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Mom is also wheelchair bound.

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Do you have POA? If so, call her Dr. and find out how to wean your mother off the Ativan. If you don't have POA the Dr.'s office won't discuss your mother with you.

And take the Ativan away from her.
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Unfortunately I don't live with her and she is purchasing it illegally so I don't have much control to just take it away. I have consulted her doctor. Her doctor is useless.
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From other threads I gather that Ativan withdrawal can be pretty bad. I don't think I would just take it away from her.
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How does a wheelchair bound person get access to illegal drugs?
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Personally, I'd be loathe to take this comfort and the only (perhaps) means of relaxation away from MY parent. If you do end up removing it, I suggest you do NOT do anything to change her regimen without discussing it with a (one may hope) compassionate expert in these matters. There is reason to be concerned that she may fall, and that is one reason doctors often don't like to prescribe this to an elder. But she has a right to take (within legal limits) a medicine that makes her feel less tense in what is perhaps the most trying period of our lives. What difference does it make really if she is dependent on a tranquilizer or sleeping pill? It is difficult to withdraw from this sort of drug. I understand it can even cause seizures. I'd discuss it with a sophisticated and caring doctor who specializes in this sort of thing in the elder years. I once saw an old man (in his 90s) suffer awfully because his doctor had taken away his Darvon, a fairly mild painkiller. He would beg his daughter for a box of aspirin, but she was afraid to do anything. I feel there has to be a better way to handle the difficulties of the elderly in this regard. My mother passed away in the spring and with her the difficulty of her needing (mild) sleeping pills and (relatively strong) painkillers, but I thank God that no one took them away from her while she lived. She needed them, in a way more than for just pain and insomnia, but for a sort of comfort in the difficulties of age. Good luck to you!
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Oh, please don't be too hard on her. She must be so miserable and uncomfortable. She can get the stuff thru the mail but it may not even be real Ativan. Consult a clinic at a large, sophisticated hospital nearby if you can???
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You can't just take it away without weaning her off of it. She'll go through terrible withdrawl.
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If you don't live with her and you can't speak to her Dr. about this I don't see what you can really do about it. Especially if she can get the pills illegally while you're not around.
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I absolutely agree with Everishlass.
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Just a comment on this whole addiction issue. Consider what harm it may do and what good it may do. Addiction per se is not bad - had an elderly friend in great chronic pain who decided that she should no longer be taking methodone because it was "wrong" to be addicted. She ended up in the hospital from withdrawal. Her doctor explained that the medication was reasonable and necessary in her case and nothing to be ashamed of.
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