Lung Cancer Treatment - Dimentia

gootfly

Hello all,

This past February/March, My 74 year old mother underwent two cycles of chemo to treat lung cancer. Shortly after the second cycle, her physical and mental state deteriorated very quickly. Within a week following her second cycle, she began exhibiting dimentia like behavior. She recently got out of the hospital after being treated for kidney failure, and is now in a rehab facility. She doesn't seem to know what's going on, and seems to have lost the most basic of cognitive function. Can't answer simple questions like what state she lives in, what her address is, who the president of the US is, etc. Has anyone had a similar experience directly attributable to chemo? Can anyone offer any words that might make us feel better?

Thanks.

Tina Blondek

My prayers and thoughts go out to you
Hi Gootfly and welcome to the wonderful world of caregivers! Did I say wonderful??? Just kidding. I was the caregiver for my dad. He recently passed away from esophageal cancer on 3/9/10. I am not too familiar with what you and your mom have been experiencing. I do know there is something here that is called chemo brain. Is she on any pain meds? My dad had to take morphine and oxicodone. The morphine used to make him real loopy. He would talk out of his head, halucinations, etc. I would also suggest asking her doctors what they think. Sounds like she is having a reaction to something. Good luck and keep us posted. Prayers to all of you.I wanted to add to this post. I just read another post from someone who is going through the same things as your mom. Her mom, they found out has a UTI. The UTI, she found out can cause this kind of symptoms in older patients. Thought this might help you!
Tina

Maggie91

Tina Blondek said:

My prayers and thoughts go out to you
Hi Gootfly and welcome to the wonderful world of caregivers! Did I say wonderful??? Just kidding. I was the caregiver for my dad. He recently passed away from esophageal cancer on 3/9/10. I am not too familiar with what you and your mom have been experiencing. I do know there is something here that is called chemo brain. Is she on any pain meds? My dad had to take morphine and oxicodone. The morphine used to make him real loopy. He would talk out of his head, halucinations, etc. I would also suggest asking her doctors what they think. Sounds like she is having a reaction to something. Good luck and keep us posted. Prayers to all of you.I wanted to add to this post. I just read another post from someone who is going through the same things as your mom. Her mom, they found out has a UTI. The UTI, she found out can cause this kind of symptoms in older patients. Thought this might help you!
Tina

Dementia and Pseudo-Dementia
Gootfly, I agree with Tina, a lot of different things can cause this type of reaction in older people -- drug reactions, physical illness such as a UTI, and depression. Yes, stress and depression can cause a dementia-like reaction in oldsters; under such circumstances, it is called pseudodementia. I'm also wondering if brain metastases are a possibility. I don't know anything about chemo brain, because I'm new to the wonderful world of cancer. You need some skilled help in figuring out what is going on and what can be done to help your mom. My heart goes out to you.

Maggie91

Maggie91 said:

Dementia and Pseudo-Dementia
Gootfly, I agree with Tina, a lot of different things can cause this type of reaction in older people -- drug reactions, physical illness such as a UTI, and depression. Yes, stress and depression can cause a dementia-like reaction in oldsters; under such circumstances, it is called pseudodementia. I'm also wondering if brain metastases are a possibility. I don't know anything about chemo brain, because I'm new to the wonderful world of cancer. You need some skilled help in figuring out what is going on and what can be done to help your mom. My heart goes out to you.

P.S. If it is pseudodementia
P.S. If it is pseudodementia due to depression, that is very treatable. Certain other causes are undoubtedly treatable, as well. You might want to get a psychiatric consult, since dementia is considered a psychiatric problem.

gootfly

Maggie91 said:

P.S. If it is pseudodementia
P.S. If it is pseudodementia due to depression, that is very treatable. Certain other causes are undoubtedly treatable, as well. You might want to get a psychiatric consult, since dementia is considered a psychiatric problem.

