Can anyone please give me some advice. My 83 year old Mum has been admitted to hospital on Friday evening and after tests they have found out she has got the same as me an underactive thyroid. Her TSH is more than 150 and she is refusing treatment as she is very confused and trying to leave the ward. They have said that they have got to test her thyroid antibodies and she is refusing to give blood. I have told them that she will have Hashimotos's Thyroiditis the same as me and did they really need to do that if she was getting distressed. I have got thyroid antibodies and we have got a family history of autoimmune thyroid. My daughte has also just recently been diagnosed with underactive thyroid too about 3 weeks ago and has been started on Levothyroxine. We can't go and visit her as someone on the ward has tested positive for Covid and nobody is allowed on the ward now. We feel like the hospital are fobbing us off and she still isn't on any treatment yet. They questioned putting her on a Dol's order and keep changing their mind. I have also asked them to check her B12 levels as I also have Pernicious Anaemia and have 6 weekly injections. Sorry for such a long post but I am really worried that she is just getting worse and wondered if anyone else has had the same experience
Advice about Mum's Thyroid: Can anyone please... - Thyroid UK
Advice about Mum's Thyroid
they will need some type of court order to permit them to take blood samples and give medication- i understand that legally she can’t be forced to do so unless found without capacity or a court orders this. i assume that’s what they mean when they are talking about an order? is there a social worker involved? hopefully they want to help and will make that side of things quick: are they talking about a section if she refuses treatment or applying for capacity assessment
You may wish to look up patient support team or older adults social care for some support while you are going through this
you are right to be pushing for her to be treated keep at it you are doing well
my dad had a TSH of 126 and he was psychotic. he had been unwell for at least 20 years and only got a diagnosis of hashimotos this year after i pushed for years for the professionals to listen and learn from my experience. thankfully now i forced the psychiatrist and endocrinologist to speak to each other things are slowly changing, so hang in there xxx
There is no social worker involved at the moment and we are going to request the DOL's order so she can be made to have treatment. It's just annoying that they keep changing their minds. I will read your link thanks
see if you can ask for an urgent adult care assessment and explain to the social worker about your health condition, and assert that your mum needs the thyroid/autoimmune dealing with as it’s the root cause of her mental health symptoms. this is the argument i made and it worked eventually. the key is to have all the professionals working together which is difficult. go armed with details of how a sky high tsh can cause severe mental health issues- because the guidance says you can be forced to accept treatment for a physical ailment that is negatively exacerbating your mental health ( that’s my interpretation as a legal professional with 20 yrs experience and hashimotos myself/in my family )
ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articl...
this research might be useful to print off/quote at the doctors
Why don’t you speak to PALS at the hospital, they could advise and help you.
We have managed to get an update from the Doctor on the ward and they have started her treatment now and they are doing further tests. I have told them that we need a daily update as we are not allowed to visit the hospital at the moment
Rocky
I wouldn't worry about the antibodies at the moment, it's not going to make a difference. She has a TSH of 150+, she needs treatment with Levothyroxine. Somehow somebody has to persuade your mum to accept the treatment
I know and I really hope the hospital staff are. It's difficult not being able to visit as we would have persuaded her by now. She won't answer her mobile and shouted at my sister on the ward phone and said that she wasn't her daughter
This link might be of use:
gov.uk/emergency-court-of-p...
I know next to nothing but there is a list of phone numbers.
There is an NHS directive, about June this year, that says that a patient with mental health problems can have a known family member or carer with them in hospital. I don’t have the link here but found it by googling a few days ago for a friend.
I will look into that but they have stopped visiting at the hospital now because someone tested positive for the Covid virus on the first ward she was on. She is now on the Endocrinology ward. It's very worrying time and now my sister and her husband have got to self isolate for 2 weeks. We have asked for regular video contact and are still waiting to hear
Can they sneak some meds in her IV if she has one ?
Not legally. Not ethically.
That merely presents a technical possibility. Even then, do we know what IV solutions would affect levothyroxine (or even liothyronine)? And which wouldn't? I don't remember this issue ever having been mentioned - let alone discussed.
Oh boy this is terrible
I know and we have just found out this morning that she is being put on antibiotics for encephalitis and I have told my sister to demand that she asks for her B12 levels to be tested. I have now also been told to ask for a best interest decision with the professionals involved
My Mum won't even keep the drips in her arm, she just keeps pulling them out
I’m so sorry to hear about your Mum. Such a difficult time for you and your sister. I’m not able to offer advice just wanted to reach out and say keep fighting for her and I hope you get her well and back home again soon. Take care x
Thank you so much for your kind words
Hope this isn’t relevant but I read about a post on here probably some years ago but her mum wasn’t making much headway and found out that they were giving her all her medications together! Might be worth just checking on that.
Thanks I will bear that in mind as they have only just started her on the drips yesterday. She is having a CT scan and MRI scan later today, so we should have more of an idea of what is going on.
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