Question: My 65 year old mother has suffered severe health issues for 15 years and has a diagnosis of Schizoeffective Disorder. She was recently hospitalized after a 6 week stay in the mental health unit. She was hearing voices that told her to "fast" (not eat) and she couldn't leave the house. Those are her typical delusions, always involve a focus on food and not being able to leave the house. She has taken Seroquel and Lexapro for years and that helped some (when she took them, she had a history of not taking meds) Several months ago she was put on Haldol .5mg 3 x daily. She did very well on that in regards to not heaing the voices. However, she had a horrible side effect of restlessness (pacing, couldn't sit for more than a few minutes,etc). She stopped taking it as well as the Seroquel and Lexapro. That is what landed her in the hospital. So this last hospital they started Haldol .5mg (3 x daily) and injectable Haldol 50ML every 2 weeks with the intention of taking her of Haldol oral once the injection starting working) again as the doctor said there were dugs that could help with the side effects. They put her on Inderal 20mg 3x daily to counter effect the side effects. It seemed to help somewhat, but was still restless. They also placed her on Remeron 15mg as an appetite stimulant to get her to start eating. After 6 week in the hospital she seem better than ever. Her next Pychiatric appt isnt until 11/3. She was released two weeks ago and has been living with me for the time being. She was doing really well overall - good mood, eating, clearly not hearing voices , but was still pretty restless (pacing, not being able to sit for more than a few minutes, etc) but doing well compared to when she is hearing voices. We went to her PCP (who kept her on all the drugs listed above) this Monday for a follow up and they put her on Cogentin 1mg 2x daily which could be increased to 2mg 2x daily if needed. She started the Cogentin 1mg 2 x daily on Monday and since it didn't appear to do much for the restlessness, I increased her to 2mg 2x daily on Thursday. Well....she has now had a SEVERE change in behavior. She is very confused, can't remember her name, where she is at, and the last two nights awoke in the middle of the night and destroyed her bedroom...flipped over tables, pulled clothes off hangers, emptied trash on the floor and we found her laying on the floor with no idea how she got there or why this happened. She claims both nights that she must have been dreaming. After looking up research on all the medications side effects, I strongly feel that this is a severe side effect of Cogentin which list side effects of aggressive or violent behavior and confusion about identity, place and time. She is just completely confused. The other meds have some side effects of confusion mentioned but she has been on Seroquel and Lexapro for years with no problems. She had been on the Haldol, Inderal and Remeron for about a total of 6-7 weeks now and did not have this behavior. This is why I think it's the Cogentin which was just started. I don't think she's at the point of needing to go to the hospital (which she is afraid of now since she was in 6 weeks the last time). Should I just stop the Cogentin?