My mom lives in an assisted living facility and has been exhibiting angry/confrontational behavior with residents. The facility suggested we have her doctor prescribe an anti-anxiety drug. The doctor prescribed seroquel, an anti-psychotic. There is disagreement between my siblings whether this is a dangerous drug or not that dementia patients should not be taking (as written on the internet).
with sleep but within three weeks she could not follow directions nor answer in
complete sentences..As HCS , I directed that they take her off after reading the studies about the cognitive decline in the elderly on the seroquel. I would not ever
use this one again. Wiithin several days, she was speaking to us in sentences and following simple directions, walking better. She needs to keep the good brain cells that she has and not destroy them. The family and caretakers know them better than the doctors do. Best Wishes with your loved ones
Chair, Behavioral Neurology, Mayo Clinic. One of his widely used publications includes a four-page table of symptoms and the drugs that are suitable for them, in this disease. Quetiapine (Seroquel) appears on the list twice, for two different symptoms. In neither case is it listed first (as first choice) but it is one of many tools for fighting the symptoms of this dreadful disease.
So while in general Seroquel may not be a good choice for older persons with dementia and while it is apparently not very effective in Alzhiemer patients, that does not mean it should never be used in particular situations with a known diagnosis that responds to it. It has been effective for my husband (Dementia with Lewy Bodies) for 9 years.
To prescribe Seroquel (or any anti-spychotic) for symptoms caused by a UTI is ludicrous.
a neurologist who had talked to me in her hospital room went out and prescribed
four different mental health drugs- all new :geodon, ativan, depakote, and namenda (a listed allergy for Mom) at the same time taking her off of her celexa(2 yers on ) and
aricept(4 years on) cold turkey and NEVER TOLD ME A WORD as I sat in Mom's
room not 12 feet from the nursing station. I was trusting that I would be told what I
should know. Do not ever assume that. I have learned my lesson. I was asking
questions from day one, but learned to daily (or at least everyother day) get a PRINTED med. list and go over it with a pharmacist. They know a lot more about the interactions and side effects.The Seroquel was the last of 12 mental health meds
that Mom was given in 18 days, and Mom was a chemistry experiment gone bad.
Her situation got to the point the cardiologist came in due to high heart rate and
had to assess the heart. Gave a med for lowering heart rate to counter what
were the side effects of some of the behavioral meds. We almost lost her one day
because the heart rate lowering med worked too good, and she got close to
flat lining. Mom doesn't have a heart problem, she was having a med problem.
Anyway, the best thing I started doing was consulting with two of my family
members who are pharmacists. If you have a local pharm. that you know, they
will give you information that can assist you . Every new med needs to be reviewed
by a good pharm Dr. or experienced pharm. The hospital pharmacy was not even
catching Mom's med. allergy list and gave her two medicines listed on the list!. What a nightmare. I can identify with your situation. We have changed hospitals for future visits.
Seroquel was helpful for a short time to get agitation symptoms quieted , so Mom
could sleep. We are now on the third antibiotic for the same UTI ,now back on
the original Aricept , Xanax,and Celexa and stopped the Seroquel after consulting pharma-cist , reading research and med. notes on Side effects. It has taken my
research and knowledge of Mom working with her gen. doctor to get her back.
Oh, and the neurologist, I had to fire him the next week. Too many drugs and no
communication.
declined suddenly while being on this med for only a couple of weeks.
Read the 2005 study which addresses the elderly with demetia on this medicine.
It is filed with the National Institutes of Health and addresses cognition decline and
aggitation. The generic name is used in the literature and is Quentiapine.
Mom had been put on this for sleep aide and aggitation at night . Within 3-4 days
of coming off of Seroquel
we saw a definite improvement in responses, talking in sentences again, and overall
understanding/ following directions. She is taking Celexa-antidepressant for the demetia(diagnosed for 5 years)/ Altz. along with low dose of Xanaz for anxiety.
Mom has also been on a low dose (she doesn't tolerate much of meds.) of
Aricept 5 mg for the last 4+ years.
We have to watch all the symptoms very closely. You know your parents better
than anyone, so listen to your head and heart and READ, and READ about these
medicines.
Her behavior had become bizarre in the hospital -hallucinations, paranoia, aggressiveness- but we had discussed with the BU personnel that it was absolutely not her usual behavior and we were certain it was a UTI -which as I said, by the next day finally, was determined. Another day lapsed before they finally starting her on an antibiotic to get rid of the UTI. After several days in the Behavior Unit after the anitibiotic was started she was still acting so very odd when we expected substantial improvement. So I finally asked if she was being given other meds in addition to the antibiotic. She was still hallucinating, angry and very zombie like.
I was frankly shocked to find the psych Dr in the behaviorial unit had ordered Haldol (more than once) injections and had started her immediately on several anitspychotics including Seroquel! I had expected them to give her some sedatives, but was furious to find what they had been doing. I was even more angry that we were not informed about meds that are not even recommended for the elderly. Seroquel specifically warns that it should not be used for the elderly. Its for schizophrenia and other serious mental disorders. I requested the Dr wean her off the psych meds immediately which she grudgingly finally did and then they basically kicked mom out of the Behavior Unit. When I asked to be advised of what they were prescribing the psych Dr refused -said she couldn't work that way. I am persona non grata now to the Behavior Unit -fine with me.
Mom did recover from that UTI and did stop the really troubling side effects of the psych meds (hallucinations, etc.), but did not fully recover mentally from her trauma in the Behavior Unit in June of this year (2012). She has had 5 UTI's so far this year (end of April to September) and has rapidly declined into horrible dementia since that June episode. I blame the UTI's, but also think the psych meds were a major contributing factor. Be careful and insist on knowing what the Dr's are prescribing. Then look them up yourself to make sure what they are.
Frankly I would like Mom's GP to try her on Xanax or Ativan (longer working form of Xanax) for her anxiety. Both her younger sister and older brother (in another State) are on low doses for their anxiety and it seems to be helping them with no ill effects, but mom's GP is trying other things first.... God, dementia is the PITS!!!!!
They cause permanent and irreversible brain damage. Other drugs can be bad as well, but the antipsychotics are on another level. They can't do any good, they can only sedate people for a while. If you care about your parents at all please do not even consider getting her to take these things. Due to the trusting nature of the internet along with aggressive marketing of these drugs it's highly possible there are shills strongly advocating their use in forums like this.
A few months ago I took her down to see the doc because of her behaviour (she's always been very aggressive towards me - she has NPD), so the doc upped her dosage to two Seroquel a day. It has helped somewhat, she's not getting out of bed and shouting for hours, and she spents a fair few hours of the day asleep on the couch!
From the product literature - SEROQUEL XR can increase the risk of death in elderly people who have memory loss (dementia). SEROQUEL XR is not approved for treating psychosis in the elderly with dementia.
I looked using Mendeley for articles on d-mannose. Here's one very specific to UTIs that I found: "Structural basis of tropism of Escherichia coli to the bladder during urinary tract infection." You can find that one by title. To paraphrase what I *think* it means, d-mannose seems to take up spaces in the bladder wall structure that e. coli would bind to. And prevents the binding of the vast majority of e. coli bacteria. I'm planning to back up my argument to the doctor using this and a couple of other articles. Have to be sure to understand them first! But it can be done.
Sometimes, I could not get other docs to keep mom on the supplements that helped her either. Maybe pulling a PubMed abstract or article to back you up would be worth a try.