I have written before to you with questions

I have written before to you with questions on my son and now have another I hope you can help me with.
My 43 yr old son had a motoer bike accident almost for yrs ago. as a result half of his brain is damage, he is enable to walk or talk and has only partial use of his right arm and hand..
Since perry has been home with me 2 1/2 yrs he had had 7 or eight seizures, they usually last about 5 mins before he starts to come around.
After a recent one he was in the hospital and they checed his sodium level which was very low.They got it up to 275 before they let him come home. I asked the doctor is there something I can give him through his G tube which is the only way he can take liquids and at the moment foods as his swallow isn't strong enough. He prescribed Lithium carbonate 150 mg cap. twice a day and Demeclocycline 300 mg twice a day. Lithium is a time released medication and shouldn't be crushed, which I have to do to go thru the tube and is a treatment for manic depression. Which Perry is not, and Demeclocycline is an antibiotic. I had given him the Lithium 7 times and the Demeclocycline 5 times. Because the pharmacy fdidn't have it in.Two nights ago When
I went to leave Perry he started to cry and everytime I spoke to him. He also was having trouble using his right arm, He always uses his hand and little finger to control his
T.V . I assured him I would sit with him and he could go to sleep but it almost seemed ;ike he was too scared to sleep, he was rather confused and his right arm he kept moving across his chest just couldn't keep it still. by 3 a.m. I could see a slight change in him although far from right. but i told him Perry you're looking a bit better. Anyrate when my husband got up and 4.30 to get ready for work he came and sat with him and I got a nap. for about an hr at 6 am Perry also managed to get a little nap.
I called the doctor later that morning and spike to him about 11 a.m. I asked him why he had given Perry those medication and he said for his sodium. I said there was no mention of sodium on the information that came with the tablets. He said Medicine is for a lot of things, I know that,. but the lithium was for depression and Perry wasn't depressed until last night. I said I was sorry but I would not give him that again. He told me don't apologiise to me go apologise to your son who could have another seizure and a heart attack and die.. Perry had a good night night last night. Now I would like your advice on these 2 medicines. I have continued to give him the demeclocycline but
feel I want to stop that too. I also feel like changing the doctor. Thanks for any help

feel I want to stop that too.

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Male , Age: 43

Customer (name blocked for privacy)

I can understand your confusion because lithium is normally used in treating biplor depressed patients. However it has a major impact on the body's handling of electrolytes and salt. As I understand it your son has a problem with salt imbalance.

So I think that your doctor is trying to alter his salt metabolism with the lithium. This may be the only option he has left because it is not a common use of lithium.

However I do think that the doctor could have explained this better to avoid this worry. As lithium is a drug which needs very careful handling then I think you need to sit down with the doctor and talk about exactly what he is trying to achieve and what you should now do about his salt intake and fluid balance. These need to be tightly controlled. Also some drugs like ibuprofen are not really recommend when taking lithium so you need to know what else to avoid.

I would continue with the antibiotics as secondary infection is always a risk in patients like your son. You need to finish the course to avoid problems with resistance.

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