Anti-depressants

[Adela]

My husband has been prescribed anti-depressants but they don't have much effect. It occurs to me that if the brain communications are destroyed by plagues and tangles is that surprising?

Is there information available on which part of the brain medications have their effect and whether there effects are changed by the presence of Alzheimers?

 

[Redwitch]

Mum was on Citalopram which didn't seem to make much difference, she was changed to Sertraline which seem much better. Maybe this isn't the right one and you could suggest a change

 

[Vonny]

Hi Adela,

Like Redwitch's mum, my ma was also on citalopram, and similarly it seemed to have no effect.

I think you'll need to have your husband's meds reviewed regularly, it could be that a different anti-d could help but it will probably be trial and error until you hit on something which helps

Best wishes xx

 

[sanford99]

Yup, trial and error when it comes to drugs, so don't give up hope just cause one doesn't work; the next one might..........not an exact science and every one reacts differently..........the main thing is not to give up...........best of luck......keep a diary of reactions, responses, side effects etc........it can be a pain but it really worthwhile...........best of luck! x

 

[lin1]

Hi Adela
With my mum we tried many anti d's , before we found one that helpedthe most , Prozac.
Most of the ones mum was tried on did not help some made mum worse

Im afraid it is trial and error
Mums gp couldnt understand why one worked when all others didnt as the ones mum had tried worked in the same way

Mums consultant said , with illnesses of the brain one can not know how medication will affect the brain .

I found it helpful to keep a list of the ones mum had been put on and their effects , as it prevented mum being put back on ones that did not help or made mum worse

 

[graybags]

Dad has juct been prescribed Fluoxetine because he was getting quite anxious, couldn't relax and was clearly quite agitated. Touch wood after about 3 weeks we can see real changes for the better, he is so much more relaxed and just nicer to have around the place !

 

[Padraig]

Druges

Sorry, I'm not a great believer in drugs. It seems to me there are as many new illnesses these day as there are drugs. The drug companies are doing fine. One company sell tobacco another sell patches to stop smoking. One company sell junk food another sell slimming pills. I could go on.
When my wife was first diagnosed with Alzheimer's she was prescribed Prozac for depression. At no stage was she prescribed a drug for her illness. When she went into a NH they gave her so much medicine I insisted on knowing what they were giving her.
When I removed her from the NH the first thing I did was to take the paper bag full of different medications and hand it in to our local surgery. With the exception of one drug she required for a short period the only medication required was a laxative.
All of the medication she was given could have been avoided had they treated the underlying causes of the problems. She lived 12-13 years with the illness.

 

[Poodlewoman]

Drugs should be used if they are needed. But the purpose must always be to help getting a better life, to avoid side-effects and to balance the need against the side-effects.
The usual way to use antidepressants such as fluoxetine, citalopram, sertraline (the so-called SSRIs) is to start with one of them, evaluate it and change to one of the others if no effect or not tolerable side-effects. And when you start medication its important to know what effects you are expecting. As someone said: write down about effect and sideeffects to remenber. Could be difficult when you´ve changed medicine several times and the time has passed.
The trial-and-error-method is common, but of course there is differences between the SSRIs although they on cellular level works in the same way.

(Sorry for my english, have to practice more I think)

 

[Jancis]

Sorry, I'm not a great believer in drugs. It seems to me there are as many new illnesses these day as there are drugs. The drug companies are doing fine. One company sell tobacco another sell patches to stop smoking. One company sell junk food another sell slimming pills. I could go on.
When my wife was first diagnosed with Alzheimer's she was prescribed Prozac for depression. At no stage was she prescribed a drug for her illness. When she went into a NH they gave her so much medicine I insisted on knowing what they were giving her.
When I removed her from the NH the first thing I did was to take the paper bag full of different medications and hand it in to our local surgery. With the exception of one drug she required for a short period the only medication required was a laxative.
All of the medication she was given could have been avoided had they treated the underlying causes of the problems. She lived 12-13 years with the illness.

My Uncle has never been a believer in any form of chemical drug yet he was prescribed many. I find myself wondering what would have happened had he not been prescribed them, but it's now too late in the progression of his illness to know. There can be no clinical trials where elderly people with suspected dementia are concerned as they cannot be recruited to volunteer for a trial. This is a dilemma that I find extremely hard to come to terms with as often they are non consenting guinea pigs?

 

[Poodlewoman]

.... There can be no clinical trials where elderly people with suspected dementia are concerned as they cannot be recruited to volunteer for a trial. This is a dilemma that I find extremely hard to come to terms with as often they are non consenting guinea pigs?

I agree! The clinical trials I suppose must be more of the kind when you describe several patients that have tried the medication with some kind of effect. Should be hard to make double-blind-trials. But on the other way - I made many decisions (for good or bad?) for my father when he lived, without asking him, he couldn´t consent in anything. And now I have started (in some things) to do the same for my husband, make decisions without asking him. It´s much more easy... than to discuss every little thing and end up with him not understanding. But now I got off the topic, I think.

 

[Padraig]

When I entered this strange conventional world at the age of sixteen I had little option but to learn quickly about every thing about me. Today I'm still learning. It's been tough but exciting educating myself and when I reflect on what many might call 'bad experiences' I refer to then in my book as 'the compost of life' from which the seeds germinate to grow into wonderful fruits.
My recent experiences with drugs have added to my learning. Whilst I was in intensive care for over a week after major surgery for Gastric Cancer, one of the nine tubes in my body was a morphine drip. That drip continued when I was transferred to a ward and I was instructed to press a black button to relieve pain. When it was noticed that I was not using the morphine button to relieve pain: "Why not use the morphine?"
My reply :"Because it's causing my brain to malfunction and I'd sooner suffer the body pain." I was then offered paracetamol which I refused. I've no wish to recall the nightmares the morphine caused. Now I know that I did the right thing in stopping the morphine patches my wife was having when I noticed her pressure sores were healing. She would not have required pain relief had the NH avoided the sores in the first place.
Since I came home I've weened myself off the medication I was prescribed and not taken any for the past six weeks. I'm not fully recovered but the worst pains have ceased. Like all thing in life nothing is perfect it's made up of ups and downs.