Trying to manage BPD Mother's symptoms

[blue-eyed bonnie]

Hi All:
My 83 year old mother has all the symptoms of BPD, although never officially diagnosed.  I recently talked to my NP about this and she thought that Lexapro might help some with her anxiety and fear of abandonment "clinging" tendencies.  Anyone out there had any experience with using Lexapro as a treatment for BPD.  My husband and I are now forced to live with her; she moved in after a car accident where she could no longer care for herself alone.  Anything that might calm her and make her easier to live with would be great.  Thanks, BEB

[Highlander]

Hi blue-eyed bonnie,

My DH was diagnosed with BPD many years ago now.  Although we were told there were no medications to cure BPD, he was prescribed anti-depressants to help with the depression part of BPD.  He was first prescribed  Efexor, which didn't go down too well for him.  One psychiatrist, during this time, made a huge mistake and doubled his dose overnight.  This increased his BPD symptoms enormously and since then, many doctors have noted that that was the wrong thing to do.  He then went onto Lexepro, which we found to be a better anti-depressent (for him anyway) and I think, if I can remember right, Lexepro had some anti-anxiety benefits as well. 

For DH, he was always vulnerable when being introduced or reduced (reductions are required to change to other anti-depressants).  The psychiatrists (except the one mentioned above) always ensured that he was not going through too much stress in his life when these changes happened and introduced/reduced them very slowly (small doses at first then increasing potency over time) and they had regular sessions with him during the changes.  As for me, I also had to be aware that he was quite vulnerable for about 6 weeks whilst these changes occurred.   Even when these medications were stabilised in his system, if he accidentally missed a dose on any day, he was very vulnerable and it affected everyone around him. 

But yes, compared to Efexor, my DH responded very well to Lexepro.  It helped with his depression somewhat, but it was no miracle cure for BPD, apart from a small decrease in his depression, his other BPD symptoms (black and white thinking etc) were still there. 

I have read here on this forum site that some BPD sufferers stop taking them, thinking they didn't need them and unless they are slowly reduced, it can make them and everyone else around them quite vulnerable.  We also found that valium, given to him during particularly stressful situations helped calm him, especially during anti-depressant introductions/changeovers.

My husband has now recovered from BPD, but that was not the pills.  It was his acceptance of his BPD diagnosis and psychotherapy.  At age 83 and being undiagnosed, I guess your accepting that that scenario may not be possible for your mother and any help with her symptoms, at all, would be beneficial to you.  But I guess your therapist has discussed all this with you.



I wish you luck.