I thought I would mention some positives about mums experience on Risperidone. Mum has been on this for 3 months now and she has got some quality of life back at last. She will interact now with family, delusions, hallucinations have almost gone, aggression has gone. She seems calmer with much less anxiety. Mum is not sleepy or zombie like, she is a very active lady. Her consultant will now reduce and stop the drug to see if it is Risperidone that is helping her. If her aggression and her dreadful sundowning and abusive behaviour starts to show again we can introduce Risperidone longer term. I must add that myself her daughter 24hr carer, I do use a huge amount of other distractions and diversions constantly. I never wanted to see my mother on antipsychotic drugs with all the bad side effects I have read, but I am so glad I tried so far it's worked for mum. It's lovely to see her smile again, even though she has no idea who I am or where she is. We will see what happens in the next few months. I will keep you posted x
Risperidone has helped mum amazingly
- Thread starter Snowdrops77
- Start date
Thank you for that positive post @Snowdrops77
I dont have any experience of rispiridone, but quite a few people with dementia are prescribed it and I know that many of their carers worry about it
xx
I dont have any experience of rispiridone, but quite a few people with dementia are prescribed it and I know that many of their carers worry about it
xx
Hello
my first thoughts were that you have family interaction? Do you do this physically? What with the current restrictions. Also your Mum has a consultant? How was that organised and do you live in the UK? Hope you don’t mind my asking x
Hi @Snowdrops77 my mother also responded very well to risperidone. She did develop Parkinsonian syndrome after a few years, so she was switched to olanzapine. After a couple of years of that, she began gaining a lot of weight so she was switched to quetiapine.
My mother was on antipsychotics for around 10 years, as she was physically violent, agitated and aggressive. Eventually her disease progressed to the point that she was no longer aware of it and she calmed. Then we weaned her off the meds. We did have to tweak her meds periodically to achieve a good balance.
My advice is simply to keep a close eye on her responses. Not everyone will have side effects, or they might not be severe. I know many people are horrified by the use of antipsychotics in people with dementia but there are cases, and my mother was certainly one, where the use is more than justified.
My mother was on antipsychotics for around 10 years, as she was physically violent, agitated and aggressive. Eventually her disease progressed to the point that she was no longer aware of it and she calmed. Then we weaned her off the meds. We did have to tweak her meds periodically to achieve a good balance.
My advice is simply to keep a close eye on her responses. Not everyone will have side effects, or they might not be severe. I know many people are horrified by the use of antipsychotics in people with dementia but there are cases, and my mother was certainly one, where the use is more than justified.
@Snowdrops77
My Mum improved greatly on Quetiapine.
Repeat UTI’s brought out agitation & aggression & delirium which never quite resolved, so after about 5 mnths of trialling different methods including Lorazepam which made Mum so sleepy and incoherent and falls risk, that a low dose of Quetiapine was trialled.
Mum was only on 25mg a day which was increased to 75mg.
But what a difference ?
It gave Mum about a year extra of quality of life, before her Alzheimers declined and she lost her mobility.
Quetiapine was gradually reduced, and is only on 6mg in the morning as without it she gets very restless and
somewhat agitated.
Mum has also been on a low dose antibiotic for a while now to help prevent UTI’s.
My Mum improved greatly on Quetiapine.
Repeat UTI’s brought out agitation & aggression & delirium which never quite resolved, so after about 5 mnths of trialling different methods including Lorazepam which made Mum so sleepy and incoherent and falls risk, that a low dose of Quetiapine was trialled.
Mum was only on 25mg a day which was increased to 75mg.
But what a difference ?
It gave Mum about a year extra of quality of life, before her Alzheimers declined and she lost her mobility.
Quetiapine was gradually reduced, and is only on 6mg in the morning as without it she gets very restless and
somewhat agitated.
Mum has also been on a low dose antibiotic for a while now to help prevent UTI’s.
Hello wishing20
Yes we live in the UK, I am mums full time carer she lives with me. My two daughters also cares for her to give me a break when I need it also juggling two grandchildren so we are one family bubble. We have an outside carer but since Covid this has been limited. Risperidone was organised through mums mental health nurse she liased with the consultant. Then the consultant visited us at home.
