dementia psychosis

[evedawn]

My 81 year old mother has had a sudden severity in dementia and depression, including a time of visual hallucinations with paranoia and anxiety since her husband died end of June, 2007.
She was hospitalized in a geropych unit for 16 days. She is now on Zyprexa 5 mg BID, it has been about 1 month of treatment. She is much better, no hallucinations/paranoia/anxiety. She also takes Lexapro, Aricept and Trazadone (for sleep) - these all are relatively new in the last 3 to 4 weeks. I would like to get her off the Zyprexa. Do you suggest tapering her off or not?

[jo929]

It would appear thet your mom was not given the time to go through the greiving process before she is taken to hosp and slapped on meds a person needs more time and to keep their mind busy i have been there and i had to have time every one greives in a different way in time i believe she would have been better also keep her mind active and do not make her appear to be useless if she is able to get out or read some kind of hobby . i do not know whether your mom is active or not but try to keep her mind on realatiy and always keep her up to date on things later when she feels like talking about it let her talk she needs to start getting on with life and a loving family will help her a lot tell her she is not alone i wish her the very best         madame

[Roger Gould, M.D.]

I can't make a recommendation because it is the doctor's call given what he or she sees.  That is a lot of medication, and the zyprexa may no longer be necessary after the acute episode, so ask your doctor about tapering off if he thinks she is stable enough. But if he just described additioinal medications it suggests that her symptoms have not been controlled well enough..