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.
My husband has been taking 10mg of Aricept for 2 years now and I have not noticed any significant difference in his memory. Actually, my observation is his memory is becoming worse. I'm struggling with whether I should discontinue the medication since I don't see improvement and because it is quite costly. I also know Aricept is designed to slow down the dementia so if I discontinue it I'm wondering if he will become worse much faster.
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.
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.
It has been observed that Aricept improves cognition and function, which includes effects on memory and performing everyday tasks, hence it would have been prescribed.
The effect of memory is exerted through one such chemical called acetylcholine. This chemical helps carry messages from nerve cell to nerve cell in the brain. Memory is lost by disrupting these messages between cells.
It is thought that Aricept may help reduce the breakdown of this chemical.
Hope this helps.
Bye.
A friend of mine's mother had alzheimer's and was diagnosed at age 20. She died 4 years ago and she was in her 50's. So, it really depends on if you have some other disease along with it and how severe the alzheimer's is. My Grandfather, on the other hand, had diabetes and alzheimer's and he was 63 when he was diagnosed with alzheimer's. His was extremely severe and only lived one year. So, every person is different.
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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