Re: Re: Ativan (Lorazepam) new member my mother has LB D and Im struggling with decisions

[Guest guest]

Once I figured out the Ativan was causing the strong behaviors and

hallucinations in my dad I had it stopped. The NH (nursing home) called a

meeting to discuss this. It was a large conference room and table with many

staff members there including some from their corporate office. I was the only

one there defending my dad. They tried and tried to encourage me to keep the

Ativan, said he " needed " it. I kept insisting the Ativan was what was making

him have the behaviors so the more they gave him the more he would act out. It

was a horrible meeting! Needless to say my perseverence paid off. The Ativan

was stopped and shortly afterward I had them start Exelon. My dad was able to

talk a bit and walk again for a short time. I do think the damage had been done

though as my dad passed away 8 months after taking him off the Ativan. In my

opinion, I would have the Ativan stopped! Do you have POA (Power Of Attorney)

over medical decisions? I did for my dad and the neurologist even wrote a

letter saying my dad would not be able to make his own decisions which made it

so dad could never revoke the POA. Sandie

Des Moines, IA

dad, Merle, passed from LBD 9-20-02, age 65

----- RE: new member my mother has LBD and Im struggling with

decisions

Date: Wed, 25 Jan 2012 04:52:07 -0000

Thank you all for replying to my post. I am going to try and respond to everyone

in this post by giving more information on my mother. By the way her name is

.

I wrote all of the medicines she has taken in caps to try and help out. Also I

mention at the bottom that she didn't have a UTI or any other infections blood

and urtine tests could find.

Originally she was put on ARICEPT for the dementia and maybe 2 years later they

added NAMENDA to it. She has a very hard time with following directions, as if

she does not know what you are telling her to do. She also struggles with

telling you what she is thinking. She will start to say something and its gone.

She needed help with dressing, bathing, grooming, she could not prepare any

food, couldn't work a microwave, phone or tv. She could however walk just fine,

go to the bathroom, and feed herself. She started becoming very paranoid and

didn't want to leave her room because she was scared someone was going to steal

her things. She was very attached to petty things like ink pens, rubber bands,

and pennies. None the less they were hers. My oldest son was the main suspect

and she would go in his room in the middle of the night and look around in the

dark, quiet freighting for him. We were seeing a neurologist and she decided to

try a low dose of SERIQUEL. This seemed to ease her paranoia for a while but we

ended up having to increase her dose because it stopped working. I told myself

that I would not put her in a nursing home until either she didn't know the

difference or she was not able to go to the bathroom by her self. Well in

January of 2010 she started having problems getting to the bathroom in time so I

knew what I had to do. I found a wonderful place for her and I love everyone

there and so did she for a while.

So when she went to the nursing home she was taking ARICEPT, NAMENDA and

SERIQUEL. After about 5 months the paranoia came back and she thought the other

residents were stealing from her. She even thought they were taking the buttons

off her sweaters They started giving her LORAZEPAM for anxiety as needed.

This didn't seem to be working and the took her off SERIQUEL and tried

RISPERDOL. This only lasted a day or so because of the EPS that it caused. They

let that clear out of her system and tried GEODON. Again same reaction. They let

that clear and tried ABILIFY. Same thing. After the reactions she was getting

and the symptoms she has they decided it was LBD. The then tried DEPAKOTE and

CELEXA. DEPAKOTE because it can be a mood stabilizer and the CELEXA for the

depressions she was having. Using these two together worked. I was so happy and

so was she no more paranoia She still had all of her other symptoms but at

least she was happy. I was even able to bring her home for Thanksgiving and she

had a good time.

A few weeks before Christmas she talked about a friend she had met, it was a

lady and she was very nice. She said she made her feel safe. I asked if I could

meet her and she said probably not. I asked some other questions about this lady

and couldn't get much out of her. I figured out that this lady was not real. But

that was ok because she made her happy and said she said the lady was like an

angle so I played along. Two days later things turned for the worst. The angle

was gone and now there were vampires, werewolves, and gargoyles. I went to visit

on Christmas and it was awful. Almost like she was living in another world she

was scared and it reminded me of what I would think hell would be like seeing it

through my moms eyes. She was not acting out or causing problems she just sits

there and rambles about something I don't know what and makes possessed noises.

It is really hard to explain. The week following Christmas she added men

stealing babies to the mix but couldn't tell me why these men were taking the

babies. She just kept repeating it and telling me to be careful of my kids. She

then started to refuse to eat, drink, or take her meds (ARICEPT, NAMENDA,

DEPAKOTE, CELEXA) and she became very combative when the CNAs would try to get

her to go to the bathroom or take a shower. They tried SERIQUEL again but it

made no difference. They decided she needed to go to a local behavioral center

so she could be seen by a psychiatrist on a daily basis. The one at the nursing

home only came once a week.

In order to got the behavioral center she had to go to the hospital to get

medically cleared. She ended up staying there a week during new years and she

was fine. They tested her blood for everything and her urine as well. No UTI no

other problems either. She has always been very healthy. They did end up putting

in a Foley because she had urinary retention?? While she was in the hospital

they were giving her ZYPREXA, BENEDRYL(to counter act the affects from ZYPREXA)

and ATIVAN By the 5th day I noticed the lean (rigid) and told them to stop the

ZYPREXA because it was causing the EPS. They did as I requested. Keep in mind my

mother was walking when she went to the hospital but sometime while she was

there she seemed to become cripple. She was so stiff she could no longer walk

and didn't have control of her hand in order to feed herself. She was still

having hallucinations, delusions, and combativeness while she was in the

hospital, that is while she was awake the meds made her pretty sleepy.

Once at the behavioral center they began giving her COGENTIN to try and loosen

her up. They also took her off of everything except the ARICEPT. So she really

became psychotic. Eventually she was sitting up right and they began PT to get

her walking again. Good news she is now walking with assistance. She still can

not feed herself though. When talking to me she get a few real words out and

then begins rambling in somewhat of baby talk. She still mentions the men

stealing babies, vampires, werewolves, and gargoyles. She rambles the whole hour

that I am allowed to visit, its none stop. If I try to interrupt her she gets

made and tells me to shut up. I cant get into her world because I have not idea

what she is talking about and she is not capable of telling me. I just know she

is very scared and unhappy. Once they got rid of the EPS with the COGENTIN we

decided to try the last antipsychotic they felt would help. CLOZARIL, it is

supposed to be the one least likely to cause EPS however it could cause a lot

of other bad side affects. This is why they waited to try it last. 5 days into

taking CLOZARIL the EPS started again but I did notice the psychotic behavior

had improved slightly. The started her on a low dose of the CLOZARIL so they

couldn't try lowering it so they took her off of it.

