Re: My First LBD Conscious Healthcare Milestone/Joan

[Guest guest]

Hi Joan,

I sure hope that the Haldol does not cause any problems. My husband went into a

coma for almost an hour when a doctor at a hospital gave it to my husband when

he was aggressive. There was no response from my husband and the doctor called

me at home to inform me. The next day, he had a seizure, which he never had

before the Haldol and to this day has at least one a month. In my opinion, the

Haldol caused the seizures.

As with our LOs (Loved Ones) they all react differently to medications and I

pray that your mom can tolerate Haldol.

Jan

My First LBD Conscious Healthcare Milestone

The last four or five days, which coincide with both the doubling of

the Aricept dosage and the discontinuance of the Risperdol, my mom

has been going to the bathroom to urinate very frequently- but not a

huge amount. She hasn't been drinking much, but when it got to

getting up every 30 minutes during the night, I had to call the

neurologist to ask if there was a connection to the Aricept double-

dose, to which he said no. The same day we had the geriatrice

psychiatrist appt where I told him that I discontinued the Risperdol

(he gave me samples of Zyprexa to start when her head and neck return

to normal) and also asked him about the frequent bathroom trips. He

also didn't see any correleation. So we went to the GP office and

they tested for UTI but came up negative but sent us to the ER

because she was extremely dehydrated. The ER doc was concerned that

her calcium level is too high, so he had another doctor do further

tests and they are planning to add Lasix, Potassium and discontinue

Verapamil. But...at a time where her agitation and behavior problems

are at the absolute worst from no Risperdal...they wanted to keep her

in the hospital to do tests and keep her heart monitored, etc. I was

OK with it until today when she totally went 'behavior bound' and I

couldn't change her mood or the subject. She was so worked up that

they gave her a shot to calm her down to stay at the hospital (after

I told them that Ativan is not a good choice and they need to make

sure it isn't something that would not be a good choice for a LBD

patient) The dosage wasn't enough to both calm her down and make her

forget about going home. I decided that it was more detrimental for

her to be there so very agitated than to have all those tests done

now...I wanted to wait until her behavior had improved with the new

medication. I was going to sign against the doctor's orders to

release her when I decided to call the neurologist to ask what his

opinion was. He contacted the doctor in charge of her care at the

hospital and they are now working together to keep her calm during

this time so that it won't have a negative impact. About 7 p.m.

tonight the nurses gave her a dose of halidol? and she was out like a

light within five minutes. The neurologist said that I was right in

believing that it was too stressful and I think I might have educated

a few doctors and nurses that LBD patients cannot tolerate the same

stresses and medications as the other dementia type patients. I will

give you updates as they happen.

Thanks for giving me the courage to take a stand in my mom's

treatment and I am so glad that the neurologist came to our rescue in

this situation that had way too many special circumstances in a time

of medical attention.

I guess we need to get our neurologists involved with other doctors

whether it is a simple hospital admission or something as big as

surgery. There are variables that have to be addressed as treatment

goes on, so our 'cookie cutter' requests to other health care

providers might need a second look by the treating neurologists as

every LBD patient may respond differently.

------------------------------------

Welcome to LBDcaregivers.

[Guest guest]

Haldol worked for my dad too .... initially. He even seemed more alert and

cognizant. However, he developed many problems from it including dramatically

increased confusion, extreme BP fluctuation, Parkinsonian problems he didn't

have before, inability to talk and after a short time, increased agitation with

each dose. In fact, Haldol and Ativan for dad were like spinach for Popeye. He

was unbelievably strong and mean when he was high on that stuff so they would

keep shooting him up with it until he passed out. When the high wore off, he

was a crippled basket case. He couldn't even figure out how to roll over in

bed. I had to stay with him in the hospitals because the nurses and docs on

duty WILL administer it as often as they see fit regardless of what you or

other doctors have said. Also, he had some pretty scary hallucinations on

Haldol, Ativan and Buspar (sp?). It's really bad stuff in the long run. Even

the manufacturers say it's not for elderly dementia

patients. It took about a month for him to get his motor skills together after

the really high doses and it really accelerated his downhill slide.

The doctors and nurses know this stuff but since they don't have to live with

the consequences, they'll do what makes their job easier which means keeping

dementia patients sedated.

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