My father has vascular dementia, which has mostly affected his short-term memory. He has had 3 stents put in over the last 5 years, one of these was in June. He is on Crestor, Namenda, Atenolol, Clopidergrel, Low Dose Aspirin, & Donezapil and he has a pacemaker. He has been depressed for many years. Long before his heart problems occurred--I am inclined to believe the depression contributed to his heart problems. My mother has had two major surgeries on her spine in the last 6 months and they have been living with me while she recovers. At first he was determined to get home, but he has accepted that its not going to happen for awhile yet. All he does is sleep anymore. Sometimes he reads. He barely eats. I am sure some of his lethargy is a side effect of his medications, but not all of it surely? He has almost no initiative. What I am wondering is given all his medications, would an antidepressant be of any help to him? He will be 80 in a few months. He has been an active man all of his life, with many passions like gardening and cooking and friends and he's just kind of . . . stopped. He is not hard to care for. I just know he would feel so much better if he took a walk now and then and moved his body, but I also know I can't make him do anything. Am I just trying to find a way to change something that cannot be changed?
That list of meds is intimidating in terms of adding another one. Something you might change right away is the amount of full spectrum light your father gets. Would he go outside with you for a bit of sun every day. Here in Florida, 10 minutes probably would do the job, and then more depending on how far north. Early morning is best. If he won't go out, there are special light fixtures available. Possibly he has something like SAD -- Seasonal Affective Disorder -- which causes depression because of lack of light.
Blessings to you to overcome your own sadness and to your parents in their suffering.
My mom, 90, was on WAY too many meds, as each time there was an incident the old doc would just layer on another one. This year she almost died in the hospital. She wouldn't eat. She was withering away.
The best thing I did: I found her a better doctor and we cleaned up all her meds and took away most of them, some were redundant or interacting badly with others. After a month she was better but still agitated so then we added back Seroquel (mood stabilizer) and Cipralex (anti depressant) in very low dose.
I also investigated natural remedies :
When she was in the hospital I sat with her for a couple hours 2x day and made her slowly sip my special drink: gave her a lot of digestive enzymes (health food store, just open the capsules pour in the powder) in a tasty protein smoothie everyday and it brought her appetite back.
I also insist on plenty of B vitamins, minerals, live culture yoghurt, and all tasty foods.
And playing her favorite music. Fresh flowers. Cheerful stuff.
Now she is much better and walking again with a physio who comes to the house.
PHEW
It has been an exhausting battle, making demands to the medical system, but it's one worth fighting. Don't give up, you can make a big difference.
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