Thanks To All
I want to thank both of you for responding to my post. It's nice to know that there are good people out there who care about others, and can appreciate what a person goes through when seeing a loved one endure this disease. As I'm sure you know all too well, there are ups and downs, and some days are worse than others. Tina, I'm so sorry for the recent loss of your dad. I'm sure it was very difficult for you, and that you're still mourning his passing. I wish you peace and happiness in his memory.

Regarding your comments, a little more detail here. She's not been on pain meds at all, but is on many other meds due to the fact that she had a single lung transplant back in 2000 for pulmonary fibrosis (the lung cancer was found in her original lung). This includes immunosupressive drugs and a host of others. She's also diabetic now. I'm sure all of the drugs don't help things, but they've been a constant before this whole dimentia thing reared its head. The comments regarding the UTI are interesting. We put her in the hospital about 2 weeks ago due to her rapidly declining health condition and mental confusion/fog (I have read about Chemo Brain, and her dimentia seemed to be more severe than what might be explained by the chemo fog that I've read about), and they found that she was in kidney failure and also had a UTI. They treated her for both conditions, and she improved some in her basic mental functioning, but the overall confusion and dementia still remains one week after her hospital release. Seems to get a little worse as the day wears on for whatever reason. We do want to have an neurological evaluation, but also know that when in the hospital, they did brain scans and everything else to rule out any brain cancer, stroke, or other structural issue with the brain itself that might explain her dimentia.

Thanks again for your comments, and if you have anything to add, it would be appreciated. Also understand if you don't.

Nothing but good things to you, sincerely .

Tina Blondek

gootfly said:

Thanks To All
I want to thank both of you for responding to my post. It's nice to know that there are good people out there who care about others, and can appreciate what a person goes through when seeing a loved one endure this disease. As I'm sure you know all too well, there are ups and downs, and some days are worse than others. Tina, I'm so sorry for the recent loss of your dad. I'm sure it was very difficult for you, and that you're still mourning his passing. I wish you peace and happiness in his memory.

Regarding your comments, a little more detail here. She's not been on pain meds at all, but is on many other meds due to the fact that she had a single lung transplant back in 2000 for pulmonary fibrosis (the lung cancer was found in her original lung). This includes immunosupressive drugs and a host of others. She's also diabetic now. I'm sure all of the drugs don't help things, but they've been a constant before this whole dimentia thing reared its head. The comments regarding the UTI are interesting. We put her in the hospital about 2 weeks ago due to her rapidly declining health condition and mental confusion/fog (I have read about Chemo Brain, and her dimentia seemed to be more severe than what might be explained by the chemo fog that I've read about), and they found that she was in kidney failure and also had a UTI. They treated her for both conditions, and she improved some in her basic mental functioning, but the overall confusion and dementia still remains one week after her hospital release. Seems to get a little worse as the day wears on for whatever reason. We do want to have an neurological evaluation, but also know that when in the hospital, they did brain scans and everything else to rule out any brain cancer, stroke, or other structural issue with the brain itself that might explain her dimentia.

Thanks again for your comments, and if you have anything to add, it would be appreciated. Also understand if you don't.

Nothing but good things to you, sincerely .

I wish you the best
Hi Gootfly and thank you for your mom's update. Hmmmm...while I was reading your response, another thought came to my mind. How is her hydration? I know a couple of days before my dad passed, I know he was getting dehydrated. He made us promise that we would not put him back in the hospital, so we did not. All he did was sleep, and when he did wake up, he was not there mentally. He did not know who we were, some days, he would have halucinations. Just a thought. I was happy to hear that you did have her brain checked, and that it seemed to be clear of cancer. Keep asking a lot of questions, find out all you can. Keep us updated.
Thinking and praying for both of you. My mom is also diabetic. I know when she has low blood sugar, she is not with it at all mentally. Have you been checking her blood sugar levels? We will figure this out sooner or later!
Tina

Tina Blondek

gootfly said:

Thanks To All
I want to thank both of you for responding to my post. It's nice to know that there are good people out there who care about others, and can appreciate what a person goes through when seeing a loved one endure this disease. As I'm sure you know all too well, there are ups and downs, and some days are worse than others. Tina, I'm so sorry for the recent loss of your dad. I'm sure it was very difficult for you, and that you're still mourning his passing. I wish you peace and happiness in his memory.