This is where the ECT is coming in. She isn't causing any problems and is eating

again however I can't stand to see her living in the scary world she lives in. I

asked what other options there was since she can not take meds to help. They

said there was ECT and told me about it. They said to do some research about it

and let them know if that was something I wanted to try. They did not try and

push it on me. The psychiatrist said if I decide to go that route she would need

to then be evaluated by the doc that performs the procedure to determine if she

is a candidate for it. She may not be due to the dementia but I won't know until

I say go forward with it.

I don't want her to be scared anymore it is heartbreaking. Knowing that there is

a possible way to help her and not trying it is hard for me. But making her

worse would be devastating as well. This is why I am torn.

As for me all of our family lives out of state so it is pretty much just me

dealing with this. I have some support from my brother and aunt but it is via

phone and it is pretty much me just filling them in on how she is doing. I have

my boyfriend who helps with the kids, thank god. And a couple of good friends I

can vent to but they have know clue what its like.

Note: As I was writing this I looked up LORAZEPAM for the spelling and realized

it is ATIVAN. My heart dropped since reading some of your comments of it

negative affects on LBD. Maybe this is why things got so bad, she's been taking

it the whole time (as needed) and full time in the hospital stay recently.

Thank you all again for taking the time to read this I know it was a lot.

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

Welcome to LBDcaregivers.

[Guest guest]

Once I figured out the Ativan was causing the strong behaviors and

hallucinations in my dad I had it stopped. The NH (nursing home) called a

meeting to discuss this. It was a large conference room and table with many

staff members there including some from their corporate office. I was the only

one there defending my dad. They tried and tried to encourage me to keep the

Ativan, said he " needed " it. I kept insisting the Ativan was what was making

him have the behaviors so the more they gave him the more he would act out. It

was a horrible meeting! Needless to say my perseverence paid off. The Ativan

was stopped and shortly afterward I had them start Exelon. My dad was able to

talk a bit and walk again for a short time. I do think the damage had been done

though as my dad passed away 8 months after taking him off the Ativan. In my

opinion, I would have the Ativan stopped! Do you have POA (Power Of Attorney)

over medical decisions? I did for my dad and the neurologist even wrote a

letter saying my dad would not be able to make his own decisions which made it

so dad could never revoke the POA. Sandie

Des Moines, IA

dad, Merle, passed from LBD 9-20-02, age 65

----- RE: new member my mother has LBD and Im struggling with

decisions

Date: Wed, 25 Jan 2012 04:52:07 -0000

Thank you all for replying to my post. I am going to try and respond to everyone

in this post by giving more information on my mother. By the way her name is

.

I wrote all of the medicines she has taken in caps to try and help out. Also I

mention at the bottom that she didn't have a UTI or any other infections blood

and urtine tests could find.

Originally she was put on ARICEPT for the dementia and maybe 2 years later they

added NAMENDA to it. She has a very hard time with following directions, as if

she does not know what you are telling her to do. She also struggles with

telling you what she is thinking. She will start to say something and its gone.

She needed help with dressing, bathing, grooming, she could not prepare any

food, couldn't work a microwave, phone or tv. She could however walk just fine,

go to the bathroom, and feed herself. She started becoming very paranoid and

didn't want to leave her room because she was scared someone was going to steal

her things. She was very attached to petty things like ink pens, rubber bands,

and pennies. None the less they were hers. My oldest son was the main suspect

and she would go in his room in the middle of the night and look around in the

dark, quiet freighting for him. We were seeing a neurologist and she decided to

try a low dose of SERIQUEL. This seemed to ease her paranoia for a while but we

ended up having to increase her dose because it stopped working. I told myself

that I would not put her in a nursing home until either she didn't know the

difference or she was not able to go to the bathroom by her self. Well in

January of 2010 she started having problems getting to the bathroom in time so I

knew what I had to do. I found a wonderful place for her and I love everyone

there and so did she for a while.

So when she went to the nursing home she was taking ARICEPT, NAMENDA and

SERIQUEL. After about 5 months the paranoia came back and she thought the other

residents were stealing from her. She even thought they were taking the buttons

off her sweaters They started giving her LORAZEPAM for anxiety as needed.

This didn't seem to be working and the took her off SERIQUEL and tried

RISPERDOL. This only lasted a day or so because of the EPS that it caused. They

let that clear out of her system and tried GEODON. Again same reaction. They let

that clear and tried ABILIFY. Same thing. After the reactions she was getting

and the symptoms she has they decided it was LBD. The then tried DEPAKOTE and

CELEXA. DEPAKOTE because it can be a mood stabilizer and the CELEXA for the

depressions she was having. Using these two together worked. I was so happy and

so was she no more paranoia She still had all of her other symptoms but at

least she was happy. I was even able to bring her home for Thanksgiving and she

had a good time.

A few weeks before Christmas she talked about a friend she had met, it was a

lady and she was very nice. She said she made her feel safe. I asked if I could

meet her and she said probably not. I asked some other questions about this lady

and couldn't get much out of her. I figured out that this lady was not real. But

that was ok because she made her happy and said she said the lady was like an

angle so I played along. Two days later things turned for the worst. The angle

was gone and now there were vampires, werewolves, and gargoyles. I went to visit

on Christmas and it was awful. Almost like she was living in another world she

was scared and it reminded me of what I would think hell would be like seeing it

through my moms eyes. She was not acting out or causing problems she just sits

there and rambles about something I don't know what and makes possessed noises.

It is really hard to explain. The week following Christmas she added men

stealing babies to the mix but couldn't tell me why these men were taking the

babies. She just kept repeating it and telling me to be careful of my kids. She

then started to refuse to eat, drink, or take her meds (ARICEPT, NAMENDA,

DEPAKOTE, CELEXA) and she became very combative when the CNAs would try to get

her to go to the bathroom or take a shower. They tried SERIQUEL again but it

made no difference. They decided she needed to go to a local behavioral center

so she could be seen by a psychiatrist on a daily basis. The one at the nursing

home only came once a week.

