Re: haldol - death or recovery

[Guest guest]

My mother was given Haldol also (along with Ativan) for several days,

and became a helpless zombie who didn't move, respond, or react. I had

her moved to a different hospital - after a very vocal argument in the

middle of a busy hallway with the hospitalist who prescribed them -

where a knowledgable neurologist got her " detoxed " , hydrated, and loaded

her up with nutrients. After a week she was nearly back to her former

level of physical abilities although only about 90% back cognitively.

But her personality came back, her memories, her ability to do her own

ADLs without assistance, and walk.

This was about 3 years ago, and she is still maintaining a fairly high

level of functioning although of course not as much as before LBD, or

even as much as 6 months ago. I am not saying everyone will have the

same result but yes, it is possible.

--

His,

Sherry

daughter/guardian of , dx 4/09 with LBD, living in a nearby NH

> They gave my Dad Haldol and Thyoridzine at the hospital. He can no longer

walk and has become incontinent and is rarely with us...I know he was only given

a few doses - I told them about it but they did it anyway. Is there any

recourse for me. What do I do? Nobody listens...I've even placed the

information about Lewy Body in the hands of the person who admitted him but

apparently the Dr. disregarded it all. He will now be admitted into skilled care

at the nursing home whereas before he was doing very well in personal care and

even going to adult day.

>

> What is the life expectancy of someone who has been given those drugs? Weeks

or Months?

[Guest guest]

My mom was also given Haldol in the ER and kept on it for over a week when

she returned to her Assisted Living facility. She was a complete zombie

also - couldn't walk either - just laid in bed most of time. I too was

furious that it was continued so long. They said there was a

misunderstanding of what I agreed to.

She did recover luckily to almost where she was before, but they decided

after this episode that she could no longer stay there and she was moved to

the dementia facility. Hopefully your Dad will come around too. The

problem is that there aren't many drugs to calm our LO's down when their

behavior gets bad. Ativan works only sometimes with my mom.

Luckily her neuropsychiatrist made the diagnosis of LBD after this episode.

She is now on an anti-psychotic which seems (thank God) to have eliminated

these episodes.

_____

From: LBDcaregivers [mailto:LBDcaregivers ]

On Behalf Of janebsharp

Sent: Wednesday, December 21, 2011 9:28 AM

To: LBDcaregivers

Subject: haldol - death or recovery

They gave my Dad Haldol and Thyoridzine at the hospital. He can no longer

walk and has become incontinent and is rarely with us...I know he was only

given a few doses - I told them about it but they did it anyway. Is there

any recourse for me. What do I do? Nobody listens...I've even placed the

information about Lewy Body in the hands of the person who admitted him but

apparently the Dr. disregarded it all. He will now be admitted into skilled

care at the nursing home whereas before he was doing very well in personal

care and even going to adult day.

What is the life expectancy of someone who has been given those drugs? Weeks

or Months?

[Guest guest]

A hospital gave my mom only one dose of Haldol (that I know of), also after

being told about LBD and being given the one page fact sheet from lbda.org.

I gave it to the nursing station and handed it to the hospital-assigned

doctor. Mom never fully recovered, but she did improve over the course of

the next two months. I don't know that these drugs affect life expectancy,

just quality of life. But knowing my mom's desires regarding this type of

thing, it might have been better if it had shortened her life, which is now

something she was very clear about not prolonging. I honestly don't know

if there are ramifications for the hospital or doctor, but I guessed not

because I had no proof, other than my own word, that I had supplied any of

this information. If anyone witnessed it, they would be hospital personnel

and it would be hard to get them to take the risk of backing my word up.

Kathy

> **

>

>

> They gave my Dad Haldol and Thyoridzine at the hospital. He can no longer

> walk and has become incontinent and is rarely with us...I know he was only

> given a few doses - I told them about it but they did it anyway. Is there

> any recourse for me. What do I do? Nobody listens...I've even placed the

> information about Lewy Body in the hands of the person who admitted him but

> apparently the Dr. disregarded it all. He will now be admitted into skilled

> care at the nursing home whereas before he was doing very well in personal

> care and even going to adult day.

