Nearly a quarter of Winnipeg care home residents given antipsychotic drugs with no diagnosis
CBC
Winnipeg nursing home residents are being prescribed powerful antipsychotic drugs at an increasing rate to treat dementia and control behaviour, rather than what the drugs are meant for — to manage symptoms of schizophrenia or bipolar disorder.
More than 23 per cent of personal care home residents were prescribed antipsychotic medication without a diagnosis of psychosis in the first three months of 2022, according to data provided by the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority.
That average is the highest percentage reported by the WRHA in seven years.
Trish Rawsthorne, a Manitoba seniors' advocate and former nurse, saw first-hand what happens to someone put on an antipsychotic after her sister was given the drug risperidone over a decade ago.
"When she was on the medication, she was very frightened. She didn't really know what was going on. She lost the ability to speak. She was walking 12 hours a day. She couldn't eat properly," Rawsthorne said.
In 2011 her older sister, Linda, then 65 years old, was put on the drug to treat severe anxiety stemming from dementia, caused by a series of concussions earlier in her life.
Antipsychotics like risperidone are used to treat a variety of mental health conditions, but mainly for conditions that include psychotic symptoms, such as schizophrenia or bipolar disorder.
Risperidone can be used in the short term to treat severe dementia of the Alzheimer's type, according to Health Canada.
When her sister was moved to Misericordia Place nursing home around 2013, Rawsthorne made it her goal to get her sister off the drug.
"I said, 'This is absolutely ridiculous' … I wanted her to be able to live as normally as possible and to retain whatever memories she had," Rawsthorne said.
When she was able to show the doctor at the nursing home the effect the drug had on Linda, he agreed to wean her off.
"She came back to her [old] self," Rawsthorne said.
But if she hadn't advocated for it, she doesn't think her sister would ever have been taken off the drug.
Linda died in 2019, but "at least she had times when she knew who I was, who the family were, and she could have moments of enjoyment," said Rawsthorne.
