My Mom is 78 her only two medications are thyroid meds (has been checked recently) and Zegerid for GERD. She was diagnosed with Normal Hydrocephalus and had shunt surgery and is doing extremely well. Recently she had severe vertigo. They did a CT and it was normal. No shunt issues, everything looked great. Since the middle of the summer family has noticed some strange behavior, paranoia and severe anger. She was taken to the family doctor who has placed her on Seroquel. That was this past Wednesday. Mom lives with my Dad who is mobile but has many health issues. Dad nor Mom are talking about any of this. There are 6 children and 3 are out of state. My question is can anyone suggest how to move forward from here? How long does it take for Seroquel to work. She is very very sensitive to medication so they have started her on a low dose of 25mg. We would like to support Mom and Dad but are unaware on how to do that when neither one is discussing this with family. Any thoughts would be helpful.
Have you tried to talk to your dad about this privately? Do you think he is aware of her changed behavior, or is he in denial? Does he need a lot of help, for example with medications, from your mother?
What did the doctor say about the seroquel dose? How long should you observe the results before increasing it?
It is probably too early to panic. Maybe the seroquel will control the symptoms. If not, perhaps another drug will. But use this as a wake-up call to make some preparations for the future. Do your mother and father each have a health care directive? How about DPOA? Have they done any preplanning for their funeral costs? You can begin to talk to them about these things simply on the basis that they are getting older, and it is best to do these things while they able to think clearly. They don't have to accept Mother's impairments in order to take these sensible steps.
You and your sibs need to keep an eye on things. If Mother continues to decline it may be necessary to bring in some help.