Guest guest Posted October 22, 2006 Report Share Posted October 22, 2006 Hi Barb, My husband has been on Ativan for years also Paxil as well and hes been DX for 3years soon , and hes still on it , Paxil was taken for temper control , Ativan to keep him calm , hope this helps a bit , takecare Eileen B.... Canada -- Ativan My Mom has LBD and has been on Ativan probably for several years. She only takes 1/2 mg. morning and night. What is the problem with LBD patients taking Ativan. I keep reading that it is bad, but have not been able to find a post where it says how it effects them. Mom has very low tolerance for medication. She was put on antipsychotic drugs and almost died when we first realized that she had LBD. We know she cannot take those. She also had severe problems when they tried to put her on sleeping meds (Roserem). We finally took her off of everything and she got so much better. However, she was still real anxious, so we put her back on Ativan. She has periods when she is lucid and periods when she is not. She does very well for weeks at a time. I have not been ab le to see that the Ativan is causing any additional symptoms. I am afraid to make any changes to her meds. Thanks, Barbara Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted October 22, 2006 Report Share Posted October 22, 2006 http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/LBDcaregivers/message/54211 http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/LBDcaregivers/message/54212 http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/LBDcaregivers/message/54301 http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/LBDcaregivers/message/54358 http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/LBDcaregivers/message/49602 Also go to the Links section: http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/LBDcaregivers/links And read within the folder: " Drugs - Problematic for some LBD people " And go to the Files section: http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/LBDcaregivers/files/ And read from the folder marked: " Medications The Good, the Bad and the Ugly " Within that read: Benzodiazepine Warnings.doc Hope that helps... PS -- Disclaimer -- everyone w/ LBD is different - which makes it difficult for all of us to make our decisions... > > My Mom has LBD and has been on Ativan probably for several years. She only takes 1/2 mg. morning and night. What is the problem with LBD patients taking Ativan. I keep reading that it is bad, but have not been able to find a post where it says how it effects them. > > Mom has very low tolerance for medication. She was put on antipsychotic drugs and almost died when we first realized that she had LBD. We know she cannot take those. She also had severe problems when they tried to put her on sleeping meds (Roserem). We finally took her off of everything and she got so much better. However, she was still real anxious, so we put her back on Ativan. She has periods when she is lucid and periods when she is not. She does very well for weeks at a time. I have not been able to see that the Ativan is causing any additional symptoms. I am afraid to make any changes to her meds. > Thanks, > Barbara > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted October 22, 2006 Report Share Posted October 22, 2006 HI Barbara, There are some LO's on this list who are able to tolerate low doses of Ativan. There is such a thing as rebound anxiety effect which happens to people who take these types of meds - it makes the anxiety worse. My mom had terrible anxiety with LBD and there were many days where I wish I had given her Ativan but I was terrified that it would make her worse. She was on seroquel for a while, very low dose and it knocked her out but it was better to her being anxious all day. Best to you and your mom. Courage Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted October 23, 2006 Report Share Posted October 23, 2006 My dad was prescribed Ativan at the ER hospital that I took him to when he was having his first visual hallucinations. After just taking 1 Ativan he completely freaked out!! He didn't know where he was, he was crying and thought the sun was setting in the wrong direction, he yelled at the " people " he saw. He had a crazed look in his eyes. It was so scary seeing my dad like that! We didn't give him anymore Ativan (his dr. started him on Seroquel) and finally after a week or so, he started calming down. Rhonda > > My Mom has LBD and has been on Ativan probably for several years. She only takes 1/2 mg. morning and night. What is the problem with LBD patients taking Ativan. I keep reading that it is bad, but have not been able to find a post where it says how it effects them. > > Mom has very low tolerance for medication. She was put on antipsychotic drugs and almost died when we first realized that she had LBD. We know she cannot take those. She also had severe problems when they tried to put her on sleeping meds (Roserem). We finally took her off of everything and she got so much better. However, she was still real anxious, so we put her back on Ativan. She has periods when she is lucid and periods when she is not. She does very well for weeks at a time. I have not been able to see that the Ativan is causing any additional symptoms. I am afraid to make any changes to her meds. > Thanks, > Barbara > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted