any experience with short term use of sedatives?

Timmyd · June 4

My DW has always been pretty good with air travel. Our last trip was December and it went fairly well. However things have really shifted the past 6 months. Any trip outside the house is now a very frightening experience. I am having trouble imagining her getting through our big city airport experience in her current condition. I fear a public spectacle of meltdowns.

ALZ aside, I am aware of cases where really anxious people are given sedatives like Valium to get them through difficult situations. Does anyone have experience doing something like this for a PWD? I really want to fly across the country to take DW to visit her aging parents, but I have trouble imagining the airport / airplane experience given how she currently reacts to crowded, busy situations.

Chammer · June 4

If you elect to use short term sedatives for travel, I would do a "trial" in a close to home situation that is currently a stressor for her so you are able to assess her reaction to the medication itself and if it helps her handle the stressful situation. And be prepared to pivot. I hope you are able to make this trip peacefully and successfully!

trottingalong · June 4

I think it’s sort of a crap shoot. For mild stress my DH has taken a tiny dose of alprazolam that did help relax him. But then another time he was very out of it and wound up, took the same dose and got so much worse. I would consult your doctor to see what can work best for a person with dementia. Sometimes it’s trial and error. For us, we just stay away from the alprazolam altogether and at this point all the doctor did was increase his antidepressant.

dayn2nite2 · June 4

They can have the opposite effect depending on the person, and cause agitation.

Sometimes it is just time to say "no more travel". I understand you wanting her to see her parents, but perhaps they need to be the ones coming to her, or possibly the time for in-person visits may be over.

jfkoc · June 4

I urge you to make it a cross country drive vacation so you have control of the situation at all times.

Timmyd · June 4

https://alzconnected.org/discussion/comment/244772#Comment_244772

Thanks everyone for your comments. I have thought about driving. We have done it years ago. It is 22 hours in the car. Being of opposite gender, my big concern about driving is how to manage bathroom breaks for DW. During air travel, I can usually find a companion care bathroom. I am not sure how to find those during a long road trip.

Any suggestions welcome.

midge333 · June 4

I think you should strongly consider forgoing travel at this point.

jfkoc · June 4

….how are you going to manage "bathroom" breaks in flight…or delays…or any kind of emotional problem on the plane or in the airport…

…get in the car and turn back if it is not working….I do not think any kind of trial run is a predictor of what will/can happen

Iris L. · June 4

Valium and other sedatives can have a paradoxical effect in some older adults, causing agitation instead of sedation. Ditto what jfkoc said.

Iris

l7pla1w2 · June 5

https://alzconnected.org/discussion/comment/244775#Comment_244775

I don't have suggestions, but I have this observation. For many years DW, the dog, and I made an 8-hour car trip to a vacation home. At rest areas, DW would use the bathroom and I would hold the dog. Then we'd switch.

Last summer it dawned on me that that was becoming a problem, because DW had become increasingly confused. She could use the restroom by herself, but these big service areas have multiple exits, and I became frightened by what might happen if she used the wrong one. So I stayed outside near the big glass windows to watch out for her. Sure enough, when she came out of the restroom, she had a confused (and frightened) look on her face, and I wasn't able to catch her eye. So I had to step inside briefly with the dog, which is forbidden, so I could call to her. Last summer she was not incontinent, but I don't know how I would have handled it if she were.

Since then her condition has deteriorated, and she's in MC, so we won't be making that trip together.

SDianeL · June 5

I would be concerned about sedative effects like sleepiness as the dose is difficult to control. I found this on the NIH website: “Clinicians usually avoid prescribing benzodiazepines for older people with dementia because these drugs are associated with well-documented harms, including fall-related injuries such as fractures.1 They are also associated with cognitive worsening,2 an adverse event that is especially concerning in vulnerable older individuals who already have cognitive deficits.” Valium and other sedatives are in this drug class. I would not travel. Too many uncontrollable things.

Jgirl57 · June 5

I don’t have any suggestions about the sedatives, but the last time we traveled by car , we had good experience with Starbucks restrooms. Not gender specific and privacy of occupancy. We did purchase a snack while there.

harshedbuzz · June 5

In addition to the risk of a paradoxical reaction, common in the elderly and young children, you'd risk being denied boarding if she seemed really out of it.

HB

any experience with short term use of sedatives?

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