LORAZEPAM/ ATIVAN?? 1 MG. WHAT TO DO??

Mom has Alzheimer's pretty much last stages but she walks around and is in fairly good physical health.  Her sleep habits are so erratic that we never get a night's sleep. 

 

Went to the neurologist today after 2 completely sleepless nights and he prescribed avitan.  I checked this site and was scared by the results i saw posted.  Can anyone tell me if this drug will help or does it make things worse....   Need to know BEFORE she starts taking it. 

 

 (just as an aside, she is taking serroquel too and used to have ambien to sleep but it made her more confused! 

DIDN'T HAVE TO USE IT YET.  I'LL TRY TO GET ANOTHER MEDICAL OPINION.

MY NEUROLOGIST CAME HIGHLY RECOMMENDED. (GO FIGURE)

ANYWAY, I HOPE I CAN HEAR FROM MORE OF YOU WHO MAY HAVE SOME SUCCESS STORIES ABOUT IT.

THANKS.

ALL RECOMMENDATIONS CONSIDERED!! ON HOW TO GET A NIGHT'S SLEEP..  WHAT MEDS WILL WORK?  SERROQUEL? AVITAN? TYLENOL PM? AMBIEN? WHAT ABOUT ALCOHOL?     

is that a tranquillizer or what category of drug is that and what is the doseage?

I most heartedly agree with snowylynne.I use to be the owner/administator of a retirement /rest home and for the AD patients ativan(lorazepam) was a huge no no It does make them even more confused....Trazadone would be my choice i was also on that for awhile and it worked for me 100mg at bedtime ........hope you get some help.......like a doc that understands AD better and what not to rx them (my opinion) Take Care AND God Bless

she's taking Seroquel and doesn't get to sleep? Wow... I took that stuff for two nights and had to quit because I slept forever.

My mom takes Trazidone and says it's the best stuff ever.

I'm currently on Sonata (my family has a lot of sleep issues... this is just my experience with them, but I don't know about how they work with AD, so maybe someone here can tell you that) and it works great.

Snowy - thanks for the list of medications to stay away from. very helpful. :)

Be careful about avitan, they gave it to my wife in the hospital, and it flipped her out.  did the oposite of what it was supposed to.  Hallucinations, etc.  Haldol worked better.  Hard to anticipate interactions with Alz meds and others.  she is on basic alz meds as well as Trazadone at night.  sometimes Seroquel during the day if she is anxious.  Even doctors are not sure what to do for these patients.