treatment

Beth Pettigrew

Husband is newly diagnosed. I'm curious about the prescriptions and treatments that are highly recommended

terei

Spend a couple hours reading posts here. You will get an overview of what to expect. I know of no med that is ‘highly recommended’ for ALZ or an other dementia for that matter.

SusanB-dil

Hi Beth - welcome to 'here', but sorry for the reason.

terei is correct - please do read through the posts. Lots of valuable information - and support.

'best meds' is what would work best for your DH. 'If you've met one PWD, you've met one PWD". Because each person is unique, what works 'best' for one, something else may be 'best' for someone else. There are quite a few meds that can help with agitation, or at least slow the progression, or help with sleep issues.

Also note that at times, it may even be trial-and-error to come up with what works best for your one person.

(and please make sure all paperwork is in order.)

jfkoc

I agree, nothing is highly recommended. What you can do is learn how to make life easier on you and your husband. Studies have shown that non-medical treatment is very effective and certainly less risky than drugs.

zauberflote

Madame Cynical here suggests that if a medical professional highly recommends a newer type drug to you, it's possible there may be something in it for them.

my MIL took both aricept and namenda for a few years. I have no idea if they helped her. We didn't go that route with my mother, but she did start taking a little something for anxiety and depression when she moved to AL. I think it did help her some.

Marta

No treatment is highly recommended because, there is no intervention to date which slows or reverses the process that drives the progression of the dementias.

MN Chickadee

You may have heard of the recently approved treatment Leqembi; it seems the folks on this board have mixed feelings about it based on the research and findings. It's new enough there likely aren't many posters here with experience with it yet. Everyone here or their LO takes different meds and treatments for dementia. Some tolerate the dementia specific medications (like Aricept or Namenda) and others do not due to side effects. But they are a common place to start. My mother tolerated Aricept fine but Namenda made her super out of it and tired so we stopped it. It also depends on the type of dementia. Some meds may be prescribed for Alzheimers but should not be taken for other dementias. Some people have more severe aggression, anxiety, depression, sleep disturbances, or other issues and take something for that ranging from your standard SSRI to anti-psychotic drugs. In our case a medication was added called Remeron to help with sleep. It had the added benefit of having some anti-depressant and appetite stimulating properties. Others take Trazadone, Seroquel, and a host of other drugs depending on their needs. Some of these drugs come with a black box warning about the risks with the elderly and/or dementia patients but caregivers often find the risk worth it because the alternative of living with the behavior or condition is so dreadful. The one thing that is more universal is learning dementia communication and techniques (therapeutic fibs, working behind the scenes, learning to validate feelings and re-direct etc.) Teepa Snow is a great resource you can find some of her videos online.