GrannyTheThumb: Help for my mum

[GrannyTheThumb]

Hello everyone,
I’m so pleased to have found you all and very happy to be signed up to SA 😊

I’m here for my mum who was born in 1947 and is 76 years old.
It’s taken me a while to get round to writing this, (massive), introduction, and some of the details are a little sketchy as mum’s memory of events aren’t always too clear.

I really need some insight and advice so that I can help my mum so please let me give you some history and background – I’ll try to keep it brief!

My mum has lived most of her life between Ireland and Scotland.
I live in Scotland and, up until the end of 2013, my mum would split her time between her own home in Ireland and my home in Scotland.

In 2013 she went to her doctor (GP) in Ireland and was referred to psychiatry and prescribed sertraline (50mg initially) for low mood and anxiety.

Mum continued to take sertraline for the next three years (2013 – 2016) and was, at some point prescribed risperidone for 3 days but it made mum feel drowsy - we don’t know quite when or why this antipsychotic was prescribed but we are waiting to receive her medical records and should have a clearer picture then.

I’m not sure after this date (2016) if there were any changes to mum’s meds but in February 2017 – May 2017, mum was admitted to the local psychiatric hospital presenting as catatonic and then delirious / psychotic.

During her stay at the hospital, she was diagnosed with psychotic depression and received seven ECT sessions, her sertraline was increased to 200mg and olanzapine was introduced at 10mg twice a day (20mg in total)

From 2017 – 2018 her drugs remained the same.

In March 2018 mood dipped and we think her olanzapine may have been increased.

In June 2019 re-admission to the psychiatric hospital was considered due to earlier catatonic symptoms reappearing. She avoided admission and recovered, her sertraline was switched to venlafaxine 150mg and then increased to 225mg.

In November 2019 Mirtazapine (15mg) was added and in February 2020 pregabalin was introduced for anxiety (initially at 25mg twice a day but then upped to 50mg twice a day)

As far as we are aware there were no changes to mum’s psychiatric meds until 2023.

I should also add that she is on several other meds for other medical conditions – please see drug signature.

Between 2014 and 2022 my mum remained in Ireland and, although she seemed well a good deal of the  time, there would be periods where her mood was very low, and her anxiety really heightened.
Sometimes when mum was like this the doctor would prescribe diazepam to help reduce the severe anxiety.
When mum’s mood was low she would become increasingly anxious about everything and anything and, when spending time with my brother and his two younger children, she was very anxious that they would injure themselves or come to some harm. It was clear to me and my brother that this debilitating anxiety and constant worry was stopping her from being able to enjoy life and her grandchildren (she has always found most joy when being around her children and grandchildren).

We could also see that mum’s physical health was deteriorating and we decided, in 2022, and with mum’s agreement, that it would be best if she permanently moved over to Scotland to be close to me so that I could support and be with her on a much more regular, daily basis.

Mum’s mood and anxiety continued to fluctuate throughout 2022 and, due to other external factors, we couldn’t move her over here quite as quickly as we’d hoped.

At the end of September 2022 she was, once again, in a very anxious/ catatonic state and narrowly avoided being admitted to the psychiatric hospital. She went to stay with my brother and his family for a week while we organized her coming over here.

Although we’re not entirely certain, (as mum was living on her own), it does seem, prior to these more severe unwell periods, that mum was falling into a very anxious state and would stop eating, sleeping and we think perhaps stop taking her meds for maybe one or two doses.

Mum was now living in Scotland with me, and her mood started to improve throughout October. She was offered a flat within the retirement housing complex, just a 10 minute walk away from me.
With mum in Scotland we began to see a definite pattern to her mood - she would be well for around a month and then her mood would drop, out of nowhere and with no obvious trigger, and she would be super anxious with low mood for around 2 weeks and then would slowly start to improve again.

In January 2023 I printed off a mood chart and we filled it in daily.

