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XXXXXXX (my Husband) Has Hallucinations . His Heart Rate Is
Question: XXXXXXX (my husband) has hallucinations. His heart rate is low. He has dementia, PTSD and parkinsons. Is there a medication that could help his hallucinations and not affect his heart rate?
Brief Answer:
Clozapine or quetiapine can be tried
Detailed Answer:
Hello, I'm Dr. Branch, thanks for using Ask a Doctor.
Hallucinations in Parkinson disease are common, and can be related to the medications used to treat Parkinson disease, to the underlying dementia, or to infection. Typically we first look at the medications to see if there is one that is possibly causing or making the hallucinations worse, and try decreasing or stopping that medication.
If not, antipsychotic medications are usually tried, being careful because some of them can make Parkinson disease worse. However, clozapine and quetiapine appear to be safe in Parkinson disease, and none of these antipsychotics would make the heart rate low (occasionally they do increase the heart rate).
I hope that gives you some ideas to talk with his doctor about. Please let me know if you have any other questions, I would be glad to discuss it further with you.
Clozapine or quetiapine can be tried
Detailed Answer:
Hello, I'm Dr. Branch, thanks for using Ask a Doctor.
Hallucinations in Parkinson disease are common, and can be related to the medications used to treat Parkinson disease, to the underlying dementia, or to infection. Typically we first look at the medications to see if there is one that is possibly causing or making the hallucinations worse, and try decreasing or stopping that medication.
If not, antipsychotic medications are usually tried, being careful because some of them can make Parkinson disease worse. However, clozapine and quetiapine appear to be safe in Parkinson disease, and none of these antipsychotics would make the heart rate low (occasionally they do increase the heart rate).
I hope that gives you some ideas to talk with his doctor about. Please let me know if you have any other questions, I would be glad to discuss it further with you.
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Above answer was peer-reviewed by :
Dr. Vaishalee Punj
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