Long story here.
Because of my mother's aggression, agitation and violence in 2006, which resulted in her being sectioned in the fall of 2006, she was put on a lot of different drugs to try & control her behaviour. It's been a long process and she was taking high quantities of meds for quite some time without any noticeable adverse effects.
About late fall/early winter 2007, Mum started getting quite sleepy. She was even drowsing during meals - while eating! I mentioned this a few times to the staff. The drowsiness continued. My dad died in Guatemala Dec 27 so I was gone for nearly two weeks & had lots of things to keep me busy for several weeks afterwards.
The staff became concerned with her swallowing. I pointed out she was sleeping a lot & maybe that was the problem. They got the speech therapist in to check her swallowing. God bless that woman (I've forgotten her name) but she said Mum's swallowing was fine, Mum was simply over-medicated.
So the "Let's reduce Doris's meds" dance began. Because of Mum's violence in the past, the staff was really loath to reduce any of her meds. I got the geriatric mental health team in (again) and after about 3 months, we started (FINALLY) to reduce the meds. One thing I found out is that Mum was getting lorazepam every morning at 5:30 am., presumably to keep her properly drugged up for morning care. It must be much easier to deal with dead weight than with a 71 year old woman who's been confined in a wheelchair for nearly 2 years. I got rid of that. I also got of the anti-seizure meds. When I say I got rid of, I worked with the geriatric team from the hospital & got them to recommend these things.
By the way, the anti-seizure med was prescribed off-label for Mum's behaviour. She's never had a seizure that I'm aware of.
Lo and behold, we started getting somewhere. Mum is awake and alert, she's saying a few words (not making sense but that's okay), she's focusing on me when I talk to her. She even fed herself a few spoonfuls one meal. It's better all around.
Then one nurse thought Mum should go back on the Epival (divalproex is the generic name) as she said Mum was starting to get agitated. I got the home's dementia nurse to check Mum & she said she felt Mum was a lot better off the meds.
I was informed a week or 10 days ago that Mum is suffering from TWO UTIs and is now on 2 different antibiotics. Do you think those idiots might consider that TWO UTIs would cause confusion, agitation and general upsetment in an Alzheimer's patient?? NOooooo, because they such morons.
What brought this all on is my imbecilic aunt (God help me) called me today to say they were going to start Mum on a low dose of Epival as she had a long chat with the house doctor today. I know I was upset but I thought I was reasonably well-contained. Apparently not - because my aunt quickly got off the phone - unheard of behaviour for her.
I instantly phoned the home & spoke to the doctor. He thought my aunt was the POA (read the bl**dy chart, you rectum you) so since my aunt said it was probably a good idea, he thought that was consent. I quickly disabused him of that notion. We had a fairly good conversation and I reluctantly agreed to the Epival. But 15 minutes later I phoned back and told him to discontinue the order. I told him I would be setting up a meeting with the director of nursing & a few other people there to sort out what is a physical issue.
My mother was drowsy for months. She didn't speak, she didn't focus, she couldn't feed herself. She was over-medicated and I lost all that time I could have had with her at least saying a few words and focusing when we spoke to her and feeding herself a bit. This are not big achievements in general but they are so huge to me.
So although in principle I agree that meds may be necessary, I am thoroughly annoyed, angry, irritated and evilly p**ed off with current events. I feel that my mother's behaviour nearly 2 years ago is still influencing how she is being perceived and treated now.
I've made the first call to get the meeting organized. God help them, as I am my mother's daughter. If they think she's trouble, wait till they deal with me, who is not demented (yet).
Because of my mother's aggression, agitation and violence in 2006, which resulted in her being sectioned in the fall of 2006, she was put on a lot of different drugs to try & control her behaviour. It's been a long process and she was taking high quantities of meds for quite some time without any noticeable adverse effects.
About late fall/early winter 2007, Mum started getting quite sleepy. She was even drowsing during meals - while eating! I mentioned this a few times to the staff. The drowsiness continued. My dad died in Guatemala Dec 27 so I was gone for nearly two weeks & had lots of things to keep me busy for several weeks afterwards.
The staff became concerned with her swallowing. I pointed out she was sleeping a lot & maybe that was the problem. They got the speech therapist in to check her swallowing. God bless that woman (I've forgotten her name) but she said Mum's swallowing was fine, Mum was simply over-medicated.
So the "Let's reduce Doris's meds" dance began. Because of Mum's violence in the past, the staff was really loath to reduce any of her meds. I got the geriatric mental health team in (again) and after about 3 months, we started (FINALLY) to reduce the meds. One thing I found out is that Mum was getting lorazepam every morning at 5:30 am., presumably to keep her properly drugged up for morning care. It must be much easier to deal with dead weight than with a 71 year old woman who's been confined in a wheelchair for nearly 2 years. I got rid of that. I also got of the anti-seizure meds. When I say I got rid of, I worked with the geriatric team from the hospital & got them to recommend these things.
By the way, the anti-seizure med was prescribed off-label for Mum's behaviour. She's never had a seizure that I'm aware of.
Lo and behold, we started getting somewhere. Mum is awake and alert, she's saying a few words (not making sense but that's okay), she's focusing on me when I talk to her. She even fed herself a few spoonfuls one meal. It's better all around.
Then one nurse thought Mum should go back on the Epival (divalproex is the generic name) as she said Mum was starting to get agitated. I got the home's dementia nurse to check Mum & she said she felt Mum was a lot better off the meds.
I was informed a week or 10 days ago that Mum is suffering from TWO UTIs and is now on 2 different antibiotics. Do you think those idiots might consider that TWO UTIs would cause confusion, agitation and general upsetment in an Alzheimer's patient?? NOooooo, because they such morons.
What brought this all on is my imbecilic aunt (God help me) called me today to say they were going to start Mum on a low dose of Epival as she had a long chat with the house doctor today. I know I was upset but I thought I was reasonably well-contained. Apparently not - because my aunt quickly got off the phone - unheard of behaviour for her.
I instantly phoned the home & spoke to the doctor. He thought my aunt was the POA (read the bl**dy chart, you rectum you) so since my aunt said it was probably a good idea, he thought that was consent. I quickly disabused him of that notion. We had a fairly good conversation and I reluctantly agreed to the Epival. But 15 minutes later I phoned back and told him to discontinue the order. I told him I would be setting up a meeting with the director of nursing & a few other people there to sort out what is a physical issue.
My mother was drowsy for months. She didn't speak, she didn't focus, she couldn't feed herself. She was over-medicated and I lost all that time I could have had with her at least saying a few words and focusing when we spoke to her and feeding herself a bit. This are not big achievements in general but they are so huge to me.
So although in principle I agree that meds may be necessary, I am thoroughly annoyed, angry, irritated and evilly p**ed off with current events. I feel that my mother's behaviour nearly 2 years ago is still influencing how she is being perceived and treated now.
I've made the first call to get the meeting organized. God help them, as I am my mother's daughter. If they think she's trouble, wait till they deal with me, who is not demented (yet).