then 400ml/24hrs in a day?? But do remember that a pt can also have nonoliguria when in AFR. The urine might just be clear and not concentrating.

Also like someone mentioned she could be withdrawing from alcohol. She may not be an alcoholic but if she drinks one glass of wine every night with her dinner for many yrs, then yes she can be withdrawing for it.

Please keep me updated I would love to find out what is causing her symtoms. Good luck;)

Specializes in ortho/neuro/general surgery.
Please keep me updated I would love to find out what is causing her symtoms. Good luck;)

Yeah, me too. I'm finding this thread very interesting, and educational, being that I've only got 3 years under my belt, and it seems like on night shift at my place that's considered a lot of experience if you catch my drift. :uhoh21:

Specializes in ORTHOPAEDICS-CERTIFIED SINCE 89.

WHat are her meds....thyroid med missed maybe..... has she got a UTI, has she got a bottle of Jack she can't reach?

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