Posted by Racer on December 6, 2007, at 10:10:59
In reply to Re: Olanzapine 'side effects' » yxibow, posted by Babak on December 6, 2007, at 4:48:12
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> The program I saw was about the use of antipsychotic medication on people with dementia and it purported to make them worse and having irreversible effects of the brain which is scary to say the least.
>And there is a huge difference between using anti-psychotics in those with dementia versus using anti-psychotics on those with other sorts of problems. Correlation versus causation: the dementia patients will, sadly, get worse, and that worsening will be irreversible in all likelihood. Are the anti-psychotic medications influencing that at all? If so, are they causing it (very unlikely); contributing to it (possibly); or influencing it in any other way (as like as not, since even aspirin would influence it)? Especially with what's shown on TV, it's important to be very, very skeptical. And none of the information about anti-psychotic use in dementia necessarily applies to anti-psychotic use in any other patient.
As far as sleep goes, I'm assuming you've tried Trazodone, and it hasn't worked. In which case, if you can't take anti-psychotics, you can't take hypnotics, and you haven't found help from Trazodone, I think it's time to look into behavioral interventions to improve sleep hygiene. They won't work as immediately, but if medication isn't working for you, that's what's left, and they can be very effective for sleep.
Good luck.
poster:Racer
thread:798912
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20071204/msgs/799097.html