Mom's Memory - Aging Issues Message Board

homesleym · 07-17-2003, 05:13 AM

Mom is 85. Lives by herself and able to function well. With in the last month rapid onset of profound short term mem loss. No med changes with in last 1 year.Took a course of prednisone about 4 months ago for eye infection. Did not like how she felt when taking it. Blood work shows urinary tract infection. No complaints from her except says her head feels hot and she feels woozey especially in am. Temp 99-99.8 Starting Cipro XR today. She has been taking Glyburide 5mg 3 times/day; Hyzarr 100-25 one/day; Toprol XL 200mg one/day; Metformin 1000mg one/day; Norvasc 5mg one/day. doc has added Avandia, and reduced Glyburide to 2/day. Has high blood pressure and Type 2 diabetic. Blood sugar has been hovering about 250-300. Is the combination of the infection and high blood sugar such it would cause this memory loss? Does combination of meds seem excessive?
No problems sleeping; no nightmares. Some dizziness, has fallen twice in past 6 months. Once 6 mths ago, once two weeks ago. Have't thought about Alzheimers until now.No behavioral changes. Long term memory, recognition of people ok, but has trouble following a "game plan" for the day. Any thoughts?

Kre · 08-17-2003, 01:42 PM

Your mom is on a lot of medication but it may be necessary.

Remember, Toprol puts a brake on the heart to keep it from working so hard. This can possibly be part of her problem but it still may be necessary.

Her blood sugars are way too high. It would be wise for your mom to choose low carb foods in smaller portions to help bring the BS back down.

It would also be wise to reduce sodium in diet so she does not have to take so much hypertension medication.

Walking is good exercise to help control hypertension and blood sugars.

Poor memory is most likely due to the high blood sugar and hypertension "if" the hypertension is not well controlled.

A certain amount of memory loss, short term, is natural when we get older.

I personally have a great memory but my "retriever" seems to be down most of the time!! Maybe that is your mom's problem too.

Using "timers" for when to take meds or for other activities would be a help to keep her on the path during the day. Using a pill box for meds is great too, helps prevent taking meds twice or not at all. A quick glance in pill box will let you know whether you took the meds or not.

canterscorner · 08-25-2003, 09:02 PM

the best hope i can offer is this i have seen infections cause increased confusions and behavioral changes so if memory changes have only been recent with diag of uti about half way through the antobitic you should see improvement most people who have alz usually show symptoms before age 85 good luck

[chris] · 10-09-2003, 07:22 AM

Wow, this seems to hit home for me. My grandmother has been the hospital for about 8 days. She started in the psych ward, worse place in the world to help your nerves. Then her blood pressure dropped really low and we almost lost her. The doctors finally run some test on her to find out she has a bad kidney infection and had 2 heart attacks in the past and some blockage in her heart, which they can't run the dye until her kidneys heal. She seems almost her old self, then starts talking 'out of her head' a bit. Could this be caused by the infection being there so long unoticed? She is getting antibiotic treatment as we speak and seems near normal untill she gets upset.
Thanks,
Chris

Eagle · 11-22-2003, 07:30 AM

When I used to take diabetes classes, they said don't exercise when your b.g. is as high as hers. You didn't mean right now, I'm sure.

And I think alz symptoms usually start in the sixties? Someone correct me if that's wrong. Maybe it's just sometimes. I'm about to stop worrying about getting it, if I can get through sixties this well.