My 92 yr old mom been on ativan for years

Just saw the lisa ling special. Prescient. Been doing research due to major concerns regarding how to get my mom off ativan & how it may be impacting her cognitive abilities.

Hello Phyll1931, welcome to BenzoBuddies,

 

Yes, when the Lisa Ling special originally aired in 2019 we had a lot of people join the forum, lightbulbs went off for many people.  I'm sorry to hear about your mom, but at 92 I'm not sure its a good idea to taper off, this is an incredibly long and painful process, at some point its just not worth it.  But, if your mom is suffering from her use we will certainly help her all we can. 

 

Does she have painful symptoms, what is her dose and how often does she take it?  We typically suggest reducing by about 5-10% every couple of weeks but tapering according to our symptoms will hopefully keep us functional.

 

Please let us know how we can help you and your mom, it breaks my heart to think of her on this medication.

 

Pamster

 

Colorado  Consortium Benzodiazepine Deprescribing Guidance

 

Planning  Your Withdrawal (Taper)

 

Withdrawal  Support (during your taper)

 

Ashton  Manual symptom list

Yes, I have the same concerns that withdraw might kill her more than continuing to take it will do her in. It was prescribed for sleep. I believe she is taking 1 mg nightly and now weighs maybe 110. My dad says she has been sleeping great lately; but as she has aged, her weight and stature have decreased significantly. Kinda worried she might od in her sleep and it will just be contributed to old age.

 

My concern elevated because she started having a lot of confusion, occasional delirium when not in her home (altho in a familiar spot), inability/struggling to recall words and concepts; & onset was fairly fast. Hard to discern whether it is her age, her poor hearing- which is impacting her cognitive abilities, or the benzo. Yet, if I focus on her with clear questions & engage with her in a focused kind of way- she starts to answer appropriately  Takes a little time, but all of a sudden its like a spigot opens & she regains mental capacity. Not an expert on Alzheimers, etc- but way too much to elaborate here, but for years she has stuff that makes me believe it was Benzo.

 

Over the years I have seen weird stuff assumed benzo related & so on-point with sighted issues, but it is very hard to quantify because of her age. Would love to see her get off it, but not sure if its possible or practical.

 

Personal aside that makes the benzo thing way more underestimated...My mom is/was a medical dr. Due to the time she came of age in medicine (1956), doctors had implicit trust that drugs helped everything and what the "detail men" (drug company reps) told you was 100%. Docs in her world assumed the drug reps knew everything and there was an intrinsic trust that they knew all. Clearly today, we know that isn't true. That being said, I believe she started on this med years ago for sleep and just continued forever. Symptoms, issues and problems she has had over the years have just been ascribed to other ailments, age & maybe hypochondria.

 

Thanks all for listening! Has anyone else dealt with this with an elderly parent, and any suggestions??? Maybe I should just let it go and accept it. She is 92, but is/was an incredible woman.

You're wonderful to be concerned about her use but I'm glad you're aware of the downside of rocking this particular boat.  In my opinion, unless she's severely anxious, not sleeping, depressed or experiencing severe symptoms on the list I included in my first post to you, I'd let this go.  Tampering with her dose even a little will bring on intense symptoms and once these symptoms start, its extremely difficult to stop them.  Even going back up in dose isn't a guarantee they'll stop. 

 

My father is 93 and I've noticed changes recently I'm attributing to his age but I understand why you'd want to do all you can to prevent further damage but I feel going down this path will make everything worse.

 

Its sad she may have been living with symptoms of the drug for a long time not realizing it could be the drug causing them, too many still believe every word the pharmaceutical companies tell them.

I agree with Pam. I was on 2mg Clonazepam and I kind of "cheated" my taper with a rapid reduction at the start. It took me almost 2 years to get off 1mg Clonazepam. I was functional during this time, but the insomnia, brain fog, head pressure and headaches I'm experiencing is really tough. I am now off just over 3 months and preparing to take at least another year or more to recover from this. So all in all 3 years minimum of struggling with symptoms. What I'm trying to say is, I'm not the worst case on the forum and I cannot imagine a 93 year old going through what I'm going through. There's no guarantee that her symptoms might not be more severe than mine.

I think you are right and we will just have to live with this. Gonna speak with her gerontologist to see if there are any other suggestions.