>

> What is the life expectancy of someone who has been given those drugs?

> Weeks or Months?

>

>

>

--

Kate Knapp, OIT

University of Minnesota

You were born with certain gifts and talents.

In kindergarten you were taught to share.

The world needs all of the gifts it can get.

Don’t be shy.

[Guest guest]

Thanks for the info, Sherry! I didn't know that mom could have been

" detoxed. " It never occurred to me to move her to a different hospital, as

opposed to the rehab she was in. I didn't call her neuropsych, nor did I

bring in a neurologist.

This information is something I hope everyone picks up on. It's too late

for my mom, but your experience could really help someone else.

Kathy

> **

>

>

> My mother was given Haldol also (along with Ativan) for several days,

> and became a helpless zombie who didn't move, respond, or react. I had

> her moved to a different hospital - after a very vocal argument in the

> middle of a busy hallway with the hospitalist who prescribed them -

> where a knowledgable neurologist got her " detoxed " , hydrated, and loaded

> her up with nutrients. After a week she was nearly back to her former

> level of physical abilities although only about 90% back cognitively.

> But her personality came back, her memories, her ability to do her own

> ADLs without assistance, and walk.

>

> This was about 3 years ago, and she is still maintaining a fairly high

> level of functioning although of course not as much as before LBD, or

> even as much as 6 months ago. I am not saying everyone will have the

> same result but yes, it is possible.

>

> --

> His,

> Sherry

> daughter/guardian of , dx 4/09 with LBD, living in a nearby NH

>

>

>

> > They gave my Dad Haldol and Thyoridzine at the hospital. He can no

> longer walk and has become incontinent and is rarely with us...I know he

> was only given a few doses - I told them about it but they did it anyway.

> Is there any recourse for me. What do I do? Nobody listens...I've even

> placed the information about Lewy Body in the hands of the person who

> admitted him but apparently the Dr. disregarded it all. He will now be

> admitted into skilled care at the nursing home whereas before he was doing

> very well in personal care and even going to adult day.

> >

> > What is the life expectancy of someone who has been given those drugs?

> Weeks or Months?

>

>

>

--

Kate Knapp, OIT

University of Minnesota

You were born with certain gifts and talents.

In kindergarten you were taught to share.

The world needs all of the gifts it can get.

Don’t be shy.

[Guest guest]

Quoting janebsharp :

> They gave my Dad Haldol and Thyoridzine at the hospital. He can no

> longer walk and has become incontinent and is rarely with us...I

> know he was only given a few doses - I told them about it but they

> did it anyway. Is there any recourse for me. What do I do? Nobody

> listens...I've even placed the information about Lewy Body in the

> hands of the person who admitted him but apparently the Dr.

> disregarded it all. He will now be admitted into skilled care at the

> nursing home whereas before he was doing very well in personal care

> and even going to adult day.

Ahh - I hate to tell you this - but it might not be good.

I had signs all over the place - over his bed - on his wrist band - in

his chart - and they gave it to him anyway.

He was in a stupor after one dose. They couldn't even get him to take

his other meds - so he had to have a feeding tube.

Things went down rapidly after that - and he was gone - two months to the day.

You can read our story here

http://questforcure.net/phpWebsite/index.php?module=pagemaster & PAGE_user_op=view\

_page & PAGE_id=7 & MMN_position=6:6

It's the last one on the bottom of the page - scroll wayyy down.

I hope you have a better outcome !

HUGS

donna

>

> What is the life expectancy of someone who has been given those

> drugs? Weeks or Months?

>

>

--

DBK Web Development, LLC

http://www.DBKWebDevelopment.com

[Guest guest]

Jane,

To prevent this from happening again, you can say your father is allergic to

Haldol and Thioridazine (I think that's the medication you are referring to)

when you are asked if he's allergic to any medication. This seems to help most

of the time but it's not fool-proof.

