Delirium

A Definition Of Delirium

Delirium, in medical terms, covers a great variety of symptoms and its meaning may be slightly different from one doctor to another. A few core symptoms though are recognized by all physicians. Delirium typically consists of a reduced awareness of the environment, an inability to maintain or shift focus, irritability, cognitive alterations such as memory impairment, drowsiness, sleepiness, sometimes hallucinations, which occurs for a relatively short period and which manifests in an acute fashion. Given that very often delirium is associated with dementia or depression, it is quite common to be misdiagnosed. Delirium is also most of the time present in elderly, frail people and quite often is a sign of a much more serious condition, which leads us to:

What Provokes Delirium

The causes of delirium can be extremely diverse. The biggest percentage of the cases occur due to medication, under hospital conditions. Drugs such alcohol, LSD, methadone can also produce delirium either by ingesting or by withdrawal. Psychic disorders such as dementia, depression or mania are also a risk in this direction. More common causes of delirium can be infections, fever, head trauma, traumatic experiences or accidents. This wide variety of causes can provoke quite an extensive array of delirium types. The most easily recognized form is the one in which the patient is hyperactive, as doctors have more behavior patterns to be recognized, but there are cases, especially in those affected by depression where delirium is hypoactive, when the patients are silent and withdrawn that makes delirium very hard to detect. This wide array of delirium forms, make standardization of the therapy method extremely difficult and most of the times the doctor will simply try to alleviate the source of problem rather than the delirium symptoms in themselves.

Why Detecting Delirium Is Important

Delirium is very often a symptom which indicates a very serious health condition, which must be treated. When you go to the doctor accompanying a patient affected by delirium, it is for the best that you try to describe completely the medical history, so the physician can quickly identify the cause. Delirium also holds a relation to high morbidity and decease rate across the elder segment of the population. This is why it is absolutely imperative that even at the smallest sign, a person experiencing delirium should contact a doctor. Reaction time can often make the difference between a healthy recovery and death. Delirium in itself doesn’t mean anything, but the association it bears with a great number of very dangerous health conditions make it a clear sign that a check is in order.

Treating Delirium And Recognizing The Signs

When delirium occurs in hospital conditions the trained medical staff can usually handle the situation. In more common conditions though, delirium is much harder to recognize especially in patients with a psychological history. The best indicator of delirium is the abrupt behavioral change experienced. It is important to learn to recognize other types of delirium like delirium tremens and “excited delirium” as delirium occurs all of a sudden. Treating delirium should ideally be performed by trained staff as again the underlying cause must be treated. However there are several things that can help alleviate this condition such as the enforcement of a proper diet, perception recovery (usage of glasses or hearing aid), means to establish the current time and place (clocks, calendar, uncovered windows) and a constant aid presence (if possible).

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