Regarding your comments, a little more detail here. She's not been on pain meds at all, but is on many other meds due to the fact that she had a single lung transplant back in 2000 for pulmonary fibrosis (the lung cancer was found in her original lung). This includes immunosupressive drugs and a host of others. She's also diabetic now. I'm sure all of the drugs don't help things, but they've been a constant before this whole dimentia thing reared its head. The comments regarding the UTI are interesting. We put her in the hospital about 2 weeks ago due to her rapidly declining health condition and mental confusion/fog (I have read about Chemo Brain, and her dimentia seemed to be more severe than what might be explained by the chemo fog that I've read about), and they found that she was in kidney failure and also had a UTI. They treated her for both conditions, and she improved some in her basic mental functioning, but the overall confusion and dementia still remains one week after her hospital release. Seems to get a little worse as the day wears on for whatever reason. We do want to have an neurological evaluation, but also know that when in the hospital, they did brain scans and everything else to rule out any brain cancer, stroke, or other structural issue with the brain itself that might explain her dimentia.

Thanks again for your comments, and if you have anything to add, it would be appreciated. Also understand if you don't.

Nothing but good things to you, sincerely .

I wish you the best
Hi Gootfly and thank you for your mom's update. Hmmmm...while I was reading your response, another thought came to my mind. How is her hydration? I know a couple of days before my dad passed, I know he was getting dehydrated. He made us promise that we would not put him back in the hospital, so we did not. All he did was sleep, and when he did wake up, he was not there mentally. He did not know who we were, some days, he would have halucinations. Just a thought. I was happy to hear that you did have her brain checked, and that it seemed to be clear of cancer. Keep asking a lot of questions, find out all you can. Keep us updated.
Thinking and praying for both of you. My mom is also diabetic. I know when she has low blood sugar, she is not with it at all mentally. Have you been checking her blood sugar levels? We will figure this out sooner or later!
Tina

gootfly

Tina Blondek said:

I wish you the best
Hi Gootfly and thank you for your mom's update. Hmmmm...while I was reading your response, another thought came to my mind. How is her hydration? I know a couple of days before my dad passed, I know he was getting dehydrated. He made us promise that we would not put him back in the hospital, so we did not. All he did was sleep, and when he did wake up, he was not there mentally. He did not know who we were, some days, he would have halucinations. Just a thought. I was happy to hear that you did have her brain checked, and that it seemed to be clear of cancer. Keep asking a lot of questions, find out all you can. Keep us updated.
Thinking and praying for both of you. My mom is also diabetic. I know when she has low blood sugar, she is not with it at all mentally. Have you been checking her blood sugar levels? We will figure this out sooner or later!
Tina

Hi Tina, thank you again for
Hi Tina, thank you again for your comments. Her hydration has been okay, as she was on an IV in the hospital, and the symtoms continued after her release when she was fully hydrated. I know that hydration can be an issue when it comes to cognition, but I don't think it's a factor here. Thanks for mentioning it though. We are now facing her diabetes head on, which they've been doing in the hospital and rehab facility by giving her regular insulin. We will continue this at home, as we also know that the sugar level can wreak havoc with the mind as well. Based on the fact that all body systems were in order when she left the hospital, and have continued to be in order in the rehab facility, we're left now with trying to get an appt with a neurologist. I'm leaning toward the pseudo-depression explanation, but hopefully an expert will be able to confirm this one way or another. If her mind doesn't clear up shortly, we won't be able to continue cancer treatments (radiation), and the disease will ultimately take her. We keep forging on and doing the best that we can to get the intervention that we need to sustain the battle. It's been difficult, and is bound to get more so. Thanks so much for your kind words. Mike