Medication for Anxiety

yardman49

Our neurologist has prescribed Quetiapine for anxiety as a once per day med at bedtime. I crush and mix the pill into my DW evening food at she refuses to take a pill. Sometimes the 25MG dosage works well and we can get a good night's sleep. Our neurologist has now prescribed a 50MG dosage in an effort to improve the results.

What experiences and results with this medication have people had?

persevere

Hey yardman, this is otherwise known as serequol. The most common starter drug for anxiety. 25mg is the lowest dose. It’s not until you get up around 150 or 200 a day before it’s considered moderate. My DW is up to 50mg 3 times a day plus other meds. I have mixed results with serequol but I know it works well for most. We just started depakote a few weeks ago and that has helped a lot.

yardman49

Thank you for your input😊

ronda b

I agree 50mg is still a low dose. My Dh is on it and I'm going yo ask to have it increased due to he is getting very anxious fast.

yardman49

https://alzconnected.org/discussion/comment/264913#Comment_264913

Thank you for your input😊

Timmyd

DW started on 25mg. I did not see much difference. It was increased to 50mg once a day and things improved a bit. We are still at 50mg, but sometimes if we are having a rough night I will give her another 50mg and that seems to calm her down. She is taking seroquel in addition to an SSRI (zoloft).

blacksparky

My DW was prescribed Serequel XR 25 mg and the side effects were terrible. Instead of calming her down, she got super agitated and overly anxious. The Dr stopped this and she is now just on 40 mg of Prozac and seems to be a lot better. I also give her THC gummy every afternoon. It’s all about trial and error for each individual. Good luck 👍

tonyac2

My DH takes 50 mg at bedtime along with 10mg of Hydroxyzine. I wanted Xanax for him but they gave him Hydroxyzine instead. He has an appt with a Geri psychiatrist in March, I’ll ask again then.

Jeff H

What are tips if my DW doesn't want to take her daily medications? She keeps asking me what it's for. I can just see her refusing to take them.

Carl46

"Why do I have to take this?"

"So you don't land in hospital again."

It worked for me. Also, some meds can be crushed and hidden in foods (ask your pharmacist).

Timmyd

https://alzconnected.org/discussion/comment/264954#Comment_264954

@Jeff HThere are times when DW is very compliant to taking the meds and times when she is not. I try to pay attention to her mood and energy when we are having good and bad moments. I then try to administer the meds when I sense we are likely to have the most success. For the past few weeks we have been in a good pattern and things are working. When things were not working, I was ok with skipping a day. It reaches a point where the conflict and stress of trying to force the meds far outweighs any benefits of the meds.

When DW asks "what are these for" I have tried a variety of different answers. I did not find that my answer had any real impact on the success of her taking the pills. I found over time I could just learn to sense her mood and energy were aligned with getting her to comply.

My approach does not work as well when the medication schedule is more rigid, such as a pill that must be taken ever 4 hours. We struggle mightily with those.😐️

Jeff H

https://alzconnected.org/discussion/comment/264962#Comment_264962

I too agree with you. Sense my DW's mood and try for success. Thank you!

tonyac2

https://alzconnected.org/discussion/comment/264954#Comment_264954

My DH started chewing his pills, so I started crushing the ones I could and putting them in ice cream. The one I can’t crush, I put whole in with the crushed ones. Most often he takes them. Occasionally, he balks, and yells nooooo!!! I walk away, wait a few minutes and try again. I approach him like it’s the first time trying, let’s take your medicine sweetie. It hadn’t failed yet.

Big Papa2760

Hi, my DW has VD and is entering into stage 7. The doctors just switch how she takes her meds now. She takes them crushed and mixed into ice cream. Hope this helps

SDianeL

https://alzconnected.org/discussion/comment/264954#Comment_264954

I told my husband that the doctor said it would help his brain. He never questioned it. I did not mention his dementia.

SDianeL

I would put his pills in his left hand and a bottle of water in his right hand and say time to take your pills and stand there until he took them and take the water bottle with me. As the disease progressed, sometimes I would have to tell him to put them in his mouth.

H1235

My mom was very upset about taking medication for her “so called +=#-+ mood problem”. From then on I just told her the medication was for something I knew she wouldn’t have a problem with (for diabetes, blood pressure..). That worked. I also learned to never let her see the sheet that comes with the medication stating side effects. This caused a big problem for a while too.

yardman49

https://alzconnected.org/discussion/comment/264954#Comment_264954

Jeff

My DW does not want to take any meds. I crush the meds up into her food that I prepare for her. Check to make sur the meds prescribed are permitted to crush into food as some re not.

Robert1320

https://alzconnected.org/discussion/comment/264954#Comment_264954

Some, but not all, medication can be crushed and added to favorite foods or ice cream.

Check with your pharmacist.