It’s one thing to see someone when they are sedated. It’s quite another to see the sedation taking effect, and the person who doesn’t wish to be sedated trying to fight it off.
Against my wishes and against her will, my mom was sedated with quetiapine at breakfast every day for almost four years. The dose she was given knocked her out cold for several hours. She got another debilitating dose in the evening. They also gave her risperidone twice each day. This drug regimen was an abuse of her human rights.
I had incontrovertible proof that non-pharmacological strategies improved the quality of Mom’s life, and, should they have been fully implemented would have eliminated the “need” to inappropriately sedate her with quetiapine and risperidone. I repeatedly voiced my concerns and shared my evidence. I was ignored, and branded a troublemaker.
It took 45 minutes to an hour for the quetiapine to take full effect. Sometimes, during that window, I would pick Mom up at her Dementia Jail and take her to my house so that when she woke up three or four hours later, we could spend some quality time together.
This is what Mom’s experience looked like during the last five minutes or so before she fell “asleep:”
https://myalzheimersstory.com/2016/07/26/40-side-effects-of-seroquel/
https://myalzheimersstory.com/2017/04/15/40-risperdal-side-effects-2/
My Alzheimer's Story 