Donepazil

tcrosse

DW has been taking Donepazil and Memantine for several years, but it's hard to know if they've been doing any good. Due to an unfortunate set of circumstances we ran out of Donepazil, and DW had to go a few days without. Immediately she fell off her plateau, became even more restless and got into a foul mood. Let's hope that getting back on the daily dose improves things.

Marta

I would not blame the gap in donepezil administration for the changes you observed in your loved one. The half-life of donepezil is about 80 hours, plus or minus 20 hours, meaning that after 3-4 missed doses (days) half the drug is still in your wife’s system. You certainly would not have an abrupt change, if any at all. 

Look for other reasons for the change, such as a UTI. 

Ed1937

Marta wrote:

Look for other reasons for the change, such as a UTI. 

I'm not in the medical field like Marta, but that's what I would do. I would ask for a UTI test done with a culture. The culture will give them the best information on how to treat the infection if there is one. If an infection is cleared up, there's a good chance the symptoms will cease.

tcrosse

Thanks Marta for that useful information.