In order to got the behavioral center she had to go to the hospital to get

medically cleared. She ended up staying there a week during new years and she

was fine. They tested her blood for everything and her urine as well. No UTI no

other problems either. She has always been very healthy. They did end up putting

in a Foley because she had urinary retention?? While she was in the hospital

they were giving her ZYPREXA, BENEDRYL(to counter act the affects from ZYPREXA)

and ATIVAN By the 5th day I noticed the lean (rigid) and told them to stop the

ZYPREXA because it was causing the EPS. They did as I requested. Keep in mind my

mother was walking when she went to the hospital but sometime while she was

there she seemed to become cripple. She was so stiff she could no longer walk

and didn't have control of her hand in order to feed herself. She was still

having hallucinations, delusions, and combativeness while she was in the

hospital, that is while she was awake the meds made her pretty sleepy.

Once at the behavioral center they began giving her COGENTIN to try and loosen

her up. They also took her off of everything except the ARICEPT. So she really

became psychotic. Eventually she was sitting up right and they began PT to get

her walking again. Good news she is now walking with assistance. She still can

not feed herself though. When talking to me she get a few real words out and

then begins rambling in somewhat of baby talk. She still mentions the men

stealing babies, vampires, werewolves, and gargoyles. She rambles the whole hour

that I am allowed to visit, its none stop. If I try to interrupt her she gets

made and tells me to shut up. I cant get into her world because I have not idea

what she is talking about and she is not capable of telling me. I just know she

is very scared and unhappy. Once they got rid of the EPS with the COGENTIN we

decided to try the last antipsychotic they felt would help. CLOZARIL, it is

supposed to be the one least likely to cause EPS however it could cause a lot

of other bad side affects. This is why they waited to try it last. 5 days into

taking CLOZARIL the EPS started again but I did notice the psychotic behavior

had improved slightly. The started her on a low dose of the CLOZARIL so they

couldn't try lowering it so they took her off of it.

This is where the ECT is coming in. She isn't causing any problems and is eating

again however I can't stand to see her living in the scary world she lives in. I

asked what other options there was since she can not take meds to help. They

said there was ECT and told me about it. They said to do some research about it

and let them know if that was something I wanted to try. They did not try and

push it on me. The psychiatrist said if I decide to go that route she would need

to then be evaluated by the doc that performs the procedure to determine if she

is a candidate for it. She may not be due to the dementia but I won't know until

I say go forward with it.

I don't want her to be scared anymore it is heartbreaking. Knowing that there is

a possible way to help her and not trying it is hard for me. But making her

worse would be devastating as well. This is why I am torn.

As for me all of our family lives out of state so it is pretty much just me

dealing with this. I have some support from my brother and aunt but it is via

phone and it is pretty much me just filling them in on how she is doing. I have

my boyfriend who helps with the kids, thank god. And a couple of good friends I

can vent to but they have know clue what its like.

Note: As I was writing this I looked up LORAZEPAM for the spelling and realized

it is ATIVAN. My heart dropped since reading some of your comments of it

negative affects on LBD. Maybe this is why things got so bad, she's been taking

it the whole time (as needed) and full time in the hospital stay recently.

Thank you all again for taking the time to read this I know it was a lot.

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

Welcome to LBDcaregivers.

[Guest guest]

Once I figured out the Ativan was causing the strong behaviors and

hallucinations in my dad I had it stopped. The NH (nursing home) called a

meeting to discuss this. It was a large conference room and table with many

staff members there including some from their corporate office. I was the only

one there defending my dad. They tried and tried to encourage me to keep the

Ativan, said he " needed " it. I kept insisting the Ativan was what was making

him have the behaviors so the more they gave him the more he would act out. It

was a horrible meeting! Needless to say my perseverence paid off. The Ativan

was stopped and shortly afterward I had them start Exelon. My dad was able to

talk a bit and walk again for a short time. I do think the damage had been done

though as my dad passed away 8 months after taking him off the Ativan. In my

opinion, I would have the Ativan stopped! Do you have POA (Power Of Attorney)

over medical decisions? I did for my dad and the neurologist even wrote a

letter saying my dad would not be able to make his own decisions which made it

so dad could never revoke the POA. Sandie

Des Moines, IA

dad, Merle, passed from LBD 9-20-02, age 65

----- RE: new member my mother has LBD and Im struggling with

decisions

Date: Wed, 25 Jan 2012 04:52:07 -0000

Thank you all for replying to my post. I am going to try and respond to everyone

in this post by giving more information on my mother. By the way her name is

.

I wrote all of the medicines she has taken in caps to try and help out. Also I

mention at the bottom that she didn't have a UTI or any other infections blood

and urtine tests could find.

Originally she was put on ARICEPT for the dementia and maybe 2 years later they

added NAMENDA to it. She has a very hard time with following directions, as if

she does not know what you are telling her to do. She also struggles with

telling you what she is thinking. She will start to say something and its gone.

She needed help with dressing, bathing, grooming, she could not prepare any

food, couldn't work a microwave, phone or tv. She could however walk just fine,

go to the bathroom, and feed herself. She started becoming very paranoid and

didn't want to leave her room because she was scared someone was going to steal

her things. She was very attached to petty things like ink pens, rubber bands,

and pennies. None the less they were hers. My oldest son was the main suspect

and she would go in his room in the middle of the night and look around in the

dark, quiet freighting for him. We were seeing a neurologist and she decided to

try a low dose of SERIQUEL. This seemed to ease her paranoia for a while but we

ended up having to increase her dose because it stopped working. I told myself

that I would not put her in a nursing home until either she didn't know the

difference or she was not able to go to the bathroom by her self. Well in

January of 2010 she started having problems getting to the bathroom in time so I

knew what I had to do. I found a wonderful place for her and I love everyone

there and so did she for a while.

So when she went to the nursing home she was taking ARICEPT, NAMENDA and

SERIQUEL. After about 5 months the paranoia came back and she thought the other

residents were stealing from her. She even thought they were taking the buttons

off her sweaters They started giving her LORAZEPAM for anxiety as needed.

This didn't seem to be working and the took her off SERIQUEL and tried

RISPERDOL. This only lasted a day or so because of the EPS that it caused. They

let that clear out of her system and tried GEODON. Again same reaction. They let

that clear and tried ABILIFY. Same thing. After the reactions she was getting

and the symptoms she has they decided it was LBD. The then tried DEPAKOTE and

CELEXA. DEPAKOTE because it can be a mood stabilizer and the CELEXA for the

depressions she was having. Using these two together worked. I was so happy and

so was she no more paranoia She still had all of her other symptoms but at

least she was happy. I was even able to bring her home for Thanksgiving and she

had a good time.

