My grandmother currently is taking 100mg of trazadone a day to help her behaviors. It seems to help, by knocking her out. but, I keep reading about seroquel. is this drug the same?

Trazadone is an older generation of drugs, my understanding is that seroquel and reperidol are second generation medications that might have less side effects. You need to talk to her doctor about the dosage and how zonked she is.

granddaughterJ,

No, they are not the same drug. Quetiapine (Seroquel) is in a class of medications, i.e., antipsychotics, that are F.D.A. approved to treat symptoms of schizophrenia, manic depression and other serious mental illnesses, though it's also commonly prescribed for dementia symptoms such as aggression, restlessness, agitation, hallucinations, and paranoid thinking, among other things. Trazodone (Desyrel), on the other hand, is an antidepressant medication that's commonly prescribed for low mood and irritability. When considering use of medications, it's important to keep in mind that no drugs are specifically approved by the FDA to treat behavioral and psychiatric dementia symptoms. Moreover, and as vjh has suggested, quetiapine (Seroquel) is indeed among the second generation class of drugs called "atypical antipsychotics" whereby the FDA issued a public health advisory back in April of 2005 alerting health care professionals, caregivers and diagnosed individuals alike to their potentially serious side effects. I've attached a brochure on "Behavioral and Psychiatric Symptoms" that discusses some of these issues albeit rather briefly.

http://www.alz.org/national/documents/topicsheet_behavepsych.pdf

Of course, you'll need to speak with a physician to receive a more detailed and individualized assessment regarding the use of such medications. Please don't hesitate to call us at 800-272-3900 if we can provide any additional assistance.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Jin K.,

Thank you for the information. She gets agitated, screams alot & bugs are everywhere. She can go for 5 minutes to hours. We are going to discuss it with the Dr. But needed more info. I will check out the brochure. Thanks for the help..