Aricept (try it or not)

SATX

Got the official diagnosis today for DW... EO (age 60) ALZ.  However we've been progressing for at least 5 years - things are moving much more quickly now.  

I'm grateful that Zoloft was prescribed.  Mood improvement would be a godsend.  She gave up driving without protest or emotion - shocker!  (Told me Sunday that she wanted me to buy her a new car.)

Aricept was mentioned but not prescribed.  

I've read past posts about side effects and med combos.  My question for those who are familiar with using it (especially long term)... is the juice worth the squeeze?  And/Or is there any juice? Are there dramatically positive impacts?  If all it does is slow progression for a year or two, is it worth it?

French

My partner was diagnosed 27 months ago at 50. He was then about stage 4 and is now 6c. He was prescribed aricept (donepezil) since then. No idea if it improves something but we continue in case it does. And we only have that, and it not very expensive, so we try. 

Concerning the side effects, they are not so inconvenient in our case : a little cold and that’s all. To my mind it’s worth a try.

M1

SATX, I think it's very variable.  The data say about 1 in 12 will be helped, about 1 in 12 will have a significant side effect, and for the rest it's likely a wash.  You don't know unless you try.  We had side effects (GI) almost immediately even with the lowest dose.

Ed1937

French wrote:

 No idea if it improves something but we continue in case it does. 

I think that is the answer most often given. You almost never see someone who says without a doubt, it helped.

Stuck in the middle

My wife has taken it for 5 years without side effects.  There is no way to know if it is helping her, but it doesn't seem to hurt anything and might be helping.

Buggsroo

My husband takes Aricept and it does help. It keeps him quite steady during the day, he does get bad at night. I do see some improvement, but dementia is progressive, one day it probably won’t do anything.

Pat6177

My DH was diagnosed a year ago and started on Donepezil (aricept). Maybe I’m crazy but he seems to do a bit better in social situations. The social situations are few and far between but surprisingly, he follows the conversations enough to make witty comments from time to time. He has always been a quiet guy and I hadn’t realized that a he had gone so silent in the social settings. So the appropriate and humorous comments are so good to see. Otherwise, I can’t tell if it’s working. The only side effect I’ve seen are what he calls “vivid dreams”.

I wonder if he stops taking it and loses ground, will he recover what he lost if he goes back on it? Who knows but I encourage him to continue taking it, just in case.

Jeff86

Pat, 

My DW has been on Aricept and Namenda for four years.  I don’t detect any benefit (though there’s always the counterfactual—don’t know if things would be worse without them) nor any specific side effects.   When I suggested to DW’s neurologist stopping these meds, she felt it would be unwise to do so.  In her clinical experience, some patients experience further decline when taken off of Aricept.  So we’ve stayed the course.

Pat6177

Jeff, thanks for the tip. Reinforces the decision to stay the course.

Stuck in the middle

Stage 4 typically lasts 24 months, untreated.  DW takes Aricept and Namenda and has remained in Stage 4 for about 36 months and counting.  Appears it might be helping.