A few weeks before Christmas she talked about a friend she had met, it was a

lady and she was very nice. She said she made her feel safe. I asked if I could

meet her and she said probably not. I asked some other questions about this lady

and couldn't get much out of her. I figured out that this lady was not real. But

that was ok because she made her happy and said she said the lady was like an

angle so I played along. Two days later things turned for the worst. The angle

was gone and now there were vampires, werewolves, and gargoyles. I went to visit

on Christmas and it was awful. Almost like she was living in another world she

was scared and it reminded me of what I would think hell would be like seeing it

through my moms eyes. She was not acting out or causing problems she just sits

there and rambles about something I don't know what and makes possessed noises.

It is really hard to explain. The week following Christmas she added men

stealing babies to the mix but couldn't tell me why these men were taking the

babies. She just kept repeating it and telling me to be careful of my kids. She

then started to refuse to eat, drink, or take her meds (ARICEPT, NAMENDA,

DEPAKOTE, CELEXA) and she became very combative when the CNAs would try to get

her to go to the bathroom or take a shower. They tried SERIQUEL again but it

made no difference. They decided she needed to go to a local behavioral center

so she could be seen by a psychiatrist on a daily basis. The one at the nursing

home only came once a week.

In order to got the behavioral center she had to go to the hospital to get

medically cleared. She ended up staying there a week during new years and she

was fine. They tested her blood for everything and her urine as well. No UTI no

other problems either. She has always been very healthy. They did end up putting

in a Foley because she had urinary retention?? While she was in the hospital

they were giving her ZYPREXA, BENEDRYL(to counter act the affects from ZYPREXA)

and ATIVAN By the 5th day I noticed the lean (rigid) and told them to stop the

ZYPREXA because it was causing the EPS. They did as I requested. Keep in mind my

mother was walking when she went to the hospital but sometime while she was

there she seemed to become cripple. She was so stiff she could no longer walk

and didn't have control of her hand in order to feed herself. She was still

having hallucinations, delusions, and combativeness while she was in the

hospital, that is while she was awake the meds made her pretty sleepy.

Once at the behavioral center they began giving her COGENTIN to try and loosen

her up. They also took her off of everything except the ARICEPT. So she really

became psychotic. Eventually she was sitting up right and they began PT to get

her walking again. Good news she is now walking with assistance. She still can

not feed herself though. When talking to me she get a few real words out and

then begins rambling in somewhat of baby talk. She still mentions the men

stealing babies, vampires, werewolves, and gargoyles. She rambles the whole hour

that I am allowed to visit, its none stop. If I try to interrupt her she gets

made and tells me to shut up. I cant get into her world because I have not idea

what she is talking about and she is not capable of telling me. I just know she

is very scared and unhappy. Once they got rid of the EPS with the COGENTIN we

decided to try the last antipsychotic they felt would help. CLOZARIL, it is

supposed to be the one least likely to cause EPS however it could cause a lot

of other bad side affects. This is why they waited to try it last. 5 days into

taking CLOZARIL the EPS started again but I did notice the psychotic behavior

had improved slightly. The started her on a low dose of the CLOZARIL so they

couldn't try lowering it so they took her off of it.

This is where the ECT is coming in. She isn't causing any problems and is eating

again however I can't stand to see her living in the scary world she lives in. I

asked what other options there was since she can not take meds to help. They

said there was ECT and told me about it. They said to do some research about it

and let them know if that was something I wanted to try. They did not try and

push it on me. The psychiatrist said if I decide to go that route she would need

to then be evaluated by the doc that performs the procedure to determine if she

is a candidate for it. She may not be due to the dementia but I won't know until

I say go forward with it.

I don't want her to be scared anymore it is heartbreaking. Knowing that there is

a possible way to help her and not trying it is hard for me. But making her

worse would be devastating as well. This is why I am torn.

As for me all of our family lives out of state so it is pretty much just me

dealing with this. I have some support from my brother and aunt but it is via

phone and it is pretty much me just filling them in on how she is doing. I have

my boyfriend who helps with the kids, thank god. And a couple of good friends I

can vent to but they have know clue what its like.

Note: As I was writing this I looked up LORAZEPAM for the spelling and realized

it is ATIVAN. My heart dropped since reading some of your comments of it

negative affects on LBD. Maybe this is why things got so bad, she's been taking

it the whole time (as needed) and full time in the hospital stay recently.

Thank you all again for taking the time to read this I know it was a lot.

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

Welcome to LBDcaregivers.

[Guest guest]

Exelon is used more often (so I was told by my mil's neuro). There is a pill

form that some are ok with but some with LBD don't do will with the pill form.

The patch comes in two doses 4.6 and 9s. Should start with low dose

For a few weeks or even two to three months before going to the higher dose.

The start " low and slow " rule. It worked very well for my mil and the way we

knew it worked is we had to take her off it to rule out that it was causing

sleep problems. It wasn't causing problems but while she was off it there were

huge declines in her memory and cognitive abilities.

- Dorothy

from cell phone

> Hi sherry ,

>

> Excelon, usually in the form of a patch, is used to Treat dementia

/Alzheimer's cognitive problems - such as confusion,memory loss etc.

>

> The Excelon patch is usually used to treat early to middle stage dementia and

can delay the onset of disease, not cure it ! My mother, in late stage LBD has

been on it since diagnosis in 2010. I'm not sure if it helped her or is

continuing to do much - but when we removed it completely she was more agitated!

>

> Excelon is not in the same family as adivan.

>

> Hope that helps,

>

> Judy

>

> Judy R Strauss, LMSW, PhD

> Area Chair | College of Social Sciences

>

> University of Phoenix

> Jersey City Campus | 100 Town Square Place | Suite 305

> Jersey City, NJ 07310

> Cell:

> Email: Jrstr@...

>

>

>

>

> > Hello,

> > Can you tell me what Exelon is for? Does it do the same thing as Ativan? Or

would it be replacing Aricept? I will also read up on it but you knowledge would

also be helpful.I have legal guardianship for my mother and it was court ordered

so I have to make all of her decisions for her. I also have health proxy for her

as well. They have to get apporval for any meds they give her. I am sure I will

not have a problem telling them no more Ativan, they have been very good about

it.

