Aricept and a Runny Nose

Pat6177

My DH has been on the generic form of Aricept since 11/2020. It wasn’t until I saw Gig Harbor’s post in another thread that I realized it was probably causing his runny nose. He has always had some trouble with allergies that cleared up with Zyrtec. Then the Zyrtec seemed to stop working. Now I realize that it’s probably the Aricept. Anyone else have a LO with this side effect? Any suggestions on reducing the runny nose?

Jeff86

Pat, 

My DW has been on Aricept and Namenda for almost five years, and a runny nose has been a side effect.  Some days more than others and no triggers that I can determine.  

Afraid I don’t have a solution.

French

The same here. My partner is on donepezil since 05/2019. 

He has often a runny nose and a light cough. I think it is because it is flowing inside. He told me it tickled him in the throat.

The doctor sent us to do chest x-rays, there was nothing, of course.

I asked the question about cough here perhaps one year ago and I remember that people answer that their LO also began coughing and it was solved with Zyrtec.

I suspect donepezil because in the instructions, « cold » is cited as a side effect in more than 10% of the cases.

For the moment we estimate (absolutely not sure) that donepezil benefits are higher than this side effect, so we continue.

DrinaJGB

Yes DH has a runny nose constantly after being prescribed Aricept recently. Also a lot of weight loss.

slippednfell

It never occurred to me that my husband's runny nose is connected to this med!  I think I will try giving him some Zyrtec and see if that helps.

caberr

Wow I never thought about Aricept being the cause of his runny nose.  He takes zyrtec every night but doesn't seem to help.

CStrope

My DH has had a runny nose too, and I've eased his mind by telling him its because of his meds.  I never knew that it really was because of his meds!!

ForeverSad

Same here. DH was on generic Aricept for about six months.  In that time, he was constantly needing to blow his nose which kept him distracted from other activities and because of this he has discontinued the medicine. Running nose stopped almost immediately.

Sligo177

Hi Pat6177,

My DH was on Donepezil for quite a while, always a runny nose, antihistamines did not help.  He also had more and more nightmares, so my doc switched him to Galantamine.  Those side effects are now gone - not sure the Galantamine is as or less effective than the Donepezil, but that's what we are doing.  He also started on Memantine a short while ago to try to help him more.  I hope your day is good and you both have happy moments.

Pat6177

Sligo177, thanks for the info. My DH has what he calls “vivid dreams” but they apparently aren’t scary or disturbing. As his memory gets worse, when I ask him in the morning if he had any dreams, he often says “I think so but I’m not sure.” As I reread the list of side effects, I see that fainting is also on there and DH has fainted twice in the past year which concerns me. I’ll have to look up the Galantamine - it’s good to know there are options.