After bringing my grandmother home from a psych unit, we have backed her off the Seroquel and Depakote for the 2nd week in a row (she came home like a zombie). The first week went fine, but the during the second week we were faced with extreme combative behavior and confusion about the bathroom.
About 75% of the time (during the reduction), she would pull her pants down and urinate on the bed, in the laundry room, on the bathroom floor, on a chair, etc. Needless to say, when I tried to get her to the bathroom, the combative behavior began. After 5 days of this, we increased her medication to where it was the prior week and after a few days, she started using the toilet again on her own and the combativeness has stopped.
I know the combative behavior stems from reducing the meds, but has anyone experienced toileting issues when reducing either of these two meds?
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Deanbean, definitely talk to the doctor or a pharmacist about how to wean your grandmother off of the meds properly. Her body is reacting to having 2 meds reduced at the same time and it will be difficult to know how to fix this without starting from square one again. Good luck!
In general, it is not a good idea to change the dose of two meds at the same time. If there are issues, how will you know which one to adjust?
Are you getting some guidance from the doctor who prescribed these drugs?
As virtualhorizon says, for some drugs it is common for initial side effects to wear off if you continue with the drug. For others, if you have certain side effects you might as well forget that drug. A pharmacist and/or the prescribing doctor can help you decide whether to continue a drug with a bothersome side effect and see if the side effect goes away on its own, or to discontinue.
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