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What Causes Mood Swings And Irrational Behaviour?

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Posted on Tue, 4 Feb 2014
Question: My husband becomes unhappy, irrational, combative at times. He had triple by pass surgery in 2004 & this behavior started after that. He misinterprets what I say & accuses me of saying things that I did not say. Much of the time I have to walk on eggs as I never know what will trigger this behavior. When I attempt to reason with him (I do it calmly), he gets more angry & combative. It seems that he does not have the capacity to properly process what is being said He also had been diagnosed with sleep apnea & up until about a month ago had been using cpap machine. Since he stopped using the machine, he does not snore nearly as bad as he did before he started using it. These episodes leave me traumatized & it takes days for me to calm down & stop shaking inside. I have also developed a nervous twitch in my head that is worse when he is in these moods. He is also a very negative person - the glass is ALWAYS half empty - NEVER half full. Can lack of sufficient fluid and/or sleep apnea cause this kind of bazaar behavior?
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Answered by Dr. Srikanth Reddy (1 hour later)
Brief Answer: Need to be evaluated for demetia Detailed Answer: Hello, Thanks for choosing health care magic for posting your query. I have gone through your question in detail and I can understand what you are going through. Your husband is a 81 year old male and it this age its natural for cognitive changes to creep in. The first probable diagnosis is dementia. He needs to be evaluated for dementia. If he has accompanying forgetfulness then dementia is the first possibility. Dementia is often accompanied with behavioural disturbances. This problems responds to first the treatment of dementia - if confirmed- with donepezil or memantin along with escitalopram or risperidone. The other possibility is general senile senescence. At this age, many patients of old age develop such irritability with responds to low doses of risperidone. So basically you need to meet a psychiatrist who can evaluate for dementia and start the therapy. Hope I am able to answer your concerns. If you have any further query, I would be glad to help you. If not, you may close the discussion and if possible you may rate the answer for me, so that I get a good feedback. In future if you wish to contact me directly, you can use the below mentioned link: bit.ly/dr-srikanth-reddy Wish you good health, Kind regards Dr. Srikanth Reddy M.D.
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Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Shanthi.E
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Dr. Srikanth Reddy

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Practicing since :2007

Answered : 2770 Questions

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What Causes Mood Swings And Irrational Behaviour?

Brief Answer: Need to be evaluated for demetia Detailed Answer: Hello, Thanks for choosing health care magic for posting your query. I have gone through your question in detail and I can understand what you are going through. Your husband is a 81 year old male and it this age its natural for cognitive changes to creep in. The first probable diagnosis is dementia. He needs to be evaluated for dementia. If he has accompanying forgetfulness then dementia is the first possibility. Dementia is often accompanied with behavioural disturbances. This problems responds to first the treatment of dementia - if confirmed- with donepezil or memantin along with escitalopram or risperidone. The other possibility is general senile senescence. At this age, many patients of old age develop such irritability with responds to low doses of risperidone. So basically you need to meet a psychiatrist who can evaluate for dementia and start the therapy. Hope I am able to answer your concerns. If you have any further query, I would be glad to help you. If not, you may close the discussion and if possible you may rate the answer for me, so that I get a good feedback. In future if you wish to contact me directly, you can use the below mentioned link: bit.ly/dr-srikanth-reddy Wish you good health, Kind regards Dr. Srikanth Reddy M.D.