> > Sherry

> >

> >

> > >

> > > Once I figured out the Ativan was causing the strong behaviors and

hallucinations in my dad I had it stopped. The NH (nursing home) called a

meeting to discuss this. It was a large conference room and table with many

staff members there including some from their corporate office. I was the only

one there defending my dad. They tried and tried to encourage me to keep the

Ativan, said he " needed " it. I kept insisting the Ativan was what was making him

have the behaviors so the more they gave him the more he would act out. It was a

horrible meeting! Needless to say my perseverence paid off. The Ativan was

stopped and shortly afterward I had them start Exelon. My dad was able to talk a

bit and walk again for a short time. I do think the damage had been done though

as my dad passed away 8 months after taking him off the Ativan. In my opinion, I

would have the Ativan stopped! Do you have POA (Power Of Attorney) over medical

decisions? I did for my d ad and the ! neurologist even wrote a letter saying my

dad would not be able to make his own decisions which made it so dad could never

revoke the POA. Sandie

> > >

> > > Des Moines, IA

> > >

> > > dad, Merle, passed from LBD 9-20-02, age 65

> > >

> > > ----- RE: new member my mother has LBD and Im

struggling with decisions

> > > Date: Wed, 25 Jan 2012 04:52:07 -0000

> > >

> > > Thank you all for replying to my post. I am going to try and respond to

everyone in this post by giving more information on my mother. By the way her

name is .

> > >

> > > I wrote all of the medicines she has taken in caps to try and help out.

Also I mention at the bottom that she didn't have a UTI or any other infections

blood and urtine tests could find.

> > >

> > > Originally she was put on ARICEPT for the dementia and maybe 2 years later

they added NAMENDA to it. She has a very hard time with following directions, as

if she does not know what you are telling her to do. She also struggles with

telling you what she is thinking. She will start to say something and its gone.

She needed help with dressing, bathing, grooming, she could not prepare any

food, couldn't work a microwave, phone or tv. She could however walk just fine,

go to the bathroom, and feed herself. She started becoming very paranoid and

didn't want to leave her room because she was scared someone was going to steal

her things. She was very attached to petty things like ink pens, rubber bands,

and pennies. None the less they were hers. My oldest son was the main suspect

and she would go in his room in the middle of the night and look around in the

dark, quiet freighting for him. We were seeing a neurologist and she decided to

try a low dose of SERIQUEL. This seem! ed to ease her paranoia for a while but

we ended up having to increase her dose because it stopped working. I told

myself that I would not put her in a nursing home until either she didn't know

the difference or she was not able to go to the bathroom by her self. Well in

January of 2010 she started having problems getting to the bathroom in time so I

knew what I had to do. I found a wonderful place for her and I love everyone

there and so did she for a while.

> > > So when she went to the nursing home she was taking ARICEPT, NAMENDA and

SERIQUEL. After about 5 months the paranoia came back and she thought the other

residents were stealing from her. She even thought they were taking the buttons

off her sweaters They started giving her LORAZEPAM for anxiety as needed.

This didn't seem to be working and the took her off SERIQUEL and tried

RISPERDOL. This only lasted a day or so because of the EPS that it caused. They

let that clear out of her system and tried GEODON. Again same reaction. They let

that clear and tried ABILIFY. Same thing. After the reactions she was getting

and the symptoms she has they decided it was LBD. The then tried DEPAKOTE and

CELEXA. DEPAKOTE because it can be a mood stabilizer and the CELEXA for the

depressions she was having. Using these two together worked. I was so happy and

so was she no more paranoia She still had all of her other symptoms but at

least she was happy. I was even able to bring h! er h ome for Thanksgiving and

she had a good time.

> > > A few weeks before Christmas she talked about a friend she had met, it was

a lady and she was very nice. She said she made her feel safe. I asked if I

could meet her and she said probably not. I asked some other questions about

this lady and couldn't get much out of her. I figured out that this lady was not

real. But that was ok because she made her happy and said she said the lady was

like an angle so I played along. Two days later things turned for the worst. The

angle was gone and now there were vampires, werewolves, and gargoyles. I went to

visit on Christmas and it was awful. Almost like she was living in another world

she was scared and it reminded me of what I would think hell would be like

seeing it through my moms eyes. She was not acting out or causing problems she

just sits there and rambles about something I don't know what and makes

possessed noises. It is really hard to explain. The week following Christmas she

added men stealing babies to the mix but! coul dn't tell me why these men were

taking the babies. She just kept repeating it and telling me to be careful of my

kids. She then started to refuse to eat, drink, or take her meds (ARICEPT,

NAMENDA, DEPAKOTE, CELEXA) and she became very combative when the CNAs would try

to get her to go to the bathroom or take a shower. They tried SERIQUEL again but

it made no difference. They decided she needed to go to a local behavioral

center so she could be seen by a psychiatrist on a daily basis. The one at the

nursing home only came once a week.

> > > In order to got the behavioral center she had to go to the hospital to get

medically cleared. She ended up staying there a week during new years and she

was fine. They tested her blood for everything and her urine as well. No UTI no

other problems either. She has always been very healthy. They did end up putting

in a Foley because she had urinary retention?? While she was in the hospital

they were giving her ZYPREXA, BENEDRYL(to counter act the affects from ZYPREXA)

and ATIVAN By the 5th day I noticed the lean (rigid) and told them to stop the

ZYPREXA because it was causing the EPS. They did as I requested. Keep in mind my

mother was walking when she went to the hospital but sometime while she was

there she seemed to become cripple. She was so stiff she could no longer walk

and didn't have control of her hand in order to feed herself. She was still

having hallucinations, delusions, and combativeness while she was in the

hospital, that is while she was awake the med! s mad e her pretty sleepy.

> > > Once at the behavioral center they began giving her COGENTIN to try and

loosen her up. They also took her off of everything except the ARICEPT. So she

really became psychotic. Eventually she was sitting up right and they began PT

to get her walking again. Good news she is now walking with assistance. She

still can not feed herself though. When talking to me she get a few real words

out and then begins rambling in somewhat of baby talk. She still mentions the

men stealing babies, vampires, werewolves, and gargoyles. She rambles the whole

hour that I am allowed to visit, its none stop. If I try to interrupt her she

gets made and tells me to shut up. I cant get into her world because I have not

idea what she is talking about and she is not capable of telling me. I just know

she is very scared and unhappy. Once they got rid of the EPS with the COGENTIN

we decided to try the last antipsychotic they felt would help. CLOZARIL, it is

supposed to be the one least likely to ! cause EPS however it could cause a lot

of other bad side affects. This is why they waited to try it last. 5 days into

taking CLOZARIL the EPS started again but I did notice the psychotic behavior

had improved slightly. The started her on a low dose of the CLOZARIL so they

couldn't try lowering it so they took her off of it.