In February 2023 mum had her first appointment with her new psychiatrist, (I have always been present during these appointments). I expressed concerns around seeing what I thought were some mild signs of tardive dyskinesia and mum was happy to start reducing her olanzapine with her psychiatrist’s support.

The psychiatrist did not warn us about withdrawal effects or warn us to look out for anything and I, much to my deep regret, was completely unaware of the impact and dangers around dose changes in psychiatric drugs.

Mum was on 15mg olanzapine, which was initially reduced to 10mg for 3 months, then to 7.5mg for 3 months, then to 5mg for 3 months.

During the summer of 2023 mum experienced pain in her hip which her GP prescribed additional pregabalin for, increasing her daily dose of 50mg twice a day to 50mg twice a day with the addition of 100mg twice a day to help the pain (thereby taking her daily dose potentially up to 300mg).
Mum did experience some dizziness around this time which we put down to the increased pregabalin dose.

Throughout 2023 mum’s pattern continued in the same fashion as before and I noticed nothing untoward.

Mum had an excellent October, remaining well for almost the entire month and I felt sure I was seeing a reduction in the tardive dyskinesia mouth movements.

On October the 23^rd mum’s olanzapine was further reduced from 5mg to 2.5mg.

On the 26^th of October mum was given her combined covid and flu vaccination – the very next day, (27^th October,) she felt nauseous, dizzy, freezing cold and had general flu-like symptoms.

After reading the patient info leaflet from the jag we assumed these symptoms were a side effect of the vaccination and didn’t for one moment consider that they could be related to the drop in her olanzapine dosage just a few days before…

After 3 – 4 days she felt physically better but her mood had dipped - we weren’t surprised, she’d had a good month of feeling well and her mood was due to dip anyway, according to her pattern.

Although mum had a tough week her mood seemed to be lifting and we went off to her psychiatry appointment. The psychiatrist asked mum how she was and she said she was OK and her mood was lifting – he asked her if she ever felt suicidal and she said no (she has never felt suicidal) he also asked if she suffered from SAD and she said no – she, like me, actually enjoys winter and the festive season very much.

The psychiatrist told her to finish off her new 4 week prescription of olanzapine at 2.5mg and then she would be finished with olanzapine for good.

That evening, around 6.30pm I said goodnight to mum, took a bag of her washing home with me that she asked me to do and said I’d see her tomorrow.

I didn’t get any response from mum to my early morning text and, at 11.15am I decided to go and see where she was and what she was up to.

I found mum unconscious in her living room – at some point during the night before she must have slipped into a delusional state and she had taken all of her month’s supply of tablets and all of the extra pregabalin that she had been prescribed. She also left a bizarre note about not wanting to be a big lady which made no sense.

Mum was rushed by ambulance to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) at a local hospital and my brother and I were told to prepare ourselves for the worst – she was not expected to survive.

Remarkably, and against all the odds, my wee mum survived this terrible ordeal of which she has no memory, (she also has no memory of her stay at the psychiatric hospital in 2017 when she experienced psychosis).

It was at this time that I started to become aware of the damaging effect of these drugs and I became convinced that what had happened to mum was most likely due to a too rapid reduction in her olanzapine.

During her stay at hospital her psychiatrist visited her and as good as reprimanded her for trying to take her own life.
She was experiencing an extremely low mood, confusion and some delirium at this time, she was also classed as an adult without capacity. Despite this, her psychiatrist decided to cold turkey her from all of her psychiatric meds (olanzapine, venlafaxine, mirtazapine and pregabalin) without discussing this with any family member. He did not believe that mum was experiencing withdrawal symptoms and said that any withdrawal symptoms would be long past by now.

I was now also learning the dangers of abruptly stopping psychiatric meds and I became very worried for my mum’s health and this new course of action.

After a phone call with me, the psychiatrist did agree to reinstate mum’s olanzapine at 5mg, at my request, and her venlafaxine, but only at 75mg.

