My mother needed something to calm her down in the locked memory care unit. I hated it, but the alternative was she would stand up out of her wheelchair...and, she would fall...every single time. She was so far gone she didn’t realize she would fall if she stood. Broken shoulder, broken superorbital ridge (brow ridge), broken arm, various lacerations, scrapes, hematomas. And then it was another trip to the ER. She was actually kicked out of one facility THE NIGHT she returned from the ER. Don’t say it was the facilities. I witnessed her “escapes” multiple times while visiting. She was wiley and quick, and the facility is not allowed to strap her down. The second facility doctor finally said enough and put her on Xanax or maybe Ativan. Kept her seated. The siblings and I all agreed it was for the best. Just heartbreaking.
I notice you’re speaking of your mother in the past tense... let me guess, she suffered from “Neuroleptic Malignancy Syndrome.” Anybody curious about how these antipsychotics take the life of dementia patients, you should Google NMS and be able to recognize the symptoms. The VA Hospital pushed the antipsychotics on my husband. It took less than 6 weeks to end his life. The fact that the hospice doctor admitted that he “likely” succumbed to NMS was a shock. It was only after the fact that I was informed of this common outcome to the use of antipsychotics. I would not have consented to their use if I had known.