Diazepam?

[scattysue]

My sister (80 years old) has Alzheimer's - diagnosed in 2013. she is living independently with 4 home care visits per day, 3 days at Daycare and with myself as backup (I live around 30 miles from her) I have POA for both finance and health.
There has been a marked deterioration in her condition in the last few months with increased confusion, confabulations and a great deal of anxiety. We had an appointment today with her Psychiatrist and he has suggested trying a daily dose of diazepam to try to reduce her anxiety and also potentially decrease her head tremors which are causing her great distress.
Currently she has 10mg donepezil daily.
Does anyone have experience of the use of diazepam for a PWD - pros and cons.
Any information or advice would be welcome.
Thank you

 

[Tin]

My mother has vascular dementia and has at different times taken diazepam and lorazepam to ease extreme sundowning/anxiety. mainly 2mg and sometimes 5mg. It helped, made her so sleepy though so not that good during the day. For mum it could only be used short term, after a while it actually did the opposite and increased her confusion. There are people on here that have had success with it - not sure if long term though. Hopefully more people will post soon with own experiences.

 

[lemonjuice]

. . . . . .
Does anyone have experience of the use of diazepam for a PWD - pros and cons.
Any information or advice would be welcome.
Thank you

Well my mother doesn't have regular dosages, but has been prescribed rectal diazepam for when she has a seizure. I was initially worried as I thought she couldn't receive more than one dose in a day, should the symptoms not abate, but the Dr said that shouldn't be a problem with their infrequency. Mother has had no adverse effects from the diazepam and she's at the severe stage.

 

[Ludlow]

I'm afraid I don't know about regular doses but my mum has some which we can give her "as needed" to calm her down. On those occasions it has done the trick and no observable side effects.

 

[scattysue]

Thank you

Many thanks to Tin, lemonjuice and Ludlow for your replies - the Psychiatrist gave no indication of the dosage he intends to prescribe and from your comments it sounds as if we will have to monitor the effects closely in order to see whether or not it is suitable for my sister.
Once again thank you for responding.

 

[Beate]

Diazepam is just another name for what's commonly known as Valium. It's strong stuff and not good for the elderly. It certainly shouldn't be taken as a long-term solution as there are quite a few side effects, so please monitor it carefully.

 

[Oh Knickers]

I can understand why Diazepam is being prescribed - head tremors. However, as with all drugs, personal biochemistry comes into play.

I was prescribed Diazepam to help with exam stress many moons ago. Having tested it before taking an exam I woke up 40 minutes later. Would not have been a good look in an exam! I found it a Mickey Finn. My husband LOVED it for his severe back pain (stress induced BTW) and was as happy as Larry away with the fairies. The guidance used to be 6 weeks max as it tends to be addictive. Just check over the details with the GP on that front in particular.

All you can do is give it a go and see what the results are. If it is a Mickey Finn then go back to the GP.

 

[kingmidas1962]

This is rather difficult for me because in my day job I work for a treatment agency which helps people addicted to tranquilizers - one of which is Valium or diazepam as it's otherwise known. They do have sedative effects, but they are physically addictive which means that if they're taken regularly the therapeutic effect decreases as time goes on because the body becomes tolerant.

The recommendation is that they are only used for two to four weeks as an absolute maximum and that includes a tapering off. 'As and when' prescribing (otherwise known as pulse prescribing) is also not recommended.

Although they can be beneficial to some people who are particularly anxious there is an issue with rebound anxiety which is a known side effect of the medication itself.

A secondary issue is that they can make elderly people in particular much more prone to falling, they increase confusion and obviously in someone with dementia these are unwanted side effects.

Because I see so many people who are addicted to these very troublesome medications, my view of them is slightly skewed - but I always say to people that if they feel that they help, then they help.

The specific effects of tranquilizers on people with dementia aren't really well documented enough, but they're not recommended for the elderly generally particularly because of the risk of falls.

 

[Linbrusco]

My Mum 76 has Alz and is on 5mg of Donepezil. Mum has been in a care home a year. 3 months ago she developed 2 UTI's which increased her agitation & anxiety. 3 weeks ago between Mental Health Team & Clinical Nurse they decided to trial Mum on 0.25mg of Lorazepam in the morning on waking. So far so good and it has helped enormously with her moods and she has been eating better, a little sleepy, but every other day when we visit ( not sure if Lorazepam or Alz decline) she appears a bit more confused and struggles with word finding so as a result you cant always understand her. My sister is overseas so we plan on seeing Mental Health Nurse on her return.