Should nursing homes give high doses of sleeping pills and tranquilizers to dementia patients, so they will stop screaming for a nurse?

Joselyne, you go, girl! They should have respected your desire not to administer an anti-depressant, or at least had the courtesy to tell you why they felt it necessary to go ahead with it.

On the other hand, perhaps the word never reached the nursing staff that you didn't want her on an anti-depressant.

When my father was in rehab, I realized that they literally had a laundry list of meds to administer. I had to go through the list with them and ask why some of them were routinely added. At least they gave Dad his regular vitamins though.

Joceyn - why? Cymbalta is not a bad thing to try for pain, and could help make sure she didn't need to go back on Fentanyl

It is a tough decision to make. They are giving me good reasons for the anti-depressant, and saying she will be fine on it and not spaced out if we give it time. It will help her with pain and with the transition of getting off such strong medicine as the Fentanyl. They said if I still don't like the results after giving it some time, that we can look at another alternative. She did look better when I took her for a stroll on Sunday... I am hopeful and will see. I can't always assume they are doing the wrong thing. Getting off of Fentanyl is a good thing... and so that's that!

vstefans... Cymbalta is also an anti-depressant. That is what I was objecting to at first... we'll see how she does. Thanks, everyone. Old posts still have a lot to offer! lol