I was still worried and could see that mum was deteriorating – mum was transferred to the local psychiatric hospital and the new psychiatrist was not willing to consider my request of reinstating her mirtazapine and venlafaxine at 225mg but she did agree to increase her venlafaxine to 150mg. A few days later and, after seeing no improvement in mum she decided that mum was having paranoid thoughts so she increased mum’s olanzapine to 7.5mg without discussing this with me – she also suggested that if mum was to experience withdrawal symptoms, like I suggested she was, she would treat them with lorazepam! She, like the other psychiatrist did not agree that mum was experiencing withdrawal and she also said that any withdrawal would be over by now.

I was upset to discover that mum’s care was in the hands of another psychiatrist who wasn’t following the NICE guidelines on withdrawing psychiatric meds and was in denial about the severity or seriousness of possible withdrawal effects.

I would love nothing more than for my mum to be off all of these meds but I knew that this cold turkey method could be incredibly damaging.

From the day her original psychiatrist made the decision to cold turkey her It took me a total of 18 days and a formal complaint before mum’s meds were reinstated on the 11th of December, at her previous dosage and the olanzapine reduced back to 5mg (I had great support from the mental Welfare Commission, by the way, just in case anyone else needs support).

I don’t yet know if I did the right thing, but it was difficult to find advice. Within a week mum’s mood was back to being really good, her memory was dramatically improved, and all confusion was gone.
She continued to improve over the next couple of weeks and was officially discharged from hospital on the 3^rd of January - no one in the hospital could believe how well and quickly she had recovered.

Apparently, according to one of the nurses, the average stay in the psychiatric hospital is 6 – 12 months. Mum was there for just 4 1/2 weeks and spent the best part of those caring for her fellow patients!

So, we find ourselves almost back to square one.

Mum came home and stayed with me from the 3^rd of January 2024 until the 11^th – she then went home but was, unfortunately only well for one day and night and the following day her mood dipped again – I was anxious about what had previously happened so brought her back to stay with us until her mood improved or until I had “GrannyCam” (Echo Show) installed so that I could keep a closer eye on her.
Mum has only just gone back to her wee flat (29^th January 2024) and she is still pretty anxious although she is improving slowly.

And this is where we find ourselves. Many, many thanks for reading so far…😊
 

I am really hoping that I can help support mum to get her off her psychiatric meds – she and I are under no illusions and, given the dosage and time that she has been on this hellish cocktail of meds we are aware that there is an extremely long road ahead of her.

I am hoping, initially, that you guys can help me specifically with the following questions:

·         Would you recommend that mum take her tablets at different times throughout the day (she has morning and evening meds - venlafaxine and pregabalin are taken in the morning and olanzapine, pregabalin and mirtazapine in the evening), and if so, when would you suggest?

·         I feel that the first drug to taper should be the remaining 5mg of Olanzapine – do you think this is right?

·         When do you think it would be the right time to restart the olanzapine taper? And does anyone know if I can source taper strips in the UK on the NHS?

·         Has anyone ever experienced these periods of wellness and then periods of low mood and severe anxiety in a pattern such as I’ve described? Could these be some kind of Waves and Windows, bearing in mind that she was experiencing them prior to starting any kind of drug reduction

·         What can I do to help mum with this terrible anxiety? I have very recently bought her some chelated magnesium and she has had a couple of low doses of that over the last few days (but has avoided taking them 2 hours before or after her pregabalin, as per the SA advice on magnesium)

·         I am obviously very worried that there may be a repeat of what happened to mum on the evening of the 9^th of November given that, aside from the flu like symptoms, there wasn’t much to warn me to be on the look out for such a severe reaction. Do you think that now that I know a little about what to look out for with withdrawal symptoms I will be able to pick up on times like this should they arise in the future when mum is tapering from her meds? 

Any and all advice will be extremely welcome – thank you all so much in advance and my apologies for the massive essay!
Chris (tine) 😊💚 x x

[Onmyway]

Dear @GrannyTheThumb

welcome to SA. How lucky for your mom that she has such wonderful children who care so well for her. Your advocacy for her and complaints may well have saved her life. May everyone be blessed with a daughter like you! 

