Would my Mom (95) who lives with mid-stage Alzheimer's disease benefit from either a low dose or mild anti-anxiety medication?

I say give it a try. My MIL takes a low dose of valium along with a lot of other meds and it has helped her. She has Alzheimer's.

Arnie, her safety and health may not be obviously compromised by increased anxiety, but high cortisol levels ( the hormone that's released when one is anxious and on high alert IS). In addition, seeing my mom in what I call psychic pain is terrible. She recently needed a pacemaker; the were not giving her anything by mouth overnight. The person we saw the next morning was not my mother; weeping, writhing, saying please please, I didn't do it, I'll be good". I can't let her be in that state. A visitor to the ice (someone else's family member commented to my sil that we should not have left her alone. To which we replied that having someone with her does NOTHING to calm her. Hospital finally gave her Ativan in her IV.

My mom was much like Jeanne. Mom took seroquel at night and ritalin in morning. Very low dose of both drugs.

Babalou, I am laughing about the quivering pile of dread.

I sit with my mom now sometimes, and we a normal conversation, and I think: only a few pills are making this possible, only a few pills are standing between me and a phone call to the police to report that I stole her car. So, I am very grateful to those little pills.

I have read on this blog that some feel it is not right to give pills to change the mood of their loved one. I have only one thing to say to that: those people haven't walked in our shoes.

My goal was to keep my Mom as comfortable as possible. She would cry and get very upset over various things. After consultation with nursing staff and her doctor we put her on medication. Best decision ever. I suggest giving it a try.

I have to endorse what Salisbury says about antidepressant and anti-anxiety meds. They have changed mom from a quivering pile of dread into a relatively calm person. She still has dementia, but she no longer thinks that the IRS is coming to get her and that the facility is flooding, everyday.

Before my mom started down the slippery slope of dementia, I had had NO IDEA what anxiety even was. Who had anxiety? We were all to busy to have anxiety.

Now, in retrospect, I realize that my mother was already having delusional paranoia a few years, maybe four or five (!), before she hit this slippery slope. Anxiety can eventually generate this paranoia. Before it gets that far, however, it can be exhausting for the patient and caregiver.

Eventually and predictably, I came into the cross-hairs, and became the target of the paranoia. To make a long story short, and as I have written elsewhere, the AL where my mom is now shipped her right straight off to a Senior Behavioral Clinic after she had only been at the AL for one week. They understood that, in their words, they "were not serving her" in that condition.

I cannot say enough about the Senior Behavioral Clinic. It is a place where the patients are put under the microscope and watched all day long for their reactions to the medications until, after about ten days, the correct "recipe" for a patient is determined. Our family doctor just did not have sufficient information to do this.

So, to come back to your question, Yes, meds might be a huge help. Not to "cure" the dementia but to alleviate the anxiety. Everyone is better off with a good night's sleep. Life might be much better for all of you. There is nothing lost with a visit to a geriatric doctor. Good luck!

My husband went on anti-depressant/anxiety one year after stroke that came with dementia. I noticed difference that it wasn't as bad.

all i know is my neighbor who profession was dealing with elderly and their mental and physical status said most of those new drugs to help with the disease of altimeter and demenca was all about $$$$ and over the long haul didn't work. there is no cure

Why not at least discuss the pros and cons with her doctor? A professional opinion wouldn't hurt anything!

This may not be a health risk for her. What about for you? The pattern of when we sleep and when we are awake is partly a matter of social convenience. Does she keep you up at night? Are you able to nap when she sleeps in the day?

If she mostly sleeps in the day then she is probably not getting much socialization or mental stimulation that might help her be less anxious.

My husband (LBD) took a drug to help him sleep through the night, and another one to avoid daytime sleepiness. This worked well for us. But each case is unique.

Talk to her doctor.