Why would a doctor take an elderly dementia patient off an antidepressant and dementia medicine cold turkey?

I'm not aware of any problems stopping aricept cold turkey. Cymbalta can have withdrawal symptoms, even if it is stopped gradually. Was mom already on a very small dose when it was discontinued?

I think the only way you'll know why this happened the way it did is to talk to the doctor. The staff at a care center can only follow doctor's orders.

Agreeing with BarbBroklyn . . and more. Know what meds are being given, be on hand without Notice to the staff while meds are given. Check several times a week on how and when meds are given in some matter or another. Obtain your LO's medication list from the Dr. and compare that to the Facilities list. Have other friends or family members help. Even the good facilities can mess up. There are different Nurses on duty. Some didn't know you have to wait a full 5 minutes to administer the two different eye drop prescriptions in the evening. Don't take anything for granted. At Mother's former facility, they were generally rouge and totally unrepentant when I caught them giving Mother her Glaucoma eye drop med in the am that should have been given at night, her eye drops for twice a day were given only in the evening for at least 3 months. There is no coincident that Mother's rapid eye degeneration and visual hallucinations occurred during this period due to the deterioration of her eyes, a stage before total blindness with a diagnosis that went from moderate to severe Glaucoma. My reporting this to the Administrator of Personal Care, the Head of Nursing in the Facility, The Facility Administrator, Government Agencies, a written request for an intervention to stabilize Mother's eyes by permitting myself to give Mother her eyedrops for 3 months from a Glaucoma Specialist from a prestigious University led to the facility limiting my hours to 4 hours a day 5 days a week. My son stepped in and told the facility we were moving Mother to another facility as soon as they had an opening. He called my cousin and told him without an argument and as to my brother he was for the move as we received bills of $25.00 per hour for months for a Nurses Aid to stay with Mother after she lost her balance, couldn't remember to press her button for Nurses Aid to take her to the bathroom, from all the falls she had in Personal Care when the Nurses Aids brought her back from the DR and placed her in front of the TV. They didn't take her to the bathroom or put her in bed. I left Notes everywhere, it didn't help. I documented everything. The rogue facility, my brother and cousin worked in concert during this bad period. There were major numerous other problems at the facility, to many to mention all. It would take a book. A dysfunctional family intensifies any and all problems. What opened the doors for us getting Mother out of there was the damage to her eyes. I now stay with my Mother 24 x 7 in a new facility in Independent Living and administer her medications. My son and daughter-in-law come in for a few hours here and there for me to keep appointments and to go to Church. The new facility is close to heavenly. It is an upgrade. Mother has greatly recovered from the saga at the rogue facility. She isn't walking on her own as she was before March 2016 when the rogue facility, my brother and cousin conspired against Mother and myself but she is doing better. Brother and Cousin have been giving Mother and I space. They haven't apologized or opened up about what they did and said to the rogue facility. They have both told me that I was argumentative.

I agree with Glad. Every time my mom enters or leaves a facility, I've learned to go over the med list myself. There has ALWAYS been at least one error.

You found her unconscious as a result of her not having those meds?

When found unconcious, what treatment did she receive?

The only person who can answer your question is the doctor who faxed back the scripts, I think.

Maybe they were on page 2 that got overlooked?

Ask the doctor. May have been miscommunication. Of they may have tapered her off while in rehab. Who is her POA? That person should be checking all med changes

No she is out of the hospital. She first went in in April when she fell and broke her hip. She then went to a rehab facility. When she went back to her assisted living place, the nurse there faxed her regular Dr her medication list and asked what he wanted her to be on concerning medication. He faxed back a list of medications and the antidepressant and the aricept were not listed. The assisted living place then took her off these.

Is your mother in the hospital now?

Who was managing your mother's medications?