Does Memantime work for anyone's LO?

Marianne*

My mom's been taking memantime for a couple of years.  I don't feel like it's helping at all and I'm considering stopping it.  Does anyone have experience with stopping memantime and their LO experiencing worsening symptoms?  Anyone start it and see improvements?  TY

JJ401

DH started taking it a couple of months ago. He seems somewhat less confused. I am hoping it can keep him from getting worse for a while.

smbren

My LO started that slowly.  Increased it.  Then we started to see an increase with the agitation which is why it was started slowly as it has been known to cause increased agitation.  So we dialed the dosage back and then removed it altogether again. 

Also was on Aricept.  But LO was having stomach issues due to this one. 

Best,

Yorklady53

My LO started taking it early last month. I see no change at all. The kicker is there is no way to tell if it really helps. His gerontologist said he may start communicating more but he doesn’t. Dr also said he may become more social but that hasn’t helped either. It is supposed to slow the progression down but that isn’t a given. It’s so frustrating because with no notable changes it feels like a waste of money but again if it helps slow the progression down it’s worthwhile.

Teresag56

Marianne

My mom was on this and aricept for 2 yrs...when she came to live with me I took her off both meds. The aricept made her agitated and feel bad and the namenda did nothing for her. I see no difference in her except she is not as agitated. I took her to a holistic nutrition clinic today...and they did some test that showed poor circulation and oxygen depravity...he told us about breathing exercises she is not breathing deep enough so she is not getting enough oxygen to her brain...he also gave us some essential oil to rub under her nose to make her breathe better and open up her sinus....she also was iron deffenient.  So sometimes medicines do not work....just do what helps your lo...blessings to you

King Boo

Working is a relative term.  This drug is designed to plateau symptoms at an earlier stage of the disease, presumably where there is better quality of life.

It does not stop the disease from progressing. Eventually, everyone gets worse.

We utilized it and benefited from it a lot.  We discontinued when function was down enough (sleeping a lot of the day) upon entry to Palliative care, about 3 months before beginning hospice services for the anticipated last 6 months of life.

Michel2020

My mom started it about 6 months ago and at first it really seemed to almost help her revert some to her old self (which was unexpected) but then after 6 weeks she slide back to her normal Alz stage 1 self...but it helps her sleep at night, so we are staying on it.