Some advice please

Blondie81

Registered User
Jul 25, 2015
10
0
Hi eveyone im new to Talking Point my mum has been diagnosed about 3yrs but the last 6 months she has been hallucaiting she see's and hears people kids mostly. Mum has more problems than just alzheimers as she is blind aswell. We know its maybe got to do with her sight loss that she is seeing people as this can happen. But i feel if she was lucid and knew what was happening she would understand they are not real. I have noticed this past week that they annoy her more as i found her very upset yesterday crying she wants to sell the house. I dont want her getting to the point where she dosnt feel comfortable in her own home. She is also getting more annoyed easier snapping at grandkids etc when we all know that is not my mums personality to do that.The doctor has put her on risperidone but a very mild dose but im not happy with her taking them every night as i have looked at the side effects.

Any advice would be appreciated.
 

canary

Registered User
Feb 25, 2014
25,018
0
South coast
Hello Blondie and welcome to Talking Point
Yes, hallucinations can be caused by either dementia or sightloss, but "if she was lucid and knew what was happening she would understand they are not real" is the whole crux of the problem really. This is the unfortunate reality of dementia s that so often they do not understand/remember and it causes distress.
Everything to do with dementia is a balancing act. Im afraid I have no experience resiperidone, but I know many people on here do. I think you have to ask yourself - do the advantages outweigh any side effects?
 

Sola12

Registered User
Nov 5, 2013
2
0
S W Scotland
My dad has just been started on Risperidone too

Hi, my poor Dad fractured one of the care home carers fingers last Thursday and started Risperidone on Friday. Got a phone call from the care home last night as he had pushed another resident to the ground. Very worrying as the care home say that they can't recognise any triggers so must be just another stage. My Dad is 86 and was diagnosed with mixed Dementia almost 5 years ago. Today I looked up the side effects including that it shouldn't be used for more than 6 weeks on the NHS website, and also shouldn't be used if the patient has had a heart attack, which my Dad did in September 2013. Have I agreed to do the right thing? I suppose only time will tell, but the responsibility is crushing!
 

Patricia Alice

Registered User
Mar 2, 2015
179
0
My mom is on Rispiridone but I do not like her taking it, but her sundowners can be quite severe and she became very agitated.

She has moved to a new home today and they have said they will try and get her off Rispiridone as soon as they can.

You have to weigh up the pro's and cons as to their behaviour.

In the short term I agree with but I do not want my mother on it for months.
 

Rheme

Registered User
Nov 23, 2013
159
0
England
My mum has been on Risperidone for about 10 years now and I would not have her on anything else as it works really well. Some years ago (about 7) they took her off it and put her on something else (don't know the name) and it did not work at all and the consequences were aweful - really would not want to go through that again.

Mum was then put back on Risperidone and believe me it has really done the job ever since.

I would add that my mum has dementia and is also blind.
 

Blondie81

Registered User
Jul 25, 2015
10
0
Thank you all for the responses its good to get advice from people with the same problems. I will keep using it and see how she goes. We are bringing her back to the memory clinic just to see what they say and i want to see if there is anything else they can recommend as we can use the risperidone at night but im finding its especially during the day that she is getting annoyed and its making her angry. I'l take a day at a time and see what happens but its just so hard some days when lately it feels like were losing her a little bit more everyday as there is very little conversation out of her now.

Thank you all again.
 

piedwarbler

Registered User
Aug 3, 2010
7,189
0
South Ribble
My mum took citalopram for anxiety and she didn't hallucinate after she took it, though I don't know if that was just co-incidence. It did help massively with her agitation though.

Good luck. Thinking of you.
 

Blondie81

Registered User
Jul 25, 2015
10
0
Thanks for that i'l maybe check that out. She diffently needs some kind of medication for during the day as i have been of work his week and she is so bad during the day it just never stops . Its hard to deal with all the time.
 

ronyork

Registered User
Apr 28, 2015
43
0
Hunts
Risperidone

Will ask if the above might help my wife, I feel we must try something else. This afternoon quite the worst session for a long time .
 

doodle1

Registered User
May 11, 2012
257
0
My mum started on Citalopram when she started to hallucinate and became very aggressive then the memory clinic added a small dose of Risperadone morning and evening and we have not looked back. There have been no noticeable side effects and tbh no violence equals a much happier set of parents.
 

GiCo

Registered User
Jun 7, 2013
15
0
risperidone dilemma

Hi

My Mum is in a care home and is hallucinating all the time. She has little contact with the real world anymore and talks to invisible people who are laughing at her even when I sit and talk to her and try to pull her back to reality. The Psych team have advised trying risperidone but the side effects scare me. I know it is a case of weighing up the pros and cons but the advice seems to be to only use it for 6 weeks. Are we then back to where we started? The risk of stroke seems to increase to about 20% more after 6 weeks which is very high. Her fear and distress are just awful to watch, though.

Any advice?