Can talk therapy with a psychologist penetrate dementia? Has anyone used a psychologist or psychiatrist to help the dementia patient with anxiety, thought delusions and the other dementia bag-of-tricks?
Hi everyone:
My mother (89, with moderate dementia) was not doing well on Xanax for sundowning and related anxiety, The doctor thought it might be contributing to some of her symptoms. He prescribed 12.5 mg of Seroquel (Quetiapine Fumarate) to be taken once in the evening and stopping the Xanax. Looking at the Medication Insert, I see that a serious side effect is "the risk of death in the elderly with dementia" and "risk of suicidal thoughts," and "not indicated for elderly patients with… read more
My husbands doctor gave him the same thing but I didn’t give it to him because of the warnings. She won’t give him Xanax either because of the side effects it has on dementia patients. He is on… read more
I am asking this question because my mom has very extreme anxiety, depression, and paronia. She has been on Airicept, Namenda, different antidepressants, Seroquel. Nothing is working to help ease any of these horrific symptoms. She is in a nursing home. She has been for the last 5 months. Mom can not live alone and she tried living with one of my sisters. Mom's extreme paronia, mixed with delusions, and her not feeling safe. Absolutely THE hardest decision my family had to make. Any suggestions… read more
Last night, for the first time my husband was sundowning and it was alarming! Need help in calming him down or something to distract him. He tells everyone he is not interested in anything! Period!
I am giving my mum 1/2 a Xanax .25 mg every morning now. Then again in the evening about dinner time. I have to dissolve it in her hot tea as she won't take it otherwise. That seems to keep her from… read more
— he is on aricept and Lexapro and alprazolam PRN and now they are prescribing him depakote 250mg 1x daily extended release —- he is in a memory care respite stay right now and he’s been deemed incompetent — is there another medication that may better help him calm his mind down consistently — not just “mood stabilizers”? Or has this medication worked for your loved ones?
They are giving him one a day for 7 Days and then (if all goes well) upping it to 25mg twice daily moving forward
She basically just leaves him be because he becomes agitated and angry. He's not violent YET. He's very stubborn. Has refused medication, doctors visits. (They just want to take his money ). I'm looking for those of you that have this problem and any ideas on how to handle it.
I don't even want to wake her to eat. Earlier, she wouldn't respond to me. I checked her blood pressure, it was good. I checked her sugar and it was high. Her phone rang and I looked to see that it was a telemarketer and put it down. She asked me who it was and told me to leave her alone. I gave her her diabetic med and she took it. She sleeps all day and most of the night.
My sister's neurologist prescribed Seraquel (Quitiaphine is generic) 25 mg, 1@ bedtime. Helped significantly with nights for awhile now. I agree that nothing helps for a long time. However there are… read more
My 74 y.o. mom has been in a small board & care facility since February. It was a rough start with her wandering around the house at night, going into other residents' rooms, even going upstairs to staff quarters (she likely did this as her room at home was upstairs).
She eventually settled down but now 6 mos. later she has resumed those activities and has become incredibly hostile towards her primary caregiver. Throwing water at her, kicking, etc. She also tells the other residents that they… read more
My mother, who has Alzheimer's, lives at home with my dad. We have caregivers come in on split shifts during the day and in the evenings. My brothers and I come over a few times a week
Mom is calm… read more