This is absolutely not acceptable and as an advocate I personally am going to look into the case of 90 injections of Haldol as if she was my own Grandmother/Mother Let me remind people that Haldol quite often induces psychotic symptoms, and is used on a regular basis inside psych wards to quiet people as well. [with forced injections].

It's a very disgusting situation. Not to mention that a tiny dose of an anti-depressant or major tranquilizor or mood stabilizer might be all it takes to affect balance and cause a fall.

A fall at that age can mean a broken hip, arm, just about anything might break. Then there's pain and more meds and the whole thing spirals out of control.

Psychosis and psychotic are defined by authority. When the patient has it and when it stops , is not judged by blood test or anything scientific measuring psychotic chemicals in the blood, but by how cooperative/obedient the patient is to those in authority.
How does one control anger that erupts in physical violence in the elderly, I don't know. Maybe talk with them and try to stop-prevent whats making them angry, or at least acknowledge to them that the reasons for anger are justified. Most people use physical violence as a last resort in a bad situation I believe.

Mark, the agitation and self-harm [biting self, pulling off crowns from teeth as examples]can be part of the Alzheimer's progression. I've seen patients beat their heads, scratch themselves raw--have to have teeth pulled[seriously]. It's a wicked attack of the mind, where yes, they are still "there", I truly believe that--and it in my opinion is the wanting to leave the situation, they are trapped in their minds.

Now, music and singing connects to a part of the brain that quite often the patient remembers songs from childhood, etc. if loving care is provided, and time spent with a person, their anxiety diminishes, and they sing, and often shed tears.

This is why medicating them is in my opinion just trying to shut them and their feelings up. Though the agitation is there, part of the illness---places are not equipped with staff, or ppl. who understand dementia or Alzheimers.

I've been able to "speak" to my daughter via singing her favorite songs, and quite often, after weeks of "being missing" she will belt out the tune like no other.

This is important to understand, that when discussing dementia, it can be applied to mental illness, and psych wards that have pianos--I've heard the most beautiful music played by patients who are the most agitated.

Music therapy is better than Haldol. If anyone has ever participated in singing at nursing homes in choirs--you know the happiness I've seen on grandmothers/grandfather's faces.

Mark,,

Check this link out:

http://tinyurl.com/yqom4o

This is relevant exert:

At the Cobble Hill Health Center in Brooklyn, Dr. Louis Mudannayake decided to try to change the thinking at his 400-bed nursing home.

Ignoring naysayers and the doomsday predictions of senior nurses, 18 months ago he put together a team of pharmacists, social workers and recreational therapists to review every atypical prescription.

If a new roommate caused agitation, room assignments were changed. If a new aide was hit while dressing a patient, the aide was given special training on that patient's preferences and routine.

Though the nursing home's resources were initially stretched, Mudannayake said the quality of patients' lives improved. "Ultimately, I'm convinced financial expenditures will be diminished, because it's easier to manage a patient who is calm," he said.

Atypical use at Cobble Hill has been cut from about 25 percent of patients to about 10 percent, he said. Almost 40 percent of patients were taken off the drugs completely; 75 percent of those still on the drugs have had their dosage reduced.

"We instituted a cultural change. That's what's required to bring the numbers down," said Mudannayake, who said psychiatric hospitalizations did not increase as medication dropped.

"You'll always have doctors say there's nothing else to use but atypicals, and I agree there are a small minority of patients where you need to use these drugs. But not in the numbers we are using them."

Your advice though cuts right to the heart of the matter. I have worked with students with autism who can have similar issues with anger. One time, I made a mistake that caused somone to have a meltdown. I apologized to him and guess what, he calmed down immediately.

I am no genius but if someone like me who doesn't have these fancy degrees can think of this, certainly, doctors who know better should be able to.

This whole issue makes me literally sick big time. I feel horrible when anyone is overmedicated. But when you pick on people who can't fight back, I feel even worse.

AA

thank you for this article! I fought for a year to get my husband removed from antipsychotic drugs . He suffers from Alzheimer's and was intially aggressive in the NH. Their solution was to try all these drugs including drugs for epilipsy. They only made him more agitated and finally I persuaded his VA home to remove him gradually. It worked! I think doctors should be kept from prescribing these drugs for dementia patients especially the elderly. Your article helped give validity to my conviction about the horrible solution for " unacceptable " behaviors.

When people face misfortune, the helping professions' conspirators seep out of the woodwork to claim their piece of the prize. It matters not if this is a beaten child or an elder who has substantial savings. Any ruse is used to drug the creature, for profit, so that he appears unlike "us". Then it is an easy matter to abuse this creature and take what he has, the profit again.

What if the hapless person has no money? Here is where the $ cleanup is enormous. It also is where the weak spot is. These victims are used as conduits of an almost endless flow of federal money. This is where these crimes can be stopped. Causing false information to be given to a federally funded health care program is a crime, a federal crime. Notice that the false information does not have to be presented by the person who will gain financially. The lie, itself, is a crime.

Eventually there will be investigations because there is a limit to federal money. The country can't afford it. So the most visible offenses will be stopped. What about the less visible and well hidden crimes? They will be better hidden. I don't have any hope for correcting this human tragedy for profit.

I found out the hard way, in Texas, that behind the abuses and frauds was deal G.W. Bush made as he frivolously served citizens as Gov. of Texas. The deal was called Texas Medical Algorithm Project (TMAPS). The plan was then adopted in other states. Now the states are filing lawsuits against pharmaceutical companies. Texas Attorney General reported that the state was conned into the TMAPS deal. If you knew the hell that the state over-sight agencies put me through, the lies and cover-ups, it would be hard to believe that the state was conned into anything. A non-reported side effect, is that the states appear to be addicted to pharma gifts and grants. Reading how the plan works, it appears to be a profit sharing arrangement between the state and pharma. Even after the truths are exposed, the drugging and frauds continue. My friend Allen Jones (Pennsylvania whistle blower) did an excellent job in his investigative reports. Evelyn Pringle has done an excellent job to expose TMAPS, in her articles.