Julie Faulkner
I have only joined talking point today, and sympathise with you greatly. This is the toughest time of my life. My brave wonderful handsome husband is 63 and was diagnosed with frontal temporal lobe dementia at 58 although it was clearly showing before that, I believe it started when he was forty. We both went through hell as before he was diagnosed I had never heard of dementia let alone FTD (Picks). He was prescribed aricept, and was doing quite well for about three years after diagnoses, then he started to become agitated at the day centre, and all the alarm bells went, doctors rushing in, interviews, all his medication withdrawn, he was also on prozac, which he was doing well on. Off he went to the hospital to be drugged up on sodium valporate and stelazine, he was a dribbling zombie. He lost weight dramatically, so they decided to put him back on aricept as they said he had deteriorated, why take him off it inthe first place. He went into care for six months, but he was allowed to run up and down rickety stairs. He has fits, so you can imagine my fears. I brought him out and have cared for him since June 2005. He is much happier now but he constantly walks, and is a completely changed person. He is still on epilum, aricept and lorezapan. Because he is restless the doctors are now talking about putting him on a low dose of halperidol for visual hallucinations, but this medication lowers the seizure threshold, and has many side effects. I cant win. I am interested to note what you say about ebixa, but I have been told by Patrick's consultant that Nice are not allowing it under their guidelines. I am convinced it would help us both if his behaviour could be controlled by this drug. I suppose I am clutching at straws all the time, but that is all I have left to hold onto, HOPE!!!
