Hi
Because of my wifes increased aggression towards any form of carer, either at home or at the day centre I went in desperation to our GP who changed her current prescription of Promazine to Dozic Haliporidal (a dervative of Valium I am led to believe).
However the point of this thread is that the change in her demenour was dramatic. The aggression has gone but unfortunately so has about everything else. Suddenly from being reasonably perceptive but very difficult, she appears to have aged about 10 years and become stooped and shaky on her legs and lost the ability to carry out the few tasks she was able to manage.
Up until now I was under the impression that such changes were a gradual progression of the disease but what bothers me now is that in using such drugs one can forsee that the shakiness could lead to the premature use of a wheelchair thus losing the use of legs and the increased help required to go to the toilet leading to the premature use of incontinence wear. This of course makes life easier for the carer (either at home or in a home) but somewhere along the line quality of life of the patient seems to have been left by the wayside.
I can’t help feeling that the use of sedation in this way is a sledgehammer to crack a nut. Surely there is some other form of medication that is a halfway house or has NICE removed them! Maybe I am being cynical about medication but I feel as guilty as hell at the moment for doing this to my wife. Life is easier no doubt but at what cost.
Anybody with similar experiences?
Merlin
Merlin
Because of my wifes increased aggression towards any form of carer, either at home or at the day centre I went in desperation to our GP who changed her current prescription of Promazine to Dozic Haliporidal (a dervative of Valium I am led to believe).
However the point of this thread is that the change in her demenour was dramatic. The aggression has gone but unfortunately so has about everything else. Suddenly from being reasonably perceptive but very difficult, she appears to have aged about 10 years and become stooped and shaky on her legs and lost the ability to carry out the few tasks she was able to manage.
Up until now I was under the impression that such changes were a gradual progression of the disease but what bothers me now is that in using such drugs one can forsee that the shakiness could lead to the premature use of a wheelchair thus losing the use of legs and the increased help required to go to the toilet leading to the premature use of incontinence wear. This of course makes life easier for the carer (either at home or in a home) but somewhere along the line quality of life of the patient seems to have been left by the wayside.
I can’t help feeling that the use of sedation in this way is a sledgehammer to crack a nut. Surely there is some other form of medication that is a halfway house or has NICE removed them! Maybe I am being cynical about medication but I feel as guilty as hell at the moment for doing this to my wife. Life is easier no doubt but at what cost.
Anybody with similar experiences?
Merlin
Merlin