 

[The title and the reference to Scotland made me think of this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oQoYjU2Fh0M - just for a bit of a humorous break]

 

I will try to help but please know that your mom's case may be too complicated to rely only on our help. Mark Horowitz the person who wrote about hyperbolic tapering of SSRIs is based in London and he may be taking patients. I think you can find his email if you google him. I don't want to share it here. He may be willing to take her on as a patient. That would be the better option as I think he can also prescribe the drugs. 

 

If you do not or cannot take that route, I will make a few suggestions with the idea of "safety first". 

 

* I would not leave your mum with all these medications. Whether she tried to commit suicide or was confused or had a psychotic break which made her confused, it doesn't matter. It can potentially repeat itself. I would ration her meds for every day and you keep the rest - given that you seem to see her every day. You may be already doing it but in case you are not, pls do. 

 

* Is your mum getting any psychological support - such as a CBT etc. This may be helpful to teach her tools to manage her moods. 

 

* The cyclical nature of the symptoms is a bit worrying. I don't have an explanation for that. There is a theory that antidepressants cause a type of activation that can be mistaken for bipolar disorder but that does not seem to be the case here. Or is it, based on your observation? The book Anatomy of an Epidemic can tell you more about it. Venlafaxine is known to be activating (hence taken in the morning).

 

* Your mom seems to be having digestive issues based on her meds. Have those been reviewed? Does she have a diagnosis or is she treating that symptomatically? Lansoprazole will impact the absorption of some drugs. Her digestive issues may be implicated in that as well but I am not a doctor and I do not know. 

 

* Why is your mom taking buprenorphine (Butec)?

 

Usually, we recommend a period of stability before you start tapering. The brain needs to reach some sort of homeostasis. Do you think she#s stable enough? We only recommend tapering quickly or immediately after a dysregulation if we suspect adverse effects. To understand if any of the drugs give her adverse effects, I would suggest that you track whether there is an uptick to her symptoms at the time of taking the drug or soon thereafter. If there is, likely that drug is causing it and needs to be tapered first. If not we start our usual 'rule'. 

 

The order of tapering is 

1) most harmful drug first - either harmful because of adverse effects or long term effects

2) most activating drug first (if all equally harmful) 

3) most sedating drug last

 

Of the ones that you have talked about olanzapine is the most harmful - it is already causing her tardive dyskinesia and is anti-cholinergic which means that it impacts memory with long term use and she is old. But if she has had psychotic episodes, this is a bit trickier because antipsychotic withdrawal itself can result in psychotic episodes. So really beware here. Maybe you need to go very very slow here. You could try brassmonkey's taper which is essentially lowering 2.5% of previous dose every week and then after four weeks hold for two weeks (keep at the same dose). https://www.survivingantidepressants.org/forums/topic/27883-the-brassmonkey-slide-method-of-micro-tapering/#comment-347786

 

The next harmful drug for older people after that are sedating drugs because they tend to cause balance issues and falls and that is bad. In this case that is mirtazapine but could also be pregabalin. Does pregabalin cause sedation in your mom? The conflict here is that these drugs preserve sleep because insomnia is a common side effect with withdrawal. Does she get hangover effects the next day? If there was no risk of falls, I would suggest venlafaxine to go next. 

 

The other thing you could do is to taper each in a row every month. So first month 10% drop of olanzapine (or brassmonkey's slide for 6 weeks of ozanzapine), then next month 10% drop of mirtazapine and third month 10% drop of venlafaxine. 

One of the antipsychotic drugs and I am not sure if it was olanzapine has different effects at different doses - at low doses is an antihistamine and at higher doses becomes an anti-psychotic. @hayduke, can you please help us here? 

 

There are lots of hard choices that you need to make here and none of them will have pleasant consequences in the short term.

Advice from a doctor who understands WD would be really helpful but until then we can start talking here. 

 

Please let me know any comments/questions you may have.

What you have been living through the last few months seems very hard and I hope that you take a breath and practice self care as well. I can't imagine how hard it must have been to find your mom unconscious. 

