http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/24/health/24deme.html

Doctors Say Medication Is Overused in Dementia

By LAURIE TARKAN
Published: June 24, 2008

Ramona Lamascola thought she was losing
her 88-year-old mother to dementia. Instead,
she was losing her to overmedication.

Last fall her mother, Theresa Lamascola,
of the Bronx, suffering from anxiety & confusion,
was put on the antipsychotic drug Risperdal.
When she had trouble walking, her daughter
took her to another doctor — the younger
Ms. Lamascola’s own physician — who found
that she had unrecognized hypothyroidism,
a disorder that can contribute to dementia.

Theresa Lamascola was moved to a
nursing home to get these problems under
control. But things only got worse. “My mother
was screaming and out of it, drooling on
herself and twitching,” said Ms. Lamascola,
a pediatric nurse. The psychiatrist in the
nursing home stopped the Risperdal, which
can cause twitching and vocal tics, and
prescribed a sedative & 2 other antipsychotics.

“I knew the drugs were doing this to her,”
her daughter said. “I told him to stop the
medications and stay away from Mom.”

Not until yet another doctor took Mrs.
Lamascola off the drugs did she begin
to improve.
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