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I am POA for my aunt and her health has unexpectedly turned for the worst. She has transformed into a different person and has become severly combative with the hospital personnel, doctors, etc. She now cannot walk, seems to be confused and disoriented, very, very disrespectful and doesn't even want to talk to me. In fact, she told me not to call her "aunt." I live out of state and have a short turnaround time to find her a rehab/nursing, perhaps even long-term, if she doesn't come back to her senses. Any suggestions????

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Did your aunt go into the hospital because of this drastic change in her personality? What do the Dr.'s say? What's caused this sudden change? What are they doing for her and what are they doing to find out why her personality changed so quickly?

Have you asked the hospital staff for recommendations on a nursing home? Have you spoken to a social worker about how to get your aunt transferred if that's what she needs? There are a lot of resources at your disposal while your aunt is hospitalized. Take advantage of them while you can.
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Are you also caring for your mother with dementia? You have your hands full. Did the combative behavior start when she entered the hospital. It may be the hospital that is causing the disorientation. Did they check her for infections, such as a UTI? Infections can make things worse when it comes to behavior and dementia.

I don't know where your aunt is staying now, but I did wonder if it was time to get a higher level of care for her. Rehab sounds like a very good idea, maybe in a place that can become LTC if she needs it. I don't envy the task in front of you.
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Whenever I hear "personality change" I think "patient abuse." Please never assume the facility and its personnel are being straight with you. Do not assume any accusations your aunt is making are false. If she is accusing the personnel of abuse, most likely they are badly abusing her! They will LIE and cover up and claim she's crazy! They'll do anything to cover up bad care and abuse. They might even be giving her incorrect pills or not answering her call bell for hours. The noise level could be unbearable when visitors are not around. They could be not respecting her personal privacy and personal space, such as not covering her or barging in on her in the bathroom. They could be shoving her down or hitting her. She may even have been raped or sexually assaulted in this facility. That would cause a drastic personality change as well. Never assume these things cannot or do not happen, because they do, and are much more common than people realize. Facilities are great at covering up the harms and lying to families. I have seen this first-hand, witnessed it and have seen the changes in the patients themselves. I have also witnessed wrongful deaths. Do not even expect an apology as this is an admission of guilt. Expect them to claim something's "wrong" with your aunt, they'll continue to claim she's crazy in some way.
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Pack your bags and head on over. That's why you have POA!!
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1) Mom went from Rehab to a facility that was highly-recommended by the social worker at the Rehab facility. Medicare picked up the first three months in Rehab and then I moved Mom to excellent dementia care in an assisted living facility that required private pay for the first two years at which point she could transition to Medicaid and stay. I was able to patch together the remainder of Mom's assets plus some of mine to get to that date. 2) Years PRIOR to this while Mom was under at-home care, Mom's mental state changed drastically. I discovered that it was due to extreme lack of sleep brought about by a) a too-hot bedroom in which the heat came up every fifteen minutes which caused my mother to wake to cough then fall asleep three minutes before the next heat cycle. b) At her complaint about not sleeping, her doctor prescribed a sleeping medication that required a full seven hours of sleep else confusion and lack of memory was the side-effect. Mom was hallucinating ALL OF THE TIME until I stayed overnight to observe enough to determine the cause. c) As others mention, an infection in an elderly person can drastically change their health and behavior.
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Thanks, yes and be careful of those drugs since depending on the type of dementia many are black boxed by the FDA. For instance, patients with Lewy Body cannot be given certain drugs such as antipsychotics as this will cause severe damage. Misdiagnosis of Lewy Body Dementia is common. It can be mistaken for Alzheimer's (especially in haste) and this can lead to tragedy.
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I can't imagine managing care from a distance - you're a hero for stepping up for your aunt but if her needs require long term placement then please consider if she can be moved closer to you - it is necessary to monitor her care even in the best of facilities and has to be done in person
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Yes, Chimonger is right, these facilities cover up harms and make themselves out to be in the right no matter what. Also nurses really are scared to report abuse, even though legally they have to. They know that retaliation is inevitable and not only that, they don't get automatic gov't protection if they are threatened on the job, fired, or threatened off the job, or worse. I know patients who have tried and tried to appeal to nurses (since they are the hands-on workers), begging for help with abuse, but these nurses' hands are tied. It's really up to families. Sadly, when abuse occurs, it's invariably done at the times when family isn't around to witness and family cannot protect nor prove nor speak out for the victim. Abusive facilities and their CEO's and personnel are well aware of the loopholes and will use kit gloves whenever they fear a lawsuit. But for those who cannot speak out, they are indiscriminate. It's not about patient care. It's about money, profit, and filling beds.
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I'm not sure anyone said this explicitly but haloperidol in particular can cause symptoms of psychosis, and delirium, and neuroleptic malignant syndrome which can be confused with catatonia or excited catatonia. I just went through this with my mother, who apparently has Dementia with Lewy Bodies, not AD. The ill-advised act of giving her halperidol was part of the picture--she developed some very bizarre behaviors that finally abated with time and a very small dose of Lorazepam. Though it can cause delirium in other patients, it is the go-to drug for Lewy Body patients with catatonia or NMS. (But please don't take my word for it; this is just what I gathered along the way.)

Haloperidol is not especially good at genuine sedation, and its risks are very high in the elderly. Not FDA approved for demented, psychotic elderly. Black box warning, in fact.

There is a safer drug than haloperidol but it is IV-only, from what I can tell. it's called dexmedetomidine and is mainly one of the drugs used in general anesthesia.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2717438/

However, there is now a version for dogs who are scared of thunder and it is applied on the gums. I'm getting ahead of the science here...I think it sounds better than Haldol and I hope it can eventually be used without the IV route, in time for my old age.

There are ways staff can behave that increase combativeness and ways that decrease it. A lot of times they think it's an ego war and insist on things that don't matter. See if you can get some time alone with your aunt and find out what is going on. She might need some time just sitting without talking first...

Look for online reviews of the facility, too.
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Much combativeness inside facilities is caused by the conditions there and by the staff, who often play favorites and talk about the patients behind their backs but right in front of them as if they are not there, don't matter, and don't even have human emotions. I have seen them make statements such as "i can hardly wait till he is out of here" and frankly that kind of attitude lowers morale for everyone. I have seen staff treat patients like things (certainly cleaning up their act on visiting day, though).
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