> > > This is where the ECT is coming in. She isn't causing any problems and is

eating again however I can't stand to see her living in the scary world she

lives in. I asked what other options there was since she can not take meds to

help. They said there was ECT and told me about it. They said to do some

research about it and let them know if that was something I wanted to try. They

did not try and push it on me. The psychiatrist said if I decide to go that

route she would need to then be evaluated by the doc that performs the procedure

to determine if she is a candidate for it. She may not be due to the dementia

but I won't know until I say go forward with it.

> > > I don't want her to be scared anymore it is heartbreaking. Knowing that

there is a possible way to help her and not trying it is hard for me. But making

her worse would be devastating as well. This is why I am torn.

> > >

> > > As for me all of our family lives out of state so it is pretty much just

me dealing with this. I have some support from my brother and aunt but it is via

phone and it is pretty much me just filling them in on how she is doing. I have

my boyfriend who helps with the kids, thank god. And a couple of good friends I

can vent to but they have know clue what its like.

> > >

> > > Note: As I was writing this I looked up LORAZEPAM for the spelling and

realized it is ATIVAN. My heart dropped since reading some of your comments of

it negative affects on LBD. Maybe this is why things got so bad, she's been

taking it the whole time (as needed) and full time in the hospital stay

recently.

> > >

> > > Thank you all again for taking the time to read this I know it was a lot.

> > >

> > >

> > >

> > >

> > > ------------------------------------

> > >

> > > Welcome to LBDcaregivers.

> > >

> > >

[Guest guest]

Exelon is used more often (so I was told by my mil's neuro). There is a pill

form that some are ok with but some with LBD don't do will with the pill form.

The patch comes in two doses 4.6 and 9s. Should start with low dose

For a few weeks or even two to three months before going to the higher dose.

The start " low and slow " rule. It worked very well for my mil and the way we

knew it worked is we had to take her off it to rule out that it was causing

sleep problems. It wasn't causing problems but while she was off it there were

huge declines in her memory and cognitive abilities.

- Dorothy

from cell phone

> Hi sherry ,

>

> Excelon, usually in the form of a patch, is used to Treat dementia

/Alzheimer's cognitive problems - such as confusion,memory loss etc.

>

> The Excelon patch is usually used to treat early to middle stage dementia and

can delay the onset of disease, not cure it ! My mother, in late stage LBD has

been on it since diagnosis in 2010. I'm not sure if it helped her or is

continuing to do much - but when we removed it completely she was more agitated!

>

> Excelon is not in the same family as adivan.

>

> Hope that helps,

>

> Judy

>

> Judy R Strauss, LMSW, PhD

> Area Chair | College of Social Sciences

>

> University of Phoenix

> Jersey City Campus | 100 Town Square Place | Suite 305

> Jersey City, NJ 07310

> Cell:

> Email: Jrstr@...

>

>

>

>

> > Hello,

> > Can you tell me what Exelon is for? Does it do the same thing as Ativan? Or

would it be replacing Aricept? I will also read up on it but you knowledge would

also be helpful.I have legal guardianship for my mother and it was court ordered

so I have to make all of her decisions for her. I also have health proxy for her

as well. They have to get apporval for any meds they give her. I am sure I will

not have a problem telling them no more Ativan, they have been very good about

it.

> > Sherry

> >

> >

> > >

> > > Once I figured out the Ativan was causing the strong behaviors and

hallucinations in my dad I had it stopped. The NH (nursing home) called a

meeting to discuss this. It was a large conference room and table with many

staff members there including some from their corporate office. I was the only

one there defending my dad. They tried and tried to encourage me to keep the

Ativan, said he " needed " it. I kept insisting the Ativan was what was making him

have the behaviors so the more they gave him the more he would act out. It was a

horrible meeting! Needless to say my perseverence paid off. The Ativan was

stopped and shortly afterward I had them start Exelon. My dad was able to talk a

bit and walk again for a short time. I do think the damage had been done though

as my dad passed away 8 months after taking him off the Ativan. In my opinion, I

would have the Ativan stopped! Do you have POA (Power Of Attorney) over medical

decisions? I did for my d ad and the ! neurologist even wrote a letter saying my

dad would not be able to make his own decisions which made it so dad could never

revoke the POA. Sandie

> > >

> > > Des Moines, IA

> > >

> > > dad, Merle, passed from LBD 9-20-02, age 65

> > >

> > > ----- RE: new member my mother has LBD and Im

struggling with decisions

> > > Date: Wed, 25 Jan 2012 04:52:07 -0000

> > >

> > > Thank you all for replying to my post. I am going to try and respond to

everyone in this post by giving more information on my mother. By the way her

name is .

> > >

> > > I wrote all of the medicines she has taken in caps to try and help out.

Also I mention at the bottom that she didn't have a UTI or any other infections

blood and urtine tests could find.

> > >

> > > Originally she was put on ARICEPT for the dementia and maybe 2 years later

they added NAMENDA to it. She has a very hard time with following directions, as

if she does not know what you are telling her to do. She also struggles with

telling you what she is thinking. She will start to say something and its gone.

She needed help with dressing, bathing, grooming, she could not prepare any

food, couldn't work a microwave, phone or tv. She could however walk just fine,

go to the bathroom, and feed herself. She started becoming very paranoid and

didn't want to leave her room because she was scared someone was going to steal

her things. She was very attached to petty things like ink pens, rubber bands,

and pennies. None the less they were hers. My oldest son was the main suspect

and she would go in his room in the middle of the night and look around in the

dark, quiet freighting for him. We were seeing a neurologist and she decided to

try a low dose of SERIQUEL. This seem! ed to ease her paranoia for a while but

we ended up having to increase her dose because it stopped working. I told

myself that I would not put her in a nursing home until either she didn't know

the difference or she was not able to go to the bathroom by her self. Well in

January of 2010 she started having problems getting to the bathroom in time so I

knew what I had to do. I found a wonderful place for her and I love everyone

there and so did she for a while.

> > > So when she went to the nursing home she was taking ARICEPT, NAMENDA and

SERIQUEL. After about 5 months the paranoia came back and she thought the other

residents were stealing from her. She even thought they were taking the buttons

off her sweaters They started giving her LORAZEPAM for anxiety as needed.

This didn't seem to be working and the took her off SERIQUEL and tried

RISPERDOL. This only lasted a day or so because of the EPS that it caused. They

let that clear out of her system and tried GEODON. Again same reaction. They let

that clear and tried ABILIFY. Same thing. After the reactions she was getting

and the symptoms she has they decided it was LBD. The then tried DEPAKOTE and

CELEXA. DEPAKOTE because it can be a mood stabilizer and the CELEXA for the

depressions she was having. Using these two together worked. I was so happy and

so was she no more paranoia She still had all of her other symptoms but at

least she was happy. I was even able to bring h! er h ome for Thanksgiving and

she had a good time.