Hugs, 
OMW

[hayduke]

1 hour ago, Onmyway said:

One of the antipsychotic drugs and I am not sure if it was olanzapine has different effects at different doses - at low doses is an antihistamine and at higher doses becomes an anti-psychotic. @hayduke, can you please help us here? 

The bulk of them do.  Here is the best explanation of that phenomenon I know of:  https://thelastpsychiatrist.com/2007/07/the_most_important_article_on.html

[Onmyway]

5 hours ago, hayduke said:

The bulk of them do.  Here is the best explanation of that phenomenon I know of:  https://thelastpsychiatrist.com/2007/07/the_most_important_article_on.html

Thanks @hayduke. That's the article that I remember. But couldn't find the link. 

 

[GrannyTheThumb]

@Onmyway and @hayduke - thank you so much for replying, my apologies for not being able to reply sooner - I have been so busy looking after mum and dealing with other stuff.
Thanks also for the link to the scottish granny reading to her grandson - have you seen her read Wonky Donkey? That one is hilarious too! 🤣
Thanks very much for all of the advice so far - I'll try to answer some of your questions.
Thanks also for the suggestion of contacting Mark Horrowitz - I'll speak to mum and definitely try to touch base with him.

Oh, and thanks for saying such nice things about me - I've told my mum how wonderful I am - she agreed with you! 😆

On 2/8/2024 at 11:50 PM, Onmyway said:

I would not leave your mum with all these medications. Whether she tried to commit suicide or was confused or had a psychotic break which made her confused, it doesn't matter. It can potentially repeat itself. I would ration her meds for every day and you keep the rest - given that you seem to see her every day. You may be already doing it but in case you are not, pls do. 

Mum's meds have been reduced to a week's meds only, she has them in a weekly blister pack for each morning and evening. I have been seeing her daily and have also been dropping in on Granny Cam throughout the day including at meds time - 9am and 9pm. I don't really want to remove her meds from her as I think that may knock her confidence and make her feel less able and independent and I feel confident that it would only happen again if she were to slip into withdrawal induced psychosis - but if you really think it's unsafe to leave them with her then I will chat to her about it. 
 

 

On 2/8/2024 at 11:50 PM, Onmyway said:

Is your mum getting any psychological support - such as a CBT etc. This may be helpful to teach her tools to manage her moods. 

Mum's first appointment with her psychologist was in January and she has been seeing her every fortnight - I did say to the psychologist that I hoped she would be able to support mum with CBT, especially when she emarks on tapering. CBT doesn't seem to have started yet but my mum's been having an anxiety spell and I think the psychiatrist is focusing on breathing techniques and the like.

 

On 2/8/2024 at 11:50 PM, Onmyway said:

The cyclical nature of the symptoms is a bit worrying. I don't have an explanation for that. There is a theory that antidepressants cause a type of activation that can be mistaken for bipolar disorder but that does not seem to be the case here. Or is it, based on your observation? The book Anatomy of an Epidemic can tell you more about it. Venlafaxine is known to be activating (hence taken in the morning).

I have read Anatomy of an Epidemic - it was a real eye opener. I have since passed it on to my brother, but I don't recall feeling as though anything neccessarily made me think of mum's anxiety / low mood pattern. I'll maybe order another copy and read it again.
Is there a way I can reach out to others on the site and see if they have experience of a similar cycle? It is so debilitating for mum and, I'm afraid to say, exhausting for me too 😞

 

On 2/8/2024 at 11:50 PM, Onmyway said:

Your mom seems to be having digestive issues based on her meds. Have those been reviewed? Does she have a diagnosis or is she treating that symptomatically? Lansoprazole will impact the absorption of some drugs. Her digestive issues may be implicated in that as well but I am not a doctor and I do not know. 

Mum was diagnosed with Ulcerative Colitis as a young child (around 9 or 10 years old, I think)
Her sulfasalazine and lansoprazole are to help with that - perhaps we can speak to her GP and see if the lansoprazole could be replaced with something else that could be taken at a different time during the day, or removed entirely - I'll check it out.

