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For two months, my wife 62 had diarrhea and pain in her kidneys. Two weeks ago, she fell going to the bathroom. The first hospital told us to go home and treat the diarrhea through common practice. Two days later, my wife fell again. The second hospital ran tests. She had delirium and removed the IVs. She was restrained and monitored by a sitter. They wanted to give her Haldol. Her lab work revealed that she had a UTI and given antibiotics. Several days days later, there was no more delirium and she was and is coherent.


I must add she has Post-Polio-Syndrome syndrome, muscular dystrophy; she uses a walker with arm platforms but outside the house I push her in her wheelchair. The only things she goes to are doctor appointments and lab work. She's at home, uses a recliner for sleep and meal times plus a commode chair next to her.I help her with assistance in dressing, cleaning and giving her sponge baths. When this infection is gone she will do more things for herself. Its medically necessary for her to be transported to and from appointments and lab work. I will transport her to appointments and lab work when she is cleared to not use the ambulance service and I can take her in our Sentra to her appointments.

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The reason for the use of any medication needs to be discussed with the prescribing MD. Generally this is a short term management need in the case of an extremely agitated patient in these circumstances (may be due to the UTI). It will provide, hopefully, relaxation and relief, though as TChamp correctly observes there is great hesitancy using this in someone temporarily agitated/ elderly, etc. I can only guess that other meds are not working. So do discuss this with the MD and I wish you good luck.
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Haldol is one of these called Major tranquilizers. The use of these drugs is generally avoided in the elderly because it may cause a cerebral vascular accident. However, it's used occasionally as an emergency measure to stop an acute delirium with agitation than may endanger the life in the patient or others.
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Your wife had delerium that was preventing or delaying her treatment and she was unable to follow directions. She needed to be able to have a working IV, but was pulling them out. It was ordered as a chemical restraint, if needed.

''Chemical restraint refers to the administration of certain medications to restrain agitated patients from behavior that is harmful to themselves or others, including the medical staff attending to them. The administration of a medication is considered a chemical restraint when used to sedate an agitated patient and not for direct therapeutic reasons.
A chemical restraint is most often administered when prompt action is required to avert violence, or manage uncontrollable behavior in an agitated patient.
A patient may be agitated due to a combination of several factors such as:
Substance intoxication or withdrawal
Significant physical illness
Mental health crisis
Confusion and anxiety
A chemical restraint medication is used as a last resort when less invasive options fail. Examples of such less invasive options include verbal reasoning and/or involving trusted family members to calm the patient.''
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"Haloperidol is a medication that works in the brain to treat schizophrenia. It is also known as a first generation antipsychotic (FGA) or typical antipsychotic. Haloperidol rebalances dopamine to improve thinking, mood, and behavior."

Have no idea. First thing that should be checked is a UTI. It can cause Dementia like symptoms. But thats not being psychotic. TG she was not put on it. You need to learn to ask questions. Internet is full of info to help you make an informed decisions. We have to be our LOs advocates.
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Doctors are human and they don't usually get the diagnosis on the first try, especially ER doctors. I tend to think of ER doctors as knowing a little about a lot of things, but not much about any one thing.

I went to the ER with terrible abdominal pain just before Thanksgiving, was diagnosed with a possible ulcer and sent home with Pepcid. Ten days later I was back in the ER with another excruciating attack and was admitted. It took five days and loads of tests for them to determine that my classic symptoms were indeed pancreatitis brought on by a bad gallbladder. I had surgery on the sixth day, and now I'm home and feeling a thousand times better.

I'm glad your wife is doing better.
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