Grandmother is in skilled Rehab, on day 12. Long story short- she was INDEPENDENT- typical age decline/ has OA. She is 86. The fall took her down. She has a FX humeral head- saw ortho surgeion - no Surgery. Now she is scared to walk but has been taking steps with walker and doing the exergies they give her (PT AND OT) didn't need speech. I speak with the director of REHAB and she says shes really anxious and asked if they could try something to calm her down - We agreed to Xanax 0.05- Anyone's elderly family member take this and do ok? I know it will make her sleep more and that's what we don't want. She was walking fine before the fall and they did CT scans and MRIs. Se has a small compressioin fx of the L5 as well.
i will try to get a report and see if it calmed her down some
My mom was on a pediatric dose of Klonopin (also a benzo like Xanax, but preferred by geriatric psychiatrist). A low dose of anti anxiety meds did not make my mom sleepy after they adjusted the dose downwards when it did. Is there a geri psych at the facility who can consult?
Also, there are anti depressants that have good anti anxiety properties; those are generally less sedating.