 

On 2/8/2024 at 11:50 PM, Onmyway said:

 

* Why is your mom taking buprenorphine (Butec)?

 

Mum has arthritic pain, back pain and and pain from fibromyalgia - I'm not quite sure which one the Butec patch is for, or if it is for all of them - again, I'll discuss with mum and check it out with the GP.

 

On 2/8/2024 at 11:50 PM, Onmyway said:

Usually, we recommend a period of stability before you start tapering. The brain needs to reach some sort of homeostasis. Do you think she#s stable enough?

I think so - this recent anxious spell has been longer than others but I think it's because a few additional anxiety inducing factors have been thrown in. She has her first psychiatry appointment, since leaving hospital, with her new psychiatrist mid March so, I'm thinking that may be a good time to perhaps restart her olanzapine taper. I'm obvs keeping a very close eye on her and won't suggest we start if I don't feel she is stable and I think we should defs go as slow as we can with that taper, as you suggest. Brassmonkey's taper sounds like a good plan - I'll take information with me to the appointment for the psychiatrist.

 

On 2/8/2024 at 11:50 PM, Onmyway said:

One of the antipsychotic drugs and I am not sure if it was olanzapine has different effects at different doses - at low doses is an antihistamine and at higher doses becomes an anti-psychotic

 

I read the article about antipsychotics that Hayduke added a link to (thank you, @hayduke 😊) I had actually read it before - it was one of the frst things that I read while searching online for what may have happened to mum - I can see from rereading it that I'll need to brush up on the science side of things...science was never my strong point! 😆

 

Thanks so much for the advice about tapering and which meds to consider first, I think we are singing from the same song sheet regarding the olanzapine.
Mum has suffered with a poor sleep pattern for a number of years so perhaps mirtazapine last, as discussed.
It would be great if her new psychiatrist is familiar with WD but, like so many others on here and elsewhere, it seems the chances of finding that type of doctor are slim.
I'll keep you posted and defs try to contact Mark Horrowitz in the meantime - he may even know of someone in Scotland that could support mum 🤞
 

Thanks again for replying to me and for all the support that is offered to folks on these pages🥰💚x x x 

 

 

 

[Onmyway]

Hi @GrannyTheThumb, the plan sounds good. 

What Anatomy of an Epidemic was saying is that antidepressants activate the nervous system and create symptoms that then are classed as a 'latent bipolar disorder that was activated' but it is in effect iatrogenic. I am unclear about the cyclical symptoms that you report - what exactly were they like? What do you think caused them? 

@Altostrata has advised to ask whether there were doses missed during her treatment which may have caused withdrawal for a long time and these cyclical symptoms may have been the 'windows and waves' playing out. 

 

Please keep us updated about the drugs. If she has been taking the lansoprazole forever then the absorption or lack thereof has been steady during that time. Changing those may derail more things. Let's leave them alone for now. 

 

As for the weekly medicine left with your mom - I understand how sensitive this issue is but if it were me, I would not dare leave her with a week's dose - given how many things she takes and the mixture, if she takes a whole week's worth of all these pills, it may not be safe. David Healy is another psychiatrist that is aware of withdrawal. I think he was in Wales at some point, no idea where he is now. 

 

Hope things get settled for you soon
OMW

 

[GrannyTheThumb]

Hello again, @Onmyway 🥰
Thanks again for your reply and help 💚
 

On 2/19/2024 at 4:39 PM, Onmyway said:

What Anatomy of an Epidemic was saying is that antidepressants activate the nervous system and create symptoms that then are classed as a 'latent bipolar disorder that was activated'

Bought myself another copy, just waiting for it to arrive...

On 2/19/2024 at 4:39 PM, Onmyway said:

I am unclear about the cyclical symptoms that you report - what exactly were they like? What do you think caused them? 

