Friday, August 08, 2008
Recently, the American Journal of Psychiatry published a study about the use of antipsychotic medications in people suffering with Alzheimer's disease. The use of these drugs in this illness has been hotly debated in the past few years. In 2005 the FDA issued a black box warning that the newer, atypi...
My dad was wild when he had Alzheimer's. He even hurt my mom a few times, which he never would have done if he were in his right mind. We finally had a psychiatric consult and he was diagnosed with schizophrenia (despite the fact that the doctor had only observed him for about 15 minutes.) Anyway, the upshot of this was that Dad was given Seroquel and it helped him. He calmed down enough where I could have a conversation with him, even though he rarely remembered I had been there. He was no longer making and unmaking his bed all day, he no longer saw bugs climbing the walls, etc. Because of this we were able to still have a few good times together before he died a few months later. Seroquel was a good choice for him.
Carolyn