Hi advice777,
I would ask the prescriber to reconsider. I do not know the effect of any of the drugs you mention but it takes time to find the right combination of drugs. Maybe another combination would help her better? Depression is common when having alzheimer's. Some patients who have alzheimer's knows that they are forgetting things and that something affects their short-term memory but they can't remember exactly what it is.
No drug can restore an Alzheimer's sufferer. Aricept only slows the progression just as you said in one sentence, however it does not help everyone. Not very reassuring when you are faced with high med costs and have no way to tell if it is really slowing his disease progression or if it would be at the current pace without the med.
Hello.
It is important for you to decide if the symptoms are due to early onset Alzheimer's disease or the cyst. The symptoms due to the Alzheimer’s disease are more related to cognition, memory, etc. A cyst may produce similar symptoms, but it is usually an acute or sub acute finding.
In all probabilities, your cyst is an incidental finding when the MRI was done. Alzheimer's disease is the one you should focus on. Aricept is a good drug.
Hi Margypops,
Axona is a brand-new prescription therapy launched in March 2009 for the treatment of mild-moderate Alzheimer's disease. As Alzheimer's is marked by a decrease in glucose in the brain (the primary source of food for the brain), Axona acts by providing/metabolizing glucose in the body to act as an alternate source of food for the brain.
t know anything about that - all I know is that before Aricept, I was in a gray mist, and after five months of Aricept, everything seemed to make more sense. Before Aricept, it was as if I had low water pressure - I just couldn't get enough juice in my brain to put thoughts together. On Aricept, suddenly my brain could make connections.
The only trippy thing I noticed was an almost hi-def moire behind my eyeballs when I went to sleep.
I just started researching this topic as I have 2 aunts on my mom's side with Alzheimer's.
From what I've read thus far, 7 years seems to be the average life expectancy.
But, I don't know how the statistics would apply to someone in their 90s; nor if old age has an impact on how quickly the disease advances. I would think that old age could very well take the person before they actually succumb to the disease... but, that's just my non-professional, uneducated guess.
Hi,
I am not sure but you can discuss this with your PCP. I think he might be having what is called as short term memory loss which is why he keeps forgetting this.
I think you should discuss with your PCP regarding a drug called Aricept. This should be started only on prescription of your treating physician. It is used for treatment of Alzheimer’s, but is helpful for short term memory loss.
Aricept is a drug of choice to treat Alzheimer's, but its use is not restricted.
I have had memory loss over the past 2 years, I'm a 47 yr. old female. There are things I don't remember in the recent past and no matter how hard I try the memory doesn't come back. I have always been excellent in math, most of the time knowing an answer in my head so fast it surprised even me. Lately I can't even do simple math in my head and alot of times not on paper.
Mother had been experiencing dreams, nightmares really centering on the things she fears the most - abandoment, loss of control of her money, being pushed down the stairs, etc. These dreams were very real to her and she would then argue with her husband about why he said he wanted to do these things to her. He, of course, knew nothing of these "conversations and situations" she thought were so real.
I was diagnosed over 2 years ago but never got around to going to the Chiari Institute in NY as suggested by my geneticist, mostly because I also have Ehlers Danlos Syndrome and know so, so many people who have had the decompression surgery and nearly all failed. So they say, it's due to also having EDS.
No one and that includes a doctor can give a reliable estimate of life expectency!!
Sorry to hear of your mother's condition. Vascular dementia is almost the same Alzheimer's...the etioloy is different but the symptoms are almost identical, and that may help explain your mother's refusal to take any medication...its a cognitive disorder as well. It is estimated about 5 years (mean estimate) of life expectency after the onset of Alzheimer, a little longer with medication (aricept).
If a person has not been diagnosed with alzheimers but is taking aricept, is it okay? will it hurt to be taking it?
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