What’s your opinion of Aricept?

akc783

My mom was given Aricept by her PCP when she was first diagnosed but was taken off it due to side effects. I know she had blood in her stool but I don’t know what else. The PCP told me that she could have tried again but confessed that at the time she just wasn’t taking it that seriously. We no longer see her.

Fast forward a couple years later- Is it worth trying again? Wondering if the benefits of the drug are worth risking the side effects.

Quilting brings calm

It helps some people, has too many side affects for others, and does basically nothing for most. Blood in stool sounds like a pretty harmful side affect to me. I would say no.

LBC83

I have been on Aricept (official name Donepezil) since being diagnosed with MCI. Soon thereafter I also started on Leqembi. I looked into the research behind Aricept prior to starting on the drug. A study published in Neurology ("the most widely read and highly cited peer-reviewed neurology journal") titled "A 24-week, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial of donepezil in patients with Alzheimer's Disease", concludes with "These data indicate that donepezil is a well-tolerated drug that improves cognition and global function in patients with mild to moderate AD."

The trial had 162 people on placebo, 154 on 5 mg/d donepezil, and 157 on 10 mg/d donepezil for 24 weeks. They measured efficacy regarding cogition via 5 different tests (including the infamous Clinical Dementia Rating - Sum of Boxes, or CDR-SB, which determines how well someone performs in six domains: memory, orientation, judgement and problem-solving, community affairs, home and hobbies, and personal care, rather comprehensive, wouldn't you say).

Cognitive function was significantly improved in the 5- and 10- mg/d donepezil groups compared to the placebo group and 12, 18, and 24 weeks.

With regards to side effects, they reported "SIde effects were transient and generally mild in severity." I was started at a low dosage and I did experience some gastrointestinal issues that lasted a few weeks.

The abstract from this study is available for free online at the link below.

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/9443470/

cdgbdr

My DH was on it for about 8 weeks, had GI side effects and lost weight. He then went on Exelon patches. There