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bemindful

Active member
Joined
Jun 25, 2013
Messages
61
Reason
Loved one DX
Diagnosis
01/2008
Country
US
State
Missouri
City
St. Louis
My mom woke me at 5:00am yesterday asking for her blood pressure meds. I told her it was really too early as we usually give them to her around 9:00 am. But she said she was having a panic attack. If she has had that happen before, she has never told me. I know she very often has high anxiety and I attribute it to simply having ALS as well as FTD.
She said she thought it may be a result of taking too much allergy medicine the day before. She often takes Wal-phed 5-hour twice a day but the day before she asked for it three times.
Have any caretakers experienced their PALS starting to have high anxiety and panic attacks and if so....any ideas as to what to do?
 
Hi,

Have you tried Ativan or Xanax to control her panic attacks and/or anxiety?
Check with her Neurologist at the ALS Clinic where she attends to see if it's appropriate to write a prescription of one of these drugs to treat her panic attacks.


Take care.
 
The active ingredient in the Wal-phed is pseudephedrine which can absolutely cause nervousness as well as raising blood pressure. She may indeed have anxiety too and who can blame her with what she is facing? However look at the Wal-phed first and see if you can find something else. If she is able perhaps the doctor could prescribe a nasal spray. Please stay away from OTC Afrin!
Best
Nikki
 
Nighttime is always the hardest for my mother-in-law. She wakes up shaking and crying out that she is afraid. We give her anti-anxiety medication (lorazipam I think) and that calms her down and puts her to sleep. It has helped her quite a bit. I can't imagine what she must be feeling and am grateful that the meds help her get some relief.
 
Thank you. The Hospice nurse saw her today and prescribed Ativan. I talked to her about it and she is more than willing to try it. She will not have it until tomorrow so in the meantime I simply gave her some Valarian root, which is what I take and is much more mild...and natural of course. I have to re-read the earlier thread that someone posted about Ativan however. Their PALS had a hard time with it.
If I were my mom, I would most certainly take whatever I could to assist with the journey she is on, you bet.
 
Bemindful... it was my Glen that had a hard time with Ativan... it made him extremely agitated. That's a very very rare reaction though. If it does occur, just tell your hospice nurse. There are other anti-anxiety meds that can be tried. Ativan is usually the first choice, and honestly, the only two bad reactions I've ever heard of are Glen and my sister's schnauzer.
 
What kind of reaction did your husband have? My mom in law woke up last night after taking it completing in another world- shaking, telling us her shoes were broken, and she kept trying to write the time because she swore something was wrong with the clock. We gave her some morphine to calm her down but I really can't be sure if it was the Ativan that caused that or something else. Did you notice incontinence when he took it? thanks for any info you can give:)
 
sh789,

Mom has been taking Ativan every night now. She is fine with it, but she has a lot of weakness. I don't know if the weakness is from progression or not. Some have said that Ativan causes muscle weakness. But her Hospice nurse says that all anti-anxiety drugs cause weakness. What is worse: anxiety or muscle weakness, right? There has been no incontinence.
 
Thanks bemindful. We noticed incontinence when I would give her a full dose, which I think was directly related to muscle weakness. Hospice sent us a different anti-anxiety med today so hopefully will see better results and my m-i-l will get a better nights sleep. She just refuses to sleep at night. The social worker said this is very common, as many people have nightmares and/or feel like they will die at night. She won't even let us take off her shoes... poor thing... this truly is the worst disease imaginable
 
He was still mobile when he took it. He paced around the house, got very agitated, and yes,,, the hallucinations increased.
 
Hmmmm....

Thank you so much for your responses. I'm wondering if we should switch to xanax. Any experience with this?
 
We just started xanax last night and she slept for almost the whole night. She even slept in her bed for the first time in 8 months! She has extreme anxiety about the hospital bed and since she got her feeding tube in November, she has been sleeping in her reclining chair. We would put her in the bed and she would go ballistic. But last night she slept, and we were able to turn her on her side to get her off her behind, since she now has the beginning of sores there. It's only been one night, but with the xanax she wasn't shaking uncontrollably, crying out, or waking up extremely weak. My fingers are crossed that this will continue!
 
I am SO happy the Xanax seems to be working for her!
 
sh789,

That is wonderful! Wow....to have an entire night of sleep? Unheard of!
Mom stopped sleeping in the bed a year ago, minimum. She is in the lift chair and now there are consistent issues with pressure sores on her buns. And tailbone pain. The tailbone pain has led her to the Morphine meds supplied by Hospice. She has requested them now four times in two days. Worrisome as I know the pain is only going to be a consistent issue. Maybe a pressure sore thread is in order if there is not one already.
But I will speak to the nurse tomorrow about Xanax.
 
Yesterday, trying to relieve excessive saliva and releasing body stress, i ate a brownie (special one), i almost got admited into the ER... that think game a panic attack so crazy my urethra stopped working... wasn't allow to pee, my stomach was working either.. eveything in my body was numb... my heart race for about 5 hours ...masive pain in arms.. hot and cold sensations.. twitches, shaking eveywhere.. about to pass out... and die...

A day later.(today) i'm sleeping so gooddd! so goodd
 
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