I really don't know what's causing these regular, cyclical anxiety and low mood spells - they arrive like clockwork and completely out of the blue with no obvious triggers. One day mum is really well and the next she is at rock bottom with severe, debilitating anxiety about everything and anything - none of it rational.
The anxiety stays for around 2 - 3 weeks and reduces in severity over this time, then mum's back to feeling well again for a few weeks.
This most recent anxiety spell has lasted longer than all of the others and is still ongoing - possibly her nervous system has been thrown out of further whack by recent events or, perhaps, there have been a number of anxiety inducing situations during this most recent spell.
When she's like this she feels unable to engage in any of her regular activities, she doesn't want to see anyone apart from me and my partner, and she finds herself constantly worrying about her family and what harm may come to them - she also worries about other things but the list is too long for this reply!

 

On 2/19/2024 at 4:39 PM, Onmyway said:

 @Altostrata has advised to ask whether there were doses missed during her treatment which may have caused withdrawal for a long time and these cyclical symptoms may have been the 'windows and waves' playing out.

I think there may have been, I know when she was particularly poorly in Ireland she missed at least one dose that my brother and I are definitely aware of, and I feel fairly confident that she may have missed a dose at other times too.
However, because mum was in Ireland I can't be entirely sure - I'll have a better insight once we receive her medical records.
She has also had the recent short-lived cold turkey experience that her psychiatrist put in place which I had reversed - I think it took me 18 days or so to have her meds reinstated, (she had, of course, had a massive dose of all of her meds which caused the recent hospitalisation prior to the cold turkey).
Certainly the Waves and Windows seems in some ways to fit, and it is something I wondered myself, although the waves never seem to get any easier or shorter 😕

 

On 2/19/2024 at 4:39 PM, Onmyway said:

If she has been taking the lansoprazole forever then the absorption or lack thereof has been steady during that time. Changing those may derail more things. Let's leave them alone for now. 

That's good advice 👍
I spoke to the pharmicist at our local doctor's surgery the other day and he told me that mum has been on lansoprazole since 2011 for a gastric ulcer - it's a real shame that this wasn't reviewed over the last 13 years, as I think lansoprazole can bring its own problems but, as you say, probs best to leave that alone for now although the pharmicist at the surgery said that it would perhaps be a good idea to have it reduced - do you think that would be a good idea? Keep it in place but reduce it? Or should we just leave well alone?
 

 

On 2/19/2024 at 4:39 PM, Onmyway said:

As for the weekly medicine left with your mom - I understand how sensitive this issue is but if it were me, I would not dare leave her with a week's dose - given how many things she takes and the mixture, if she takes a whole week's worth of all these pills, it may not be safe

OK, so I discussed this with mum...😬
She doesn't want me to take total control of her meds - she asked me if I didn't trust her - I told her it was the drugs I didn't trust, not her.
I certainly don't think she is or has ever been suicidal, but I know she wasn't before, and still the drugs did this to her.
I have left the week's supply with her for now and will discuss it with my brother so that it's not just me making this kind of important decision.
I also mentioned it to my daughter who said that if the drugs, or withdrawal from the drugs, caused her Granny to be compelled to harm herself then she could use something other than the drugs if it happened again - I think that's a valid point and I have found myself worrying since mum came home from hospital about the other ways that she could harm herself if the same situation should arise.
I do check in every evening and early morning and I drop throughout the day so I feel fairly comfortable that she's OK just now but I will discuss with my brother and I'd really appreciate your thoughts too 💚

On 2/8/2024 at 11:50 PM, Onmyway said:

Mark Horowitz the person who wrote about hyperbolic tapering of SSRIs is based in London and he may be taking patients.

I contacted Mark 😊
He doesn't take patients in the UK as such, but does support people with tapering through online consultations - I'm going to ask him a few more questions and hopefully mum will be able to have some sessions with Mark in the future 🥰
Mum has her first appointment in March with her newly assigned NHS psychiatrist - fingers crossed we get a good one! 
 

Thanks again, Onmyway - I really appreciate your support 🥰💚