ABC Health Insider

This article is alarming. However it does not list what drugs are involved. My husband takes Aricept. He is moderate in his Alzheimers but do not know if this drug is one which should be questioned. Can anyone tell me? My e-mail is: jg9929@sbcglobal.net
Please do not send spam messages. This is too important for my husband and myself who are in our 80's.

This article is alarming. However it does not list what drugs are involved. My husband takes Aricept. He is moderate in his Alzheimers but do not know if this drug is one which should be questioned. Can anyone tell me? My e-mail is: jg9929@sbcglobal.net
Please do not send spam messages. This is too important for my husband and myself who are in our 80's.

This article was very interesting but neglected to mention which medicines are the ones in question. My mother has been diagnosed with dimentia and it would be most helpful to know which medicines are the ones in question. Please amend the article with further information.

thank you

My stepfather was in a nursing home, for years with dimentia/alzhiemers and he NEVER was given anti-sycotic drugs. He wasn't "aggressive". It's a travesty to do this to these patients, maybe just to get them off the nursing staffs backs? Pathetic, even evil.

Here is the article from Lancet. http://www.lancet.com/journals/laneur/article/PIIS1474-4422(08)70295-3/fulltext

I've worked in NH's and cared for many folks with dementia/alzheimers, I agree and disagree with this study. It didn't address at which stage of advancement used in the study. When resident are totally unmangeable a threat to themselves and or others and we have tried alternative ways to alter there behavior. Then what else is there but to try antipsycotics. We need to be able to met ther daily needs and allow t them to advance with dignity. Some behavior's canbe violent, aggressive, abusive to staff and there family members. We must remember there is no cure for this disease and it is progressive. If we need to use these medications to give them a more dignified demise. I also feel this study left out a many factors including end of life issues.

I read this with interest as my mother-in-law is currently diagnosed with Alzheimers and is living in a very nice facility for Alzheimers patients. My own mother is living in assisted living where the aid workers are not trained to cope with dementia patients. My mother has been the target of aggressive patients, which is upsetting to her and to us.

My mother-in-law can be aggressive. Right now my mil is taking a memory medication, which I do not believe is catagorized as an antipsychotic. There's no calming affects of memory drugs like Aricept.

We are hoping that the trained staff at my mil's facility will be able to cope with my mil's aggressive behaviors without drugs, but we would not hesitate to use antipsychotics if necessary. The alternatives have been tried and if the non-drug methods don't work, then the choice must be to use antipsychotics.

Not to be cruel, but my mil's prognosis will only become worse. The last stages of Alzheimers are extremely difficult. When we weigh the advantages and disadvantages of drug therapy, we will keep that prognosis is mind. We also have the perception of the other non-aggressive patients in mind as well. They have a right to not be victims of another patient's aggressiveness.

The medicines involved in this study are Risperdal, Thorazine and Stelazine.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,478386,00.html

However, don't think other Alzheimer's medications are safe: Zyprexa and Seroquel also have the risk of sudden death.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,220202,00.html

Instead of taking their poisonous drugs that are not intended to cure anything people suffering from Alzheimer's or Parkinson's disease should take high dose of vitamin D3. This vitamin can reverse symptoms of these diseases because it is a very potent iron chelator. Free iron accumulates in the damaged areas of the brain as a result of prolonged exposure to oxidative stress. And drugs by the way very strongly raise the level of oxidative stress (even if they are useful). This is why Zyprexa, Risperdal and Seroquel for example cause Parkinson-like symptoms (a side-effect quoted in the second link).

I really don't think that there is too much concern here. First the use of the atypical anti-psychotics is considered somewhat controversial in the first place. Hence they're not used all that much. Then, in my own opinion, if taking one of these drugs improved my behavior and allowed me to function better I'd gladly trade a few extra years of living in a diaper with drool running down my face for me or a loved one rather than be afraid of using the drug. With all respect to the 80 year olds its much as my grandfather used to say "what do you think I'm going to do - live forever"

The article does not list the antipsychotic drugs used. My Mother has alzheimers and she takes haloperadol. Personally, it was a godsend. She was having so many hallucinations that it was getting out of hand. Once on the meds for a couple days, she was much more manageable. It made her a little slower, but I'll take that over her wanting to attack someone with a knife who was not there.

After taking care of my father for seven years with dementia followed by Alzheimers I am grateful for the use of antipsychotic drugs such as Seroquel. He became extremely violent with his caregivers as well as myself and had to be placed in the geriatric psychiatric ward twice which absolutely broke my heart. I know for a fact that my father if in his right mind would have never done or said the things he did and expressed on numerous occasions that he did not want to live like that. Did the drugs shorten his life? Who knows, however it did make his life easier.

Though crudely put at times there are some excellent comments/points made here. As a social worker in a nursing home I advocate for alternative means first and medications last. With that being said, nursing homes cannot provide one to one care, which becomes necessary for those individuals whose dementia progresses in a way that they become violent/aggressive. Without those meds in those cases, some residents would have to be sent to a psych./behavior unit where they'd still likely be drugged to manage aggression. In rural areas like ours that means being an hour or more away from family/friends. For some people these medications bring them some peace and allow them to stay near those they love. There's no perfect solution and each person is different in how they progress and how they respond to medications. However, dementia WILL progress. The person will be lost little by little to those who love them. It's a terrible disease, so hard for the individual and even more so for the family as they watch their loved one slip away. It's a new death every day. Antipsychotic medications can take the edge off that aggression and bring more quality to what's left of life. People with dementia would ask for more time with their memories intact, but I've yet to meet a person who would want to linger on in a state of aggressive, combative disorientation. I hear families say all the time that their loved one who has become aggressive would be horrified by his/her behavior - it's not dignified for them. There's more to life than length.

It was my understanding that if taken correctly, the drugs do have a role in treating some seriously demented patients, who may be incapacitated by paranoia or are self-destructive or violent. Taking the edge off the behavior can keep them safe and living at home, rather than in a nursing home. If patients are prescribed an anti psychotic, it should be a very low dose for the shortest period necessary.