October 23, 2006 Report Share Posted October 23, 2006 Barbara: Are you sure it is Ativan, or is it Aricept? Ativan is a pretty potent drug to be on for that long of a time. I had it once, too, and I can tell you, I never want it again. I just had major surgery that morning, and I guess they wanted me to settle down that night, so they gave it to me. In the night, first night after surgery, I got up (I had not even been able to get up prior to that), jerked the IV from my arm, the tube out of my nose, and I DID NOT EVEN REMEMBER DOING IT. The first thing I remember was standing by the bed, and then they pushed me down and rammed the feeding tube back down my nose and throat. If I ever go to the hospital again, there will be instructions for NO ATIVAN. Can you imagine what it would do to someone demented who couldn't tell you what it was doing to them? My husband's doctor gave me some for when he was still at home and if he ever got completely out of control. Said it was a very dangerous drug and to only use 1/2 tablet. I had to use it once to calm him down. --- Rhonda wrote: > My dad was prescribed Ativan at the ER hospital that > I took him to when he was having his > first visual hallucinations. After just taking 1 > Ativan he completely freaked out!! He didn't > know where he was, he was crying and thought the sun > was setting in the wrong direction, > he yelled at the " people " he saw. He had a crazed > look in his eyes. It was so scary seeing > my dad like that! We didn't give him anymore Ativan > (his dr. started him on Seroquel) and > finally after a week or so, he started calming down. > > > Rhonda > > > > > > > > My Mom has LBD and has been on Ativan probably for > several years. She only takes 1/2 > mg. morning and night. What is the problem with LBD > patients taking Ativan. I keep > reading that it is bad, but have not been able to > find a post where it says how it effects > them. > > > > Mom has very low tolerance for medication. She > was put on antipsychotic drugs and > almost died when we first realized that she had LBD. > We know she cannot take those. She > also had severe problems when they tried to put her > on sleeping meds (Roserem). We > finally took her off of everything and she got so > much better. However, she was still real > anxious, so we put her back on Ativan. She has > periods when she is lucid and periods > when she is not. She does very well for weeks at a > time. I have not been able to see that > the Ativan is causing any additional symptoms. I am > afraid to make any changes to her > meds. > > Thanks, > > Barbara > > > > [Non-text portions of this message have been > removed] > > > > > > __________________________________________________ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted October 23, 2006 Report Share Posted October 23, 2006 hello all, i too had lbd once when i had one of my longest major surgeries, i was under the knife over 8 hours and had my heart stop twice due to the lenght of time , my high tolerance to pain medications and the seriousness of hte surgery. i had ativan and i severely hallucinated to the point i had to be restrained for 2 days until it worked out of my system. first of all, i swore that isomeone came inot my room *i was in a private icu room* that the guy in the bed next to me had been shot and noone would come help him he would scream incessantly and still noone would come to help him no matter how many times i asked them too, that wasnt bad enough that i swore there were spiders walking all over my body. ( a note, i will wake donnie from a dead sleep to kill a spider or creepy crawly in the house). i would scream and scratch and claw at my arms adn body and even ended out pulling some staples out of my belly trying to get the spiders off of me, they had to sedate me and knock me out for 2 days until it was out of my system. and even sedated the hallucinatoins seems to real, even though my brain knows that i was in a private ICU room and that there is NO WAY that there was someone shot next to me, and i know better a part of me stills wonders if it was real or not, so i can empathize with our loved ones believeing that their hallucinations are very real, for information purposes. hugs, sharon m ---- June Christensen wrote: Barbara: Are you sure it is Ativan, or is it Aricept? Ativan is a pretty potent drug to be on for that long of a time. I had it once, too, and I can tell you, I never want it again. I just had major surgery that morning, and I guess they wanted me to settle down that night, so they gave it to me. In the night, first night after surgery, I got up (I had not even been able to get up prior to that), jerked the IV from my arm, the tube out of my nose, and I DID NOT EVEN REMEMBER DOING IT. The first thing I remember was standing by the bed, and then they pushed me down and rammed the feeding tube back down my nose and throat. If I ever go to the hospital again, there will be instructions for NO ATIVAN. Can you imagine what it would do to someone demented who couldn't tell you what it was doing to them? My husband's doctor gave me some for when he was still at home and if he ever got completely out of control. Said it was a very dangerous drug and to only use 1/2 tablet. I had to use it once to calm him down. --- Rhonda wrote: > My dad was prescribed Ativan at the ER hospital that > I took him to when he was having his > first visual hallucinations. After just taking 1 > Ativan he completely freaked out!! He didn't > know where he was, he was crying and thought the sun > was setting in the wrong direction, > he yelled at the " people " he saw. He had a crazed > look in his eyes. It was so scary seeing > my dad like that! We didn't give him anymore Ativan > (his dr. started him on Seroquel) and > finally after a week or so, he started calming down. > > > Rhonda > > > > > > > > My Mom has LBD and has been on Ativan probably for > several years. She only takes 1/2 > mg. morning and night. What is the problem with LBD > patients taking Ativan. I keep > reading that it is bad, but have not been able to > find a post where it says how it effects > them. > > > > Mom has very low tolerance for medication. She > was put on antipsychotic drugs and > almost died when we first realized that she had LBD. > We know she cannot take those. She > also had severe problems when they tried to put her > on sleeping meds (Roserem). We > finally took her off of everything and she got so > much better. However, she was still real > anxious, so we put her back on Ativan. She has > periods when she is lucid and periods > when she is not. She does very well for weeks at a > time. I have not been able to see that > the Ativan is causing any additional symptoms. I am > afraid to make any changes to her > meds. > > Thanks, > > Barbara > > > > [Non-text portions of this message have been > removed] > > > > > > __________________________________________________ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted October 24, 2006 Report Share Posted October 24, 2006 Hello Sharon, Dear one. You have been there big time. I really appreciate your telling your stories. I do believe Doctors are reading our post and learning from them. I hope so. And, of course your post is most educational to the rest of us. I understand you were in the hospital for five weeks, and even at this time you have very bad health problems. My hat is off to you in a big way for staying on and supporting this List, even after your Father passed. This list needs you and your experiences very much so. You cannot tell about your experiences too many time, because so many new caregivers come on board, so your words are always needed. Thank you to a very special friend, Imogene Caregiver for my True Texas Gentleman husband of 35 years. He has LBD with Parkinsonism. In a message dated 10/23/2006 11:47:39 PM Central Daylight Time, LadySmilingAtU2@... writes: hello all, i too had lbd once when i had one of my longest major surgeries, i was under the knife over 8 hours and had my heart stop twice due to the lenght of time , my high tolerance to pain medications and the seriousness of hte surgery. i had ativan and i severely hallucinated to the point i had to be restrained for 2 days until it worked out of my system. first of all, i swore that isomeone came inot my room *i was in a private icu room* that the guy in the bed next to me had been shot and noone would come help him he would scream incessantly and still noone would come to help him no matter how many times i asked them too, that wasnt bad enough that i swore there were spiders walking all over my body. ( a note, i will wake donnie from a dead sleep to kill a spider or creepy crawly in the house). i would scream and scratch and claw at my arms adn body and even ended out pulling some staples out of my belly trying to get the spiders off of me, they had to sedate me and knock me out for 2 days until it was out of my system. and even sedated the hallucinatoins seems to real, even though my brain knows that i was in a private ICU room and that there is NO WAY that there was someone shot next to me, and i know better a part of me stills wonders if it was real or not, so i can empathize with our loved ones believeing that their hallucinations are very real, for information purposes. hugs, sharon m Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted October 24, 2006 Report Share Posted October 24, 2006 Ativan is not necessarily a bad drug in and off itself. It is an amnestic (causes you to forget) but some people do tolerate it well, and some do not. If a person with LBD has been on it for a time, and is having no bad effects, then so be it. I would hesitate increasing dose, even though low dose has been tolerated well. I have seen numerous times where lorazepam causes a paradoxical effect (if it's supposed to do one thing, it causes another). This does not mean it's a bad drug--it means the person taking it can't tolerate it. I can't stress enough that medication tolerance and effect is an independent and personal thing. Just because some people can't take it, for reasons listed below, doesn't mean that no one should take it. Since an LBD brain plays tricks, the less meds the better. And, if a LO has a symptom that needs medicated (anxiety, agitation) there are other drugs out there that are less likely to cause problems. Dodie (Mom, 71. Dxed with LBD 3/06 after brain surgery. Dad, 81, died 2/06 of pancreatic CA. Knew Mom wasn't " right " , but thought it was psychiatric. Now wonder how long (and what toll) the LBD took on my Dad.) --------------------------------- Get your own web address for just $1.99/1st yr. We'll help. Yahoo! Small Business. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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