David,

I am so sorry for you and your family. This is the last thing you need to add to the list of medical issues.

I often see patients who are hospitalized go from a normal mental state into a psychotic state seemingly overnight.

There are numerous reasons why this may be happening to Linda, but with limited information, it's hard to tell.

I'm assuming that since she is has been dehydrated, they are monitoring her electrolytes, kidney function, and liver function? Any upset in these levels, especially in combination with certain medications can certainly lead to a psychotic break. If you want to send me a PM of the meds she takes and a little more info about her medical history, I might be able to help you...if you want. I don't want to be intrusive. Sometimes it just helps to know what questions to ask the medical staff.

I'm especially sorry that you and Michael were treated so poorly by her attending physician. It was COMPLETELY inappropriate for her to get defensive and subsequently tell you if she dies, it's your fault! There are much more appropriate and effective ways of explaining her rationale for her treatment plan. Blood thinners such as heparin and lovenox are indeed routinely given to patients who are on bed rest or are at a higher risk of developing a life-threatening blood clot. As Christine mentioned, venodyne boots are also used and are quite common. They alternately inflate/deflate around the calf muscles to assist in keep the blood from pooling in the legs and forming a clot that could break free and get lodged in the lung (pulmonary embolus).

I looked online a bit to find drug-drug interactions and medication-induced psychosis. I couldn't find much about the interactions, but there are multiple side effects of any drug and there are many drugs that can induce psychosis, especially in her physical state on admission. The thing that concerns me is that she was showing signs of this episode before you brought her to the ED and it got progressively worse as she stayed there. To me, that's a red flag for an underlying infection (UTI, for example) that needs to be investigated.

I could go on and on...sorry. I just want to help. I'm glad that she has a new attending physician and hopefully they will find the source of her condition so they can devise an effective treatment plan. As soon as they do, it should pass and she'll be back to herself.

Please let me know if there is anything else I can do to help.

Best wishes to you all,
Kerri