Laurette has been coping very well with AD for 9 years. Until two days ago she was mobile, verbal, alert, continent by day, and healthy. She got an ear infection which was causing some pain and a minor bladder infection simultaneously, so the doctor prescribed an antibiotic for the infections, and tylenol and ear drops for pain.

Once she started on the drugs she went into a complete stupor. She is not responding to language, has a blank unknowing stare, is peeing all over the place, is unsteady on her feet, and is highly fatigued. She understands little, talks less, and hasn't even smiled at the cats in days.

Which is more likely to be the cause of such a sudden change, the drugs or the infections? I suspect the doctor did not take her weight into account when writing the prescription. 500mg of antibiotic and 1000mg of tylenol twice a day is a full size adult prescription and she's only 90 pounds.

I am very concerned about her sudden change. The ear drops seem to be working so I stopped the tylenol, and I am now cutting the antibiotic (clarithromycin) in half. I think this will still treat the symptoms and infections without saturating her system with drugs.

Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated.

Infections can really throw them into another state. The urinary problem alone can cause her to pee all over but I suspect the Tylenol probably had a sedation effect making Laurette's control even worse. Jezza, to knock out this infection as soon as possible, you might want to check with the nurse on halfing the antibiotic. The 250 mg may be enough if the infection is minor depending on the number of days given. It's just that it can take a few DAYS for the antibiotics to kick in so the sooner the better--for both of you.

Here's something I just learned: I used to pump my poor Mom full of cranberry juice all day, but the nurse explained if she drinks it all day she just pees it right out. It's best to give her one glass right before bed so the cranberry stays in her bladder overnight doing its thing on the bacteria. Makes sense, huh?

I hope this clears up quickly. I'll be thinking of you and precious, little Laurette.

Could she be allergic to the Amoxicillin? That stuff made me feel even sicker when I took it.

I only take penicillin now and it doesn't bother me.

I agree the Tylonel sounds like a mega dose for her being so skinny.

Kat

Update:

After halving the antibiotic Laurette was somewhat more human and less vegetable like, responsive to voices and visual cues, etc. This was encouraging and I stopped it completely about 24 hours ago. She is now completely alert, mobile, and conversant again. Somehow that particular drug sent her into a spin. We will be seeing the doctor again on Monday, but since she already had 6 days of antibiotics I don't feel bad about stopping the medication. She was practically stoned and in another world somewhere, completely unresponsive to this one so I won't give her any more.

Always an adventure!

Oh I'm so glad she is doing better. I never heard of an antibiotic doing something like that. Thank God it was reversible.

That's good to hear. Whew!

Hey Jezza, happy to hear she is doing better. Was the antibiotic regimen 7 days? If so then it's probably ok that you stopped, but typically stopping an antibiotic dose before the full regimen is complete can cause a worse bacterial infection than there was initially. If the symptoms you described were related directly infection and not the drug then it would either be from a high fever, or from bacterial sepsis (which means it would have entered her blood stream). But we know now wasn't the case. Thank goodness!

Jezza,
I was following your posts on the 'other" forum, too. I'm glad she is feeling better. Please let us know what the doctor says.

Here's a little update on Laurette's ear infection:

She had 4 days of Amoxocilin and 2 days of the offending antibiotic (clarithromycin) before we stopped it. Theoretically this should have been enough antibiotic, but the doctor put her on a third one just in case. She tolerated the new antibiotic well, but the infection continued to get worse and her ear continued to keep both of us up all night.

The infection has now worsened to the point that medicated ear drops can not reach it due to swelling and pussy discharge. It is very deep in her ear, has worked through the skin layers, and is now infecting her skull bone. I didn't even know this was possible, but it's a condition called skull-based osteomyelitis. It is quite serious and could take months to heal. If untreated it can have severe consequences like deafness or even death, but we caught it early enough that we should be able to resolve the problem eventually. She has seen an ear, nose, and throat specialist 5 days in a row now and he is quite concerned, but we have seen some improvements since we switched from a GP to the ENT.

We can anticipate months of interrupted sleep and painful throbbing in her inner ear. I know that would drive me towards insanity and decrease my level of function considerably, so I'm not sure how somebody with AD will cope. Fingers crossed...

To make things worse, I'll be out of town during August and my mom will be doing the caregiving by herself. She's going to have her hands full.

I'm so sorry to hear that! I really hope your dear Laurette recovers soon. I hope it doesn't take as long as they think it might!

Oh Jez, how horrible! Can they give her anything for pain? I know you don't want to take a chance with a reliever and antibiotic again, but how about something to let her sleep. Mom doesn't tolerate some meds well, but one time at the hospital they gave her the smallest dosage of Ativan. It was just enough to calm her a bit and get her to sleep.

Hope all goes well. Keep us updated again when you can.

Jackie

Jezza, how are you and Grandma getting along with the ear infection? I know just from my own inner ear problems that it's no fun for either me or DH, who has to suffer with my irritable mood swings.

Ouch! My mom had a bad ear infection like that once. I think she was given Cipro for it? Or something like Cipro.

Kat

Jezza,
How is Lauretta doing?

Hi everybody! Sorry I haven't been around to follow up on this post for a while. I was orchestrating for an Argentinean feature film and it got crazy busy for a little while.

Laurette is doing much better. The infection ate a little hole into her ear drum so she is still on antibiotics, but the pain has mostly gone down. The inner ear is now dry and no longer swolen, so that part is back to normal, but there is a small cyst in there that is still causing some pain. If it does not go down on its own with the medication then they'll drain it in a couple of weeks.

In the mean time we're (mostly) back to normal. The entire episode over the last month or so has made me more involved with her bathing, yet again, and I will probably continue at this new level of involvement. I was previously coaching and now I'm partly doing it for her. She was happy enough to accept the new help when she was in pain and she's used to it now, so I'll just keep on getting the job done. If you want it done right, sometimes you have to do it yourself!

I will be on tour in Europe for much of August, so I'll see you all in a month or so. We're doing 15 concerts in 7 countries in 18 days, so it's no holiday. No need to be jealous. My mom hates the idea of AD support groups or forums, but maybe I'll convince her to pop in here while she's covering for me...

Cheers.