I agree that doctors all seem to want to use a different med when it comes to Alz. Our Neurologist retired but our PCP has been very understanding so I haven’t needed to get used to a new neurologist (he would be very hard to replace!). I agree that you need to have a Dr. That will listen and believe what you tell them and believes in keeping them as calm and happy as we can. There is much to be said for quality over quantity. Each situation is different, and what works for one person may not have the same effect on someone else and your Dr should be willing to try something different. A good Dr will also tell you the side effects, why they ordered this med over another one. The day of a Dr being able to act like “just do as I say” is long gone.

@A myALZteam Member: Don't you wish you could let each of the medical folks take care of her for a week, just to get everyone a little better aligned? LOL

As to the memory care doctor's view that no one with Alzheimer's should be taking Xanax: I certainly don't love that my son is on it, but I thought long and hard about it when his psychiatrist prescribed it, and I finally concluded that in terms of his cognition, the long-term end result is ultimately going to be the same, with or without the Xanax. It's a horrible story, no matter what; and there's no happy ending; but in the meantime, there are behavioral benefits.

In my opinion, @A myALZteam Member's husband's Neurologist has precisely the right attitude: whatever we can do to keep them happy really IS worth trying.

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A myALZte...

A myALZte...

My wife's GP prescribed 1/2 mg Xanax for the hallucinations she was having at night. It worked but when we went to an appointment with her memory care doctor she said that no one with Alzheimer's should be taking Xanax and weaned her off. The hallucinations returned within a few days. I have started giving her a CBD gummy at bedtime and she will still have a occasional hallucination but not as bad. Her GP is adamantly opposed to CBD but I had to do something so that I could get some rest. I hate Alzheimer's and hate more that the medical folks aren't on the same page.

Update: Nov 09, 2023: We went to regular appointment with her GP today. I told him that we stopped the Xanax because the memory care doctor said that she should not be taking it and that when I did her nighttime hallucinations returned after a couple of days. Also told him that I started giving her a CBD gummy at bedtime that drastically helped "Keep people off of our deck" at night but she still occasionally sees them. He wanted me to resume with the Xanax saying that it would not cause problems other than excess drowsiness and increased sleep. I refused because even without Xanax she still sleeps most of the time. I am about ready to throw out every medication that she is on. I have serious doubts that anyone in the medical field knows what they are doing. Guess I could just keep her knocked out with medications; she wouldn't know the difference and I wouldn't be so stressed. Grrrrr!

I have an as needed order for Bob, however, most Dr do not like to order it for long term daily use. It is a narcotic and with any addictive drug, over time the body gets used to it and it takes larger and larger doses and with larger doses comes greater side affects. Bob is in stage 6 so he is quite far along in this journey. He has sundowners and hallucinations with anxiety that is getting worse and he is needing the Xanax more often so I have an appointment set up to talk to the Dr about how to best deal with his particular situation.

I give my husband the cbd/thc gummies late afternoon to help with sundowners. His primary doctor prefers they don’t take anything, but his neurologist is very supportive. She believes that whatever we can do to keep them happy is worth trying. That should be the goal. Of course side effects have to be considered. The gummies help quite a bit.