Mom was in assisted living and after a fall she was hospitalized for a week with a brain bleed. The bleed is stable, no surgery needed. The ordeal has escalated her dementia so she needed to move into memory care. She gets anxious in the afternoons so the staff recommended anxiety meds. I’m taking her to see her doctor tomorrow to see what he recommends but I wanted to know if anyone would share their experiences with good and bad results. Thank you
As others said, it may take some trial and error to pinpoint the med and exact dose that will work best.
Some seniors do very well with a very low dose antidepressant. Some do not.
I would start with that rather than anti-anxiety drugs as with these there can be further falls. They are hard on the already extant issues of poor balance due to an aging brain.
Take the best advice of the doc. I wish you good luck. Our own experience is really not useful to you as each individual is as unique as his or her own thumbprint.
If you want a few individual examples?
My friends mom who went from not recognizing anyone to completely non verbal is doing VERY well on a few edibles, recommended by her Austin, Tx. care home. She is happier and talkative and eating well, many more smiles.
My brother was given ativan and nearly climbed the wall and hung from the ceiling. But a move to ALF helped him enormously as did my taking on Trustee and POA. Once his worries left he did so much better with so many fewer hallucinations from his Lewy's.
As a nurse I know it takes some experimentation for each patient often enough, but I also know that anxiety is very dreadful, and it's worth the try.
It may take a while to find the right meds so be patient with the process.
It might take a bit to get the correct dose but they will help her.
It can not be pleasant to be anxious and upset. So giving her a medication that can ease that feeling would be good.
NOW...there is a possibility that some medications can make her a fall risk. But any medication can do that and many people with dementia are fall risk anyway due to poor gait.
(and if mom also has Vascular dementia that puts her at risk for falls anyway. And Vascular dementia is known for rapid declines.
If it helps your mom be more comfortable it is worth trying.
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