Johns Hopkins Health Alert
Antipsychotic Medications and Dementia: What Are the Risks?
Most people with dementia or Alzheimer's disease will, at some point in their illness, show signs of aggression, agitation or psychosis. When these symptoms are so severe that individuals present a serious risk to themselves or to others, a class of drugs known as antipsychotics (or neuroleptics) are often used.
However, several recent studies have found that antipsychotics are associated with an increased risk of death when used in older people with dementia and Alzheimer's disease. In fact, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) now mandates that drug makers add what is referred to as a "black box" warning to the labels of all antipsychotics, alerting doctors and patients to this increased mortality risk in people with dementia-related psychosis.
Since those warnings were first implemented in 2005, the use of antipsychotics for older people with dementia has declined significantly. Nonetheless, almost 10 percent of antipsychotic use is still attributed to people with dementia. In addition, about one third of nursing home residents with dementia receive antipsychotics.
Typical and Atypical Antipsychotics. Antipsychotic drugs were first developed in the 1950s to treat schizophrenia.
- The first generation of these drugs is sometimes referred to as "typical" or "conventional" antipsychotics; they include chlorpromazine and haloperidol (Haldol). Typical antipsychotics work by blocking the receptors for the neurotransmitter dopamine and can cause a number of side effects that affect physical movement, such as tremors, rigidity, restlessness and muscle spasms.
- In the 1990s, a second generation of antipsychotics known as atypical was introduced. These also block dopamine receptors but have fewer of the movement-related side effects that plagued users of the older, typical antipsychotics. Still, atypical antipsychotics have potentially serious side effects, including drowsiness, dizziness, blurred vision, rapid heartbeat, sexual dysfunction and skin rashes. They can also cause significant weight gain, and if left unchecked, people taking them may risk developing diabetes or high cholesterol levels. Examples of atypical antipsychotics include risperidone (Risperdal), olanzapine (Zyprexa) and quetiapine (Seroquel).
Posted in Memory on February 13, 2012
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BINGO!
Thank you for this article. I am 50 +, and I am very glad to see this article.
Thirty-five years ago I went to my physician with the hypothesis that these medications could cause long term side effects.
The physician considered my hypothesis a delusion and increased my medication EXTREMELY HIGH.
The medication did not taper down until I brought it down about 4 or 5 years ago. (dangerous to do yourself - not suggested)
That's decades of drooling. I have dementia (DX early onset of Alzheimer's about 10 + yrs ago), as well as multiple other physical aliments. (a lot )
And it's almost impossible for me to be seen by a physician due to my extreme complications.
Maybe a physician will read it and more doctors will listen to their patients.
Because this "unknown" is well known to me.
As now, there is no safe medication for me to take to ease my thought disorder. Much of the times the symptoms feel intolerable.
I do my best. Moved near the ocean and thank God for every day I wake up alive.
I stay to myself. Work to do the right thing and take things one second at a time.
I continue to search for a physician who work with me for a QUALITY of life. Cause I am burnt out.
I've been told I can be a little difficult. I would say..challenging is a better word.
Until then.... I take those "Thorazine frown lines" and turn them up-side-down!
KEY: PERSEVERANCE (It works)
Now there is a reason to smile because........
I am alive!
Me
Posted by: SusanIsAlive | February 13, 2012 10:00 AM