No one knows if the effects of these medications on your father are

irreversible. I guess the only positive thing is that he didn't die, which is

certainly a possibility with those medications. Hopefully he can return to

baseline, but we just don't know.

What took him to the hospital such that he was given those drugs?

Robin

>

> They gave my Dad Haldol and Thyoridzine at the hospital. He can no longer

walk and has become incontinent and is rarely with us...I know he was only given

a few doses - I told them about it but they did it anyway. Is there any

recourse for me. What do I do? Nobody listens...I've even placed the

information about Lewy Body in the hands of the person who admitted him but

apparently the Dr. disregarded it all. He will now be admitted into skilled care

at the nursing home whereas before he was doing very well in personal care and

even going to adult day.

>

> What is the life expectancy of someone who has been given those drugs? Weeks

or Months?

>

[Guest guest]

I'm sorry to hear this is still going on after all the warnings about

neuroleptic drugs, some doctors won't even prescribe Seroquel these days and in

the early 2000s it was considered an A-Typical AntiPsychotic Drug and less of a

threat, so to hear that Haldol is still being given to patients with LBD is

shocking.

Around 2004, my husband was given Haldol in the hospital against my requests. I

had done as you did. I gave his doctor all the information on LBD and bad

medications for LBD  that should absolutely not be given to my husband. My

husband had a medical alert bracelet on too listing medications he could not

have. All the information was there, yet the day he was to be released from the

hospital the doctor requested Haldol be given to him and I got a call not to

come to pick him up. The shift had changed at the hospital and the doctor on

duty had not read the papers I had given the doctor on duty the night before,

and she said she saw  in my husband's chart that he was on Seroquel, so it must

be ok for Haldol. I rushed to the hospital to find my husband unconscious. I was

livid with the doctor. I wanted to take my husband home right then. I must have

sat for a few  hours by his bedside trying to stimulate him to wake up and

respond. I slapped the

back of his hands gently to stimulate touch, I called out his name over and

over and finally his eyes fluttered and opened and closed again and then opened.

He finally responded and I wanted to take him home. The nurse said if his vitals

were ok, so they took his vitals and said I could take him home. The next day at

home, he had what looked like a seizure and scared me, he never had them before.

His neurologist had him take an EEG Test and it didn't show seizure activity and

the neurologist said it must be fainting. My husband passed in January 2011, but

every month after the Haldol was given he had one or two of the fainting like

spells up until he died. My experience was my husband lived for 7 years beyond

the Haldol issue, but the fainting continued after until the end. It might be a

coincidence that the fainting spells occured after the Haldol, but I brought it

up to the doctors at the hospital, and at that time they said I have no proof

that the

Haldol caused the fainting. As with LBD everyone takes a different journey, and

others did not do so well after Haldol.

For my husband that one symptom never left him, so I don't know if the damage

done to your dad will stick with him. You are in my thoughts. Stick by your dad,

as you are doing, and be his advocate and maybe you can get some recourse. Not

only is the disease hard to deal with, but so are the doctors.

Here are some symptoms that Haldol can cause:

http://www.rxlist.com/haldol-drug.htm

Jan Colello, San Francisco Bay Area, East Bay

Husband, Jim, dx w/PDD/LBD Oct. 2003

Deceased, January 2011

 

________________________________

To: LBDcaregivers

Sent: Wednesday, December 21, 2011 6:28 AM

Subject: haldol - death or recovery

They gave my Dad Haldol and Thyoridzine at the hospital.  He can no longer walk

and has become incontinent and is rarely with us...I know he was only given a

few doses - I told them about it but they did it anyway.  Is there any recourse

for me.  What do I do?  Nobody listens...I've even placed the information about

Lewy Body in the hands of the person who admitted him but apparently the Dr.

disregarded it all. He will now be admitted into skilled care at the nursing

home whereas before he was doing very well in personal care and even going to

adult day.

What is the life expectancy of someone who has been given those drugs?  Weeks or

Months? 

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

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