> > > A few weeks before Christmas she talked about a friend she had met, it was

a lady and she was very nice. She said she made her feel safe. I asked if I

could meet her and she said probably not. I asked some other questions about

this lady and couldn't get much out of her. I figured out that this lady was not

real. But that was ok because she made her happy and said she said the lady was

like an angle so I played along. Two days later things turned for the worst. The

angle was gone and now there were vampires, werewolves, and gargoyles. I went to

visit on Christmas and it was awful. Almost like she was living in another world

she was scared and it reminded me of what I would think hell would be like

seeing it through my moms eyes. She was not acting out or causing problems she

just sits there and rambles about something I don't know what and makes

possessed noises. It is really hard to explain. The week following Christmas she

added men stealing babies to the mix but! coul dn't tell me why these men were

taking the babies. She just kept repeating it and telling me to be careful of my

kids. She then started to refuse to eat, drink, or take her meds (ARICEPT,

NAMENDA, DEPAKOTE, CELEXA) and she became very combative when the CNAs would try

to get her to go to the bathroom or take a shower. They tried SERIQUEL again but

it made no difference. They decided she needed to go to a local behavioral

center so she could be seen by a psychiatrist on a daily basis. The one at the

nursing home only came once a week.

> > > In order to got the behavioral center she had to go to the hospital to get

medically cleared. She ended up staying there a week during new years and she

was fine. They tested her blood for everything and her urine as well. No UTI no

other problems either. She has always been very healthy. They did end up putting

in a Foley because she had urinary retention?? While she was in the hospital

they were giving her ZYPREXA, BENEDRYL(to counter act the affects from ZYPREXA)

and ATIVAN By the 5th day I noticed the lean (rigid) and told them to stop the

ZYPREXA because it was causing the EPS. They did as I requested. Keep in mind my

mother was walking when she went to the hospital but sometime while she was

there she seemed to become cripple. She was so stiff she could no longer walk

and didn't have control of her hand in order to feed herself. She was still

having hallucinations, delusions, and combativeness while she was in the

hospital, that is while she was awake the med! s mad e her pretty sleepy.

> > > Once at the behavioral center they began giving her COGENTIN to try and

loosen her up. They also took her off of everything except the ARICEPT. So she

really became psychotic. Eventually she was sitting up right and they began PT

to get her walking again. Good news she is now walking with assistance. She

still can not feed herself though. When talking to me she get a few real words

out and then begins rambling in somewhat of baby talk. She still mentions the

men stealing babies, vampires, werewolves, and gargoyles. She rambles the whole

hour that I am allowed to visit, its none stop. If I try to interrupt her she

gets made and tells me to shut up. I cant get into her world because I have not

idea what she is talking about and she is not capable of telling me. I just know

she is very scared and unhappy. Once they got rid of the EPS with the COGENTIN

we decided to try the last antipsychotic they felt would help. CLOZARIL, it is

supposed to be the one least likely to ! cause EPS however it could cause a lot

of other bad side affects. This is why they waited to try it last. 5 days into

taking CLOZARIL the EPS started again but I did notice the psychotic behavior

had improved slightly. The started her on a low dose of the CLOZARIL so they

couldn't try lowering it so they took her off of it.

> > > This is where the ECT is coming in. She isn't causing any problems and is

eating again however I can't stand to see her living in the scary world she

lives in. I asked what other options there was since she can not take meds to

help. They said there was ECT and told me about it. They said to do some

research about it and let them know if that was something I wanted to try. They

did not try and push it on me. The psychiatrist said if I decide to go that

route she would need to then be evaluated by the doc that performs the procedure

to determine if she is a candidate for it. She may not be due to the dementia

but I won't know until I say go forward with it.

> > > I don't want her to be scared anymore it is heartbreaking. Knowing that

there is a possible way to help her and not trying it is hard for me. But making

her worse would be devastating as well. This is why I am torn.

> > >

> > > As for me all of our family lives out of state so it is pretty much just

me dealing with this. I have some support from my brother and aunt but it is via

phone and it is pretty much me just filling them in on how she is doing. I have

my boyfriend who helps with the kids, thank god. And a couple of good friends I

can vent to but they have know clue what its like.

> > >

> > > Note: As I was writing this I looked up LORAZEPAM for the spelling and

realized it is ATIVAN. My heart dropped since reading some of your comments of

it negative affects on LBD. Maybe this is why things got so bad, she's been

taking it the whole time (as needed) and full time in the hospital stay

recently.

> > >

> > > Thank you all again for taking the time to read this I know it was a lot.

> > >

> > >

> > >

> > >

> > > ------------------------------------

> > >

> > > Welcome to LBDcaregivers.

> > >

> > >

[Guest guest]

Sherry-

I'm sorry, I didn't explain myself very well. While on the Ativan (Lorazepam)

my dad was very cloudy if you will. His memory was very impaired and his

cognitive ability wasn't good either. I had the Ativan stopped, which seemed to

help him a slight bit. Then I had the Exelon started which helped him function

better, helped with his speech and clarity. In fact, he hadn't spoken for a

good 2 years and for a month or so I heard his voice. It was music to my ears.

I remember him saying he remembered feeding the birds which he and I had done a

good 6 months prior outside near his room window. He had been stuck inside

himself all that time and wasn't able to communicate. Also, I had him walk with

me to the front doors and I thought I would test his memory. I pointed to a

truck in the parking lot saying it was mine. He looked around, pointed to MY

truck and said...no that one is yours. I was thrilled!! It was such a gift.

My dad was on the Exelon patch which did help him. Keep in mind that different

people react differently to medications. I do hope you find a good coctail of

meds for your mom. Please keep us posted.

Sandie

Des Moines, IA

dad, Merle, passed from LBD 9-20-02, age 65

----- RE: new member my mother has LBD and Im struggling

with decisions

> Date: Wed, 25 Jan 2012 04:52:07 -0000

>

> Thank you all for replying to my post. I am going to try and respond to

everyone in this post by giving more information on my mother. By the way her

name is .

>

> I wrote all of the medicines she has taken in caps to try and help out. Also I

mention at the bottom that she didn't have a UTI or any other infections blood

and urtine tests could find.

