Mixed dementia and Citalopram

[Purdeycat]

OK...apologies this may be a bit long but this is my first time here.

Mum diagnosed with mixed dementia/Alzheimer's on 14th November. Prior to diagnosis she was hospitalised last December for 3 weeks with delirium and never got back to her old self after that. Her memory wasn't too bad...in fact it only seems like age related forgetfulness; however what changed was she got extreme anxiety when faced with anything out of the ordinary (e.g. Dealing with complicated banking, going somewhere new etc). The GP finally put her on Citalopram on 25th November and whilst her anxiety has improved her memory is so much worse. She has told me she feels as if her head is full of cotton wool and she really struggles retaining information.

Just wondering if anyone else has had experience of this. I know it may be a deterioration of the dementia but would it be that rapid but am also concerned that she is not tolerating the Citalopram and it is making her so much worse.

Any advice gratefully received.

 

[Mannie]

OK...apologies this may be a bit long but this is my first time here.

Mum diagnosed with mixed dementia/Alzheimer's on 14th November. Prior to diagnosis she was hospitalised last December for 3 weeks with delirium and never got back to her old self after that. Her memory wasn't too bad...in fact it only seems like age related forgetfulness; however what changed was she got extreme anxiety when faced with anything out of the ordinary (e.g. Dealing with complicated banking, going somewhere new etc). The GP finally put her on Citalopram on 25th November and whilst her anxiety has improved her memory is so much worse. She has told me she feels as if her head is full of cotton wool and she really struggles retaining information.

Just wondering if anyone else has had experience of this. I know it may be a deterioration of the dementia but would it be that rapid but am also concerned that she is not tolerating the Citalopram and it is making her so much worse.

Any advice gratefully received.

Might be an idea to ask her Memory Nurse to review the situation.
Also the may be an alternative med or mAybe she could get her dose reduced by her GP , to see if she can get a better balance.

 

[Kevinl]

Hello Purdey, welcome to TP
My wife too Citalopram for a couple of years, 10mg initially then 20mg later on.
It did have a positive effect on her aggression but by this stage she was beyond the stage where she could explain any side effect like a "cotton wool" feeling.
She's no longer on it was swapped for Metamine I think it's called and that seems to keep her calm most of the time.
K

 

[Murper1]

My mum was anxious, emotional and at times suicidal and so Citalopram was prescribed which had a good effect but not until after 3 weeks or so. At that time mum was still able to hold a conversation and I was able to discuss it with her as it coincided with a Radio 4 discussion I had heard about Citalopram being a 'seratonin re-uptake inhibitor' ie in people who for some reason were breaking down their own naturally produced mood enhancing chemical seratonin, Citalopram stopped the breakdown, and a balanced mood could be maintained.

Eventually a psychiatrist said mum had mixed dementia (including frontotemporal) as well as depression, and Mirtazapine was prescribed in place of Citalopram, and this dose was then increased when mum started to make loud repetitive noises which made it difficult for us to take her out. She no longer talks or has any initiative to do things for herself - will sit or lie still until prompted to move. But it hadn't occurred to me to link this to the drugs, just assumed it was the progression of the disease. Now I'm wondering....

 

[oilovlam]

I may be totally wrong (it is late and I am 'tired') but my mum may be allergic to citalopram (I have no idea what it does or is). Perhaps there could be some sort of allergic reaction. Dad was put on Mirtazapine because my sister thought he was no longer the 'life & soul of the party'.....the doctor pushed his pills. To me he was as jovial as ever...you just had to dig a little deeper.

It is a shame that the chemists are happy to push their drugs because they have nothing effective to treat the dementia.

PS The GP wont even prescribe sleeping tablets for my mammon without threat of a lawsuit (or so it seems!!).

PPS I think I need a new doctor.

 

[canary]

My mum was anxious, emotional and at times suicidal and so Citalopram was prescribed which had a good effect but not until after 3 weeks or so. At that time mum was still able to hold a conversation and I was able to discuss it with her as it coincided with a Radio 4 discussion I had heard about Citalopram being a 'seratonin re-uptake inhibitor' ie in people who for some reason were breaking down their own naturally produced mood enhancing chemical seratonin, Citalopram stopped the breakdown, and a balanced mood could be maintained.

Eventually a psychiatrist said mum had mixed dementia (including frontotemporal) as well as depression, and Mirtazapine was prescribed in place of Citalopram, and this dose was then increased when mum started to make loud repetitive noises which made it difficult for us to take her out. She no longer talks or has any initiative to do things for herself - will sit or lie still until prompted to move. But it hadn't occurred to me to link this to the drugs, just assumed it was the progression of the disease. Now I'm wondering....

The lack of initiative, apathy and repetitive noises are typical symptoms of FTD.
My OH has FTD and, interestingly, in the early stages he was misdiagnosed as having depression. Apparently its quite common for this to happen.

 

[Onlyme_]

I know it's been a while since your post but I've just learned something about Citalopram that I thought I'd share. My mom was on a 10mg daily dose of Citalopram for a few years and it didn't seem to help at all. At the start of the year the mental health nurse arranged for it to be increased to 20mg per day. 4-5 weeks later mom has been rushed into hospital with a water infection and low sodium/potassium. Her confusion is about 100 times worse than usual and we've been told she had hyperactive delirium for the first few days. The low sodium has been blamed and the cause of the low sodium is likely to be the increased dose of Citalopram. I'm not saying this will happen to everyone but I'm told it's a common cause of low sodium. I'd keep a close eye on confusion levels and refer straight back to docs if anything seems untoward.