Acute confusion means the sudden and severe onset of a disoriented mental state. While people may feel confused because of medications or debilitating illnesses such as Alzheimer's disease, that type of confusion occurs gradually in most cases. When it happens suddenly, family members of the person experiencing this problem, as well as the person may feel frightened. Acute confusion may occur within a medical illness or after surgery, and may appear with such names as metabolic encephalopathy, toxic psychosis and acute organic brain syndrome.
Medications
Newly prescribed medications may cause acute confusion in a person as a side effect. For example, medications to help treat such ailments such as high blood pressure, cancer, multiple sclerosis and migraines, among many others, list confusion as a potential and usually common side effect of the drugs. Even changes in the medications such as dose strengths, and interactions with other medications and over-the-counter drugs, can cause acute confusion, the National Institutes of Health reports.
Infection
Infections such as urinary and respiratory tract infections cause serious problems including acute confusion. The person's oxygen levels may decrease because of the respiratory infection, which can deprive memory centers of the brain. In a urinary tract infection, the bacterial count may increase as well as a fever. Sepsis, a later severe stage of the urinary tract infection, may produce confusion prior to coma.
Electrolyte Imbalances
Electrolytes play a large function in the electrical functions of the body. Sodium, potassium, magnesium and calcium help in the communication between the heart, brain, kidney function and nerve endings. When these electrolytes become disturbed, a person's body becomes upset and out of balance, which can cause chaos among the body systems, the National Institutes of Health indicates.
Increased Intracranial Pressure
Intracranial pressure must remain at a certain level at all times. When it increases to an extremely high level, blood flow to the brain cuts off. The person becomes confused as a result, the National Institutes of Health states. This may occur with a bleeding stroke in the brain, an infection of the brain and possibly a growing tumor.
Inability to Defecate or Urinate
The inability to defecate and urinate causes toxins to build up in the body. The toxins eventually cause confusion in the person. The body needs to continually expel toxins or poisons from the body to avoid this problem. Malfunctions of the body system such as a blockage in the colon or kidney failure will account for the slowing or stoppage of normal body processes, MayoClinic.com reports.
