Aricept for severe dementia
Common Questions and Answers about Aricept for severe dementia
aricept
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.
My Mom is 92 years old. Has been living on her own in Elderly housing for 20 years. Her dementia consisted of repeating and repeating, forgetting who visited, etc. but went throughout her normal activities w/some services very well and very happiy. Always knew us but was starting to forget other people but after prompting she would be ok.
3 weeks ago she developed a very severe resistant UTI and then got c-dift (not sure how to spell that). Anyway ended up dilusional, confused, etc.
When I was having some serious cog fog, I asked my neurologist for a sample of Aricept. Had to argue with him, actually. It worked! I got back some of my cognitive function - not all, but enough that I felt confident about my decisions.
I took it for four months, total. I still have one month left over on the scrip, so if I really need it, I'll have it.
It troubles me that she seems to be being treated for dementia when, as a family member, it seems more to me like depression or some sort of grief reaction that she isn't recognizing. My other concern is that some of the new medications could keep her feeling confused masking how the clearing of her infection and the normalization of her electrolytes could be helping.
My husband has dementia. He takes the Bupropion in the morning along with his Aricept and Exforge (for blood pressure). He gets drowsy right after taking his pills and I think it may be the Bupropion HSL SR causing this. His neurologist told him the anti-depressant would probably make him "a little more fuzzy in his thinking". My husband is usually at his best in the morning as far as clear thinking goes.
I had dementia symptoms with B12 malabsorption. In my case due to autoimmune pernicious anaemia. I had severe B12 deficiency. It took a month for my memory to start improving after weekly B12 injections. I switched to 2000 mcg daily of sublingual (under the tongue) B12 spray which I find superior personally. I have permanent nerve damage.
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Excerpt from Livestrong - Be Aware of Alcohol's Effects on B-12 Absorption..
They say now that Aricept binds receptors that would otherwise heal, so it's not good for MS - it's specifically for Alzheimer's. My new neuro was horrified when she learned I had been on it for five months.
I don'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.
Those are standard anti-depressents. However, I personally know about Aricept because I tried it for tardive dyskinesia and had a pretty poor response. My grandfather was prescribed Aricept for age related memory loss after a cardiovascular impairment. He couldn't tolerate it either. That doesn't mean at all its the wrong medication generally. Its just it has a fair amount of side effects for some people.
Is the person having memory problems? If not, why are they taking it? There are lots of drugs that have "off label" uses for lots of drugs so perhaps it was prescribed for something else. The doctor can probably let you know what that is and why it's being used. I don't think it will hurt, but there are side effects in every med and it would be a good idea to check drug interactions, etc. Try Drugs.com. If you cannot speak to the patient's doc, can you call your own?
My mom suffers from this lewy body dementia, and i wish there was something more effective out there other than
aricept or exelon...
If anyone knows anything about REMBA, please drop me a line....
I thank you and
good luck to you ,or your loved one!
Second visit to neurologist (3 week wait) he did the EEG, said I had dementia, prescribed Aricept and depakote, referred me to psychological evaluation.
I went to the evaluation(after 7 weeks), did the tests, waited 8 weeks for the results.
Third visit to the neurologist, he flipped the report to the last page, he looks up says you are just depressed.
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. 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.
Dementia is not a specific disease. It's an overall term that describes a wide range of symptoms associated with a decline in memory or other thinking skills severe enough to reduce a person's ability to perform everyday activities. Alzheimer's disease accounts for 60 to 80 percent of cases. Vascular dementia, which occurs after a stroke, is the second most common dementia type.
Because of the dementia she does not remember the cancer diagnosis. I wonder if that is what keeps her going. Her dementia is now stage 5, well into the moderate stages. In my opinion the dementia is what she will eventually die from not the cancer or the COPD. Her Drs gave her 6 months to live 2 1/2 years ago. Her only continued symptoms are a cough and getting winded on exertion. She won't do oxygen or her nebulizer. Like I said, very slow decline.
I had severe hypothyroidism symptoms with severe bradypnea. I had dementia symptoms from hypothyroidism but it was reversible. I have holes in my memory but that would be due to vitamin B12 malabsorption. I don't recall events that you wouldn't be likely to forget. eg: my grandfather almost cut his finger off on christmas day and went to hospital apparently lol.
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