My mom was just Euthanized and I pulled the trigger.

Dementia patients are being systematically euthanized by nursing homes. My mom has dementia, and I put her into daycare. I was told she was combative and had to be put on antipsychotic medication or she wouldnt be able to go. So, I put her on resperiDONE. The first letters are lower case, and DONE is in capital letters. After about a week on it, my mom stopped running, stopped talking, and became real quite she didnt even want to get out of bed etc. I took her off the meds but the damage is done. She is ninety yrs old, so it can be argued that it was time. But, I just knew there was a medication connection, so I googled "resperiDONE killing dementia patients". OMG, they really really are killing these people.

It is estimated that 64,000 elderly alz and dementia patients are killed a yr on this medication. There is a "Black Box Warning" that it can not be given to dementia or Alz patients. I am sick all over. I feel like the medical industry, [name removed] daycare and even her Doctor. conspired to put a lethal dose of certain death in my hand and made me pull the trigger.

I dont know how to make the public aware. But, I dont feel good that I gave her these meds, and would like to spare anyone else this horrid gut ache I have right now. Mom is still breathing, we are squirting water and broth with a syring down her. Just a few days ago she ate, 2 eggs, 2 pieces of toast, a whole banana and 2 glasses of milk without anyone helping. Now she cant even sit up. This medication has all but killed her. I know she is very old and its OK if she passes, but not like this, not by my hand. Its just wrong on so many levels.

Below are a few links.

www.alzconnected.org... www.drugwatch.com... america.aljazeera.com...

It's not your fault. You did what you thought was best for your mom, and I'm so sorry the doctors weren't better informed. Keep spreading the word about that dangerous drug, please!

a reply to: misskat1

OMG. I can't imagine your pain right now.

I've never heard of this. If what you say is true, seek legal counsel. If they insisted on a medication in violation of the black-box warning, then maybe you can save others in the future by bringing this to light.

Good luck to you. My thoughts are with you.

a reply to: misskat1

Do not blame yourself for any of this.

Positive thoughts going your way.

I recognize that I am grieving over her sudden demise, so I have a lot of conflicted feelings about this. And I really do appreciate, and gladly recieve everyones good thoughts and prayers.

originally posted by: misskat1
I know she is very old and its OK if she passes, but not like this, not by my hand. Its just wrong on so many levels.

Well, a couple things
first off, its not okay if she passes..its never okay when anyone passes really, but its just a inevitable part of our fragile life. maybe in a few hundred years it will be optional, but for now, it is just reality..and reality sucks.

But anyhow, the important bit is that it wasn't by your hand. unless you knew beforehand what was going on, what the meds did, and intentionally did this in order to shorten her life, then there isn't much you are guilty of.

I...don't know about the rest. This is one of those huge ethics discussions. If mom was really on her way out and the last bit of life was her being a literal hazard with no control, then...anyhow, the discussion is unnerving and bound to spark a lot of debate on if a person with last stage dementia or alzheimers should be..."released".

I hate our frail bodies. Who knows..maybe there is a afterlife where we are all laughing on how long we clung onto these crap vessels long after their time was up.

Oh Honey, I am so, so sorry. Please do not blame yourself. It used to be, that you were SUPPOSED to trust Dr.s.
And they USED to care about people.
This is on the pharmaceutical company, 100%.

I hope you can get the most of the time you have left with your mom.

And continue to spread the word about this awful drug. I had never heard of it, so you have helped!

originally posted by: loam
a reply to: misskat1

OMG. I can't imagine your pain right now.

I've never heard of this. If what you say is true, seek legal counsel. If they insisted on a medication in violation of the black-box warning, then maybe you can save others in the future by bringing this to light.

Good luck to you. My thoughts are with you.

Absolutely consult an attorney as the damage done to her physically, and you emotionally is quite severe with you feeling responsible. I would also say that you are not responsible because you took medical advice from a doctor and medical community.

So sorry to hear this. Very sad. I thank you because my mother is headed in the same direction. Her mother had Alzheimer's bad. I know what to watch out for.

a reply to: misskat1

There was no big explosion involved, so this tens of thousands dying each year won't be considered big news. But, death by big pharma seems to be the biggest story of our time ever since the development of nukes have slowed down the world wars.

a reply to: misskat1

That is horrible and obviously not your fault. But just to clarify, it wasn't euthanasia by definition. Euthanasia always involves a wilful request of the person being euthanised, AND they must be of able mind which excludes people with dementia. An exeption is when the person officially makes the request BEFORE they are no longer of able mind, but this is only legal in very few countries.

soulwaxer

You are correct. There is NO WAY she should have gotten risperidone if she had Dementia related psychosis. It is a black box warning and it warns that:

"elderly patients with dementia-related psychosis treated with antipsychotic drugs are at an increased risk of death.
RISPERDAL is not approved for use in patients with dementia-related psychosis"

That is the actual black box warning as it appears on the med info sheet. Her doctor probably wrote for risperidone for agitation, as it has been used for that in the past. That does not excuse the Doc for not noticing the drug diagnosis/contraindication. So sorry this happened.

a reply to: misskat1

I'm so sorry! I can't imagine! Take care of your self!

