<p class="userway-s14-active">Mothers been saying she’s not wanting to eat, nothing sounds good since before Thanksgiving. She did eat well on that day though. She’s still able to cook simple meals and has plenty of food. I bring her things when I cook something she’d like. Only change in her meds is going off the Seroquel 400mg and back to zaleplon 10mg as of last week. She’s not Been sleeping well.<p class="userway-s14-active">All I can think of is my dad’s drop in appetite before we even realized he was developing liver failure and cancer. Two years later as of this month I’m still traumatized as to how that went. It took three ER visits, outpatient tests, and one last ER visit Christmas Eve before someone finally admitted him and paid attention. He was gone Jan 4.<p class="userway-s14-active">The anxious feeling of being the only person to care for a suddenly very ill senior in our horrible system is still fresh in my mind.<p class="userway-s14-active">As of last week’s psych visit she’d not lost weight.<p class="userway-s14-active">I really don’t like her, or like helping her. But if there is some big medical problem developing, well, I dread walking her through that. And with my dad at least I had my love for him. He was not mentally ill, he trusted me 100% and our relationship was good. He had the finances to get him care readily accessible.<p class="userway-s14-active">I have none of these helpful things with my mother. I hope my hunch is wrong. She has a PCP appt late December.
Some older people naturally eat less as they age. My mom was never a big eater but she ate even less as she grew older.
I managed to get her to occasionally drink smoothies or an ensure. I used small lunch sized plates for everything because she would automatically feel it was too much food if I served a meal on a dinner plate.
What withdrawal symptoms might I get?
The main withdrawal symptoms associated with antipsychotics are:
abnormal skin sensations
aching muscles
anxiety
diarrhoea
dizziness and vertigo
feeling too hot or too cold
feeling withdrawn socially
headaches
***loss of appetite***
mood disturbances
nausea (feeling sick)
neuroleptic malignant syndrome
restlessness, agitation and irritability
runny nose
shaking
insomnia (inability to sleep)
sweating
tardive dyskinesia
tardive psychosis
vomiting (being sick).
As noted, loss of appetite is a common withdrawal symptom associated with getting off of Seroquel. That medication is also known to cause significant weight gain while taking it, so if mom does lose weight, perhaps it's the weight she gained while taking it.
I would not be worried at this time about her loss of appetite. If necessary, go through the drive thru for a milkshake and a burger and that may peak her interest.