[mrfossilier]

I am living with my mother in the UK, she is currently involved with NHS mental health teams.

I am trying to make sure my mother gets the best care possible however it appears the staff clearly do not take my mothers needs into consideration.

My mother is currently prescribed Seroquel 350mg per day and clomipramine for depression with psychotic symptoms.

She is currently under section however is living at home with me.

She takes her Seroquel in the evening, within one hour if she tries to stay awake she begins to feel dizzy and sick.

In the mornings she is always really tired, and somewhat confused and depressed. She tends to get a bit more energy by 2pm, however it is not until 6pm that she seems to wake up. Her mood and general functioning improves throughout the day. I ask her to rate her mood out of 10 throughout the day, and it starts off at a 1 or 2, and makes it up to a 6-8 by late in the evening.

I believe the seroquel is causing this however the Dr is not interested and has stated that she expects my mother to take this medication for another two years.

My mother has to visit care workers during the morning / early afternoon (when she is not fully functioning), and also any meetings with doctors take place at this time.

My mother has had some quite major problems within the past few months, she in bed / not eating for about 2 months, and was too weak to walk and barely able to speak, living in hospital. This was after a stay at a pyschiatric institution for a couple of months, where her acute condition rapidly deteriorated. a few months prior to this she had no history of mental illness. Extreme fatigue and confusion were the main symptoms she presented.

She was given alot of ECT, it has pretty much taken away the majority of her memories of the last 2 years (allthough the Dr's disagree and say the memory loss is all down to her illness), The ECT did however improve her mood and functioning most notably in the short term.

Fatigue is one of the main problems my mother was having, however the doctors seem unable to recognise that the medication at the current dose is casuing my mother much harm and disrupting her recovery. Not only this they are taking the fatigue as a symptom (requiring more treatment with serouel??!) , rather than a side effect.

The dose she is on is 350, which is above the highest does for depression. I questioned the doctor for this however she said the dose was for acute psychosis, and therefore the dose was fine, and that she would not be changing it. My mother has not had any psychotic symptoms for around 3 months.

I really don't know what to do, the NHS seem to have a 'one size fits all' mentality when treating patients, they simply appear to be unable to see how there treatment is effecting my mother.

The dose is clearly too high and my mum is suffering as a result.

Also the doctor seems to think she knows the biological cause of my mothers depression, and that is depressive disorder with pyschotic systems, why would a consultant psychiatrist make such a rediculious statement?

can anyone advise what I can do to help my mum??

[~Christina]

Find a new doctor and get a second opinion.

[Tamster]

I am someones mom and have all those same symptoms and have to deal with them due to the other meds being to hard on my heart We tried everything we could so now we are back to the drawing board; and it is zyprexa. Well i'll try it but i thik it makes me tired. the seroquel i took 400xr at night the 200 regular in the morning and 200 in the after noon so i never was awake. He says we will give it a shot. most likely as an in patient.

[eskielover]

I went through a trauma dealing with the home care person who manipulated her way into caring for my mother when she was dying of cancer. The nightmares were so bad after that & I hadn't been able to sleep in days....my pdoc decided to give me seroquel so I could sleep...none of the anti-anxiety meds even touched my symptoms

I ended up taking 600mg of seroquel at night.....it knocked me out & I was finally able to sleep....but I was basically hung over for the rest of the day once I would finally wake up in the morning.....I was on that for a couple of years while dealing with the PTSD it caused....but when I finally left my H & moved 2100 miles away & had to take care of myself, my farm & my dogs.....I stopped the med because I couldn't afford to be that hung over & that out of it & live alone.

I would definitely get a second opinion for your mother....it seems like all her treatment including the ECT was a bit of overkill & has done more to harm your mother than to help her.

I was thinking there may even be something else going on depending on your mother's age.....dementia can start at early ages sometimes & can look like mental illness in very many ways.......I would definitely go for a second.....sometimes women who are going through menopause can have strange actions due to the hormone issues.....there can be lots of things that could be the cause & lots of different care that could be a lot better for your mother...definitely worth a 2nd opinion.