>

> Originally she was put on ARICEPT for the dementia and maybe 2 years later

they added NAMENDA to it. She has a very hard time with following directions, as

if she does not know what you are telling her to do. She also struggles with

telling you what she is thinking. She will start to say something and its gone.

She needed help with dressing, bathing, grooming, she could not prepare any

food, couldn't work a microwave, phone or tv. She could however walk just fine,

go to the bathroom, and feed herself. She started becoming very paranoid and

didn't want to leave her room because she was scared someone was going to steal

her things. She was very attached to petty things like ink pens, rubber bands,

and pennies. None the less they were hers. My oldest son was the main suspect

and she would go in his room in the middle of the night and look around in the

dark, quiet freighting for him. We were seeing a neurologist and she decided to

try a low dose of SERIQUEL. This seemed to ease her paranoia for a while but we

ended up having to increase her dose because it stopped working. I told myself

that I would not put her in a nursing home until either she didn't know the

difference or she was not able to go to the bathroom by her self. Well in

January of 2010 she started having problems getting to the bathroom in time so I

knew what I had to do. I found a wonderful place for her and I love everyone

there and so did she for a while.

> So when she went to the nursing home she was taking ARICEPT, NAMENDA and

SERIQUEL. After about 5 months the paranoia came back and she thought the other

residents were stealing from her. She even thought they were taking the buttons

off her sweaters They started giving her LORAZEPAM for anxiety as needed.

This didn't seem to be working and the took her off SERIQUEL and tried

RISPERDOL. This only lasted a day or so because of the EPS that it caused. They

let that clear out of her system and tried GEODON. Again same reaction. They let

that clear and tried ABILIFY. Same thing. After the reactions she was getting

and the symptoms she has they decided it was LBD. The then tried DEPAKOTE and

CELEXA. DEPAKOTE because it can be a mood stabilizer and the CELEXA for the

depressions she was having. Using these two together worked. I was so happy and

so was she no more paranoia She still had all of her other symptoms but at

least she was happy. I was even able to bring her home for Thanksgiving and she

had a good time.

> A few weeks before Christmas she talked about a friend she had met, it was a

lady and she was very nice. She said she made her feel safe. I asked if I could

meet her and she said probably not. I asked some other questions about this lady

and couldn't get much out of her. I figured out that this lady was not real. But

that was ok because she made her happy and said she said the lady was like an

angle so I played along. Two days later things turned for the worst. The angle

was gone and now there were vampires, werewolves, and gargoyles. I went to visit

on Christmas and it was awful. Almost like she was living in another world she

was scared and it reminded me of what I would think hell would be like seeing it

through my moms eyes. She was not acting out or causing problems she just sits

there and rambles about something I don't know what and makes possessed noises.

It is really hard to explain. The week following Christmas she added men

stealing babies to the mix but couldn't tell me why these men were taking the

babies. She just kept repeating it and telling me to be careful of my kids. She

then started to refuse to eat, drink, or take her meds (ARICEPT, NAMENDA,

DEPAKOTE, CELEXA) and she became very combative when the CNAs would try to get

her to go to the bathroom or take a shower. They tried SERIQUEL again but it

made no difference. They decided she needed to go to a local behavioral center

so she could be seen by a psychiatrist on a daily basis. The one at the nursing

home only came once a week.

> In order to got the behavioral center she had to go to the hospital to get

medically cleared. She ended up staying there a week during new years and she

was fine. They tested her blood for everything and her urine as well. No UTI no

other problems either. She has always been very healthy. They did end up putting

in a Foley because she had urinary retention?? While she was in the hospital

they were giving her ZYPREXA, BENEDRYL(to counter act the affects from ZYPREXA)

and ATIVAN By the 5th day I noticed the lean (rigid) and told them to stop the

ZYPREXA because it was causing the EPS. They did as I requested. Keep in mind my

mother was walking when she went to the hospital but sometime while she was

there she seemed to become cripple. She was so stiff she could no longer walk

and didn't have control of her hand in order to feed herself. She was still

having hallucinations, delusions, and combativeness while she was in the

hospital, that is while she was awake the meds made her pretty sleepy.

> Once at the behavioral center they began giving her COGENTIN to try and loosen

her up. They also took her off of everything except the ARICEPT. So she really

became psychotic. Eventually she was sitting up right and they began PT to get

her walking again. Good news she is now walking with assistance. She still can

not feed herself though. When talking to me she get a few real words out and

then begins rambling in somewhat of baby talk. She still mentions the men

stealing babies, vampires, werewolves, and gargoyles. She rambles the whole hour

that I am allowed to visit, its none stop. If I try to interrupt her she gets

made and tells me to shut up. I cant get into her world because I have not idea

what she is talking about and she is not capable of telling me. I just know she

is very scared and unhappy. Once they got rid of the EPS with the COGENTIN we

decided to try the last antipsychotic they felt would help. CLOZARIL, it is

supposed to be the one least likely to cause EPS however it could cause a lot

of other bad side affects. This is why they waited to try it last. 5 days into

taking CLOZARIL the EPS started again but I did notice the psychotic behavior

had improved slightly. The started her on a low dose of the CLOZARIL so they

couldn't try lowering it so they took her off of it.

> This is where the ECT is coming in. She isn't causing any problems and is

eating again however I can't stand to see her living in the scary world she

lives in. I asked what other options there was since she can not take meds to

help. They said there was ECT and told me about it. They said to do some

research about it and let them know if that was something I wanted to try. They

did not try and push it on me. The psychiatrist said if I decide to go that

route she would need to then be evaluated by the doc that performs the procedure

to determine if she is a candidate for it. She may not be due to the dementia

but I won't know until I say go forward with it.

> I don't want her to be scared anymore it is heartbreaking. Knowing that there

is a possible way to help her and not trying it is hard for me. But making her

worse would be devastating as well. This is why I am torn.

>

> As for me all of our family lives out of state so it is pretty much just me

dealing with this. I have some support from my brother and aunt but it is via

phone and it is pretty much me just filling them in on how she is doing. I have

my boyfriend who helps with the kids, thank god. And a couple of good friends I

can vent to but they have know clue what its like.

>

> Note: As I was writing this I looked up LORAZEPAM for the spelling and

realized it is ATIVAN. My heart dropped since reading some of your comments of

it negative affects on LBD. Maybe this is why things got so bad, she's been

taking it the whole time (as needed) and full time in the hospital stay

recently.

>

> Thank you all again for taking the time to read this I know it was a lot.

>

>

>

>

> ------------------------------------

>

> Welcome to LBDcaregivers.

>

>