Peaceful energy to you - - - for an experience not of your choosing.

I hope your mom is not in any pain.

Thanks for the effort to warn others.

a reply to: misskat1

First of all im sad to hear about your mum but possibly all is not lost ( hopefully ) . I am on seroquel which is a brother/sister to what your mum had and it knocked me about when i first started taking it . I would not drive at night after taking it and it seemed to dull me down until i got used to it and that took 3 weeks or so . Hopefully she bounces back . Also i have to ask , you said she stopped running , do you mean like jogging type running and if so all i can say is damnn .

a reply to: misskat1

don't blame your self, you were only doing what you thought was best from the advise and care for your mother you were paying for. it is just about impossible for one to know what all medication do. that's why we pay people to advise us.

I dont know how to make the public aware.

posting about it here is a good start.i never even heard of it before now, and i'm coming to the point that maybe i'll have to face things like this now. both my parents are getting up in years and my father is starting to shows signs that he may have dementia losing both short and long term memory, losing his train of thought while speaking, arguing and anger when corrected or helped when these happen. i'll be sure to make a note of it and tell my mother and brothers and our wives so we can keep a watch out for this.

another thing you can do is look to social media, find pages that you can post to i'm sure there are many having to do with the care of the elderly.

then you could maybe start one on your own, post your story and ask others to post theirs and tell them to tell their friends.
with the power of social media and the power that word of mouth or better term would be conversation is still alive and may help many others.

my best wishes to you and your mother and may she live to be here as long as she likes and be as happy as she can and wants to.

Part of the grieving process when losing a loved one is affixing blame. Its got to be somebodies fault, right? You didn't know, you didn't try to hurt your mom, you were trying to help.

Grieving and all the guilt trip, anger, blame and finally acceptance is a completely normal human process. You haven't done anything wrong. Its okay to feel these feelings, most people do. Its okay to give yourself a break, too.

a reply to: hutch622

Dementia patients are always looking for something. They dont know what, I literally have sections of my house blocked off so she has a race track. She just runs from room to room, Sometimes she strips naked and trys on her clothes. lol Im going to miss her.

a reply to: misskat1

I have absolutely no interest in the wider implications here right now.

You and your mother are the people I am concerned about. Do you have people who can keep you upright when you are falling over? Do you have people to help you take care of things while you are feeling like this, and what is the current prognosis for your mother? Does the drug come out of the system once the medication has been removed from her intake, and how long does the process take?

(((((Hugs)))))

a reply to: TrueBrit

I have 8 brothers and sisters who all have lots of kids and grands, so I have amazing support. Thank you for asking. Death is already intense, but I am also feeling outraged, and a little relieved all at the same time, which does invoke guilt. Dementia is a hard disease, so we have had our challenges. But, Im still not ready, I didnt expect this.

She is starting to be more awake, and we are going to try and get her up to walk when it warms up a little. It was very sweet yesterday,, she told my daughter that when she sees her face, she sees the faces of all her daughters, she has 7 girls. This tells me she is still in there, and maybe she can pull out of it. But she is ninety so Im sure it will not be an easy recovery if at all.

Sometimes doctors prescribe things that help to bring on the death of someone who is suffering. I have seen that quite a few times. It is not legal to assist in suicide but it is legal to prescribe a med that has side effects that will stop the suffering. Your mother had dementia and probably would have not wanted to live that way if she had all of her marbles yet.

I hate to sound impersonal but I would not want to live that way myself and would hope to have a doctor who would help speed up my death if I was losing my mind. The truth is that some of the meds she was on before may have made the dementia worse, but they seem to constantly prescribe which cause choline to break down which can unbalance neurochemicals in the brain and lead to dementia. Solve one problem and cause another.

Sorry to hear about your mother having to live with those problems. I am sure her crabby disposition at the nursing home was not how she normally was when she was at home. Quality of life is important. I would rather the doctors fixed people than dope them up because detoxing antipsychotic meds is easy for older people.

Don't blame yourself, you were not aware of what was going on with the way medicines can effect our bodies and minds.