Depression and Anxiety at an older age

Jake, the taper is from Clonazapam.
I hesitate to put my individualized schedule on line for these reasons:
You may need a different schedule than mine, depending on amount and length of time you have taken this med.
Your age is another variable that would be considered.
The physician I see is a neurologist and psychiatrist.
He is wonderfully compassionate and intelligent.

I suggest interviewing a doctor or two.
Ask your regular physician for names?

Let us know how you are doing.
I am praying that you find a perfect doctor match !🤩

Helen

@helenfrances
Hello,
I took Klonopin for seizures which wasn’t effective and successful symptom free taper off of it many years ago.
I asked you about your taper schedule only because doctors often decrease the dose faster than many patients can tolerate and many end up having withdrawl symptoms.
Have you been suffering any unpleasant withdrawl symptoms?
Jake

Hello everyone, I am new to the group and very happy to have found it. My father lives with anxiety and depression and is 76 years old. He had a late onset of these disorders and if he had symptoms earlier in his life we were all oblivious of it, I do remember him being extremely withdrawn, distrustful of people in general and very negative. I am finding out through my mom what he is taking in terms of medications but whatever it is it is not working and he is at an all time low at the moment quarentining at home. Thank you for reading, I don't really have anyone to talk to about his problem.

@dmho. If I could go back at least 10 years I would but trust psychiatrists so blindly and really pay attention to the possible side effects especially the news anti depressants that I believe were really created for different purposes. My depressing and anxiety was not being helped by tried and true antidepressants so we moved to bipolar, anti seizure, and antipsychotics leaving me with seizures, tardive dyskinesia, and snake like movements of my tongue at night. I finally found a doc willing to try benzos and voila, my anxiety is still there but I can go without a panic attack for days sometimes. These are just my opinions but permanent hand shaking and loss of limb control is no joke. We are here for you if you need us. Use us to call BS on a doc if something doesn’t seem just right. Your dad is a precious person you will never have another. Give him the best years of his life. He’s earned it!

@dmho, Welcome to this forum and thank you for reaching out for help for your dad. Just wondering if your mom or you could call your dad's doc and explain how his symptoms are worsening? Quarantining is tough and changes routines for all of us who are isolating more. Would he be willing to have a phone conf. with his doc if suggested? Do you have permission to give and get information about him with his doc? Hope you'll continue to post here because there are many who understand and are willing to support you and your family during this troubling time.

@feisty76. Good points

Hello again, thank you for your reply and for sharing. That is precisely what I am afraid of, that he is being overmedicated or wrongly medicated which is not good at any age. I was astonished to see the amount of medicines that he is currently taking:
Citalopram 20mg, Alprazolam (Xanax) 1mg, Metformin 500gr (twice a day for his Type 2 Diabetes, Memantine 20mg, Bisoprolol Fumarate 2.5mg (for high blood pressure), and Aspirin 81mg
It has gotten so bad that the last time I spoke with him over the phone he scared me because he said he just wanted to die. I want to help my mom as much as possible as she is his caretaker, but we (my sisters and myself) live very far apart from them so we are only able to help from a distance until this whole pandemic is over. Again, thank you so much for reading 🙂

Hi dmho, thank you for opening this conversation. I'm 67 & experiencing what your dad is. He's fortunate to have a caring family. My only family is my sister & she's 2,000 miles away.

@dmho I am so sorry to hear that! Please feel free to reach out for support or opinions (only mine from my personal experience) and only for what it’s worth. You can private message me, too. We are here for each other, at least that’s my interpretation of what this forum is about.

@dmho Welcome to connect we arent Dr,s but help with our own experience with your problem. Have you gone to a Dr about this? or your parents.? We are all isolated now with covid and feel some depression I cant address to how you feel as I dont have this but the loneliness is enough to be depressed . Does your Dad just get out doors into nature and listen to the sounds around him of life of birds and other animals smell the flowers does any of this help him to feel a bit better . I pray you will find something for your Dad as you are a very caring son I can tell. Hopefully you will receive some more information from others who can address this better then I can , Thoughts and prayers to you and yours.