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Hi, Iam 94 Years Old And My Wife Is 86...I
Hi, Iam 94 years old and my wife is 86...I have been acting as caregiver since she had hip surgery 2 years ago. The hospital staff put her on Alprazolam (0.25 mg/day) for Anxiety and Citalapram (Depression).
Her symptoms were mild immediately after starting the medications but got progressively worse as time went by. She gradually assumed an exaggerated sense of her abilities such as insisting she can go back to work she performed more than 20 years ago. Her short term memory has progressively gotten worse, yet she insists her memory is perfect. She bitterly complains when she observes a woman driving and insists she will re-new her expired license and drive her own car. Her anxiety has gotten so bad that she is terrified of being left alone. Therefore she must accompany me on all medical appointments. I have tried hiring someone to stay with her but she refuses anyone but me. With this in mind I asked her Primary provider if I could try to gradually stop her anxiety medication. He agreed and put her on same dose every other day for 30 days and then one half tab every other day for 30days then stop. I started
this program 10 days ago and noticed that in the last few days there is not much difference in her reactions. Her symptoms have not improved, her brain CT came back normal, she still wants to drive
and seek employment. I must add that one of the changes in her personality was her unwillingness to
cook and prepare meals at home. I have made several attempts to do this but she refuses to eat. She
insists on dining out every day. She also insists on wine which I believe is one of the things that the
medication manufacturers cautions against. She becomes very upset if I suggest abstaining. She is VERY aware she has a problem and is very sensitive about it. For example she is being treated by a
Clinical Psychologist with talk therapy. I always accompany her and attempted to discuss her memory
problems. There was an outburst from her and she threatened to walk out of the meeting. With all of
this in mind I wonder if I am doing the proper thing by attempting to stop her anxiety medication?
Her symptoms were mild immediately after starting the medications but got progressively worse as time went by. She gradually assumed an exaggerated sense of her abilities such as insisting she can go back to work she performed more than 20 years ago. Her short term memory has progressively gotten worse, yet she insists her memory is perfect. She bitterly complains when she observes a woman driving and insists she will re-new her expired license and drive her own car. Her anxiety has gotten so bad that she is terrified of being left alone. Therefore she must accompany me on all medical appointments. I have tried hiring someone to stay with her but she refuses anyone but me. With this in mind I asked her Primary provider if I could try to gradually stop her anxiety medication. He agreed and put her on same dose every other day for 30 days and then one half tab every other day for 30days then stop. I started
this program 10 days ago and noticed that in the last few days there is not much difference in her reactions. Her symptoms have not improved, her brain CT came back normal, she still wants to drive
and seek employment. I must add that one of the changes in her personality was her unwillingness to
cook and prepare meals at home. I have made several attempts to do this but she refuses to eat. She
insists on dining out every day. She also insists on wine which I believe is one of the things that the
medication manufacturers cautions against. She becomes very upset if I suggest abstaining. She is VERY aware she has a problem and is very sensitive about it. For example she is being treated by a
Clinical Psychologist with talk therapy. I always accompany her and attempted to discuss her memory
problems. There was an outburst from her and she threatened to walk out of the meeting. With all of
this in mind I wonder if I am doing the proper thing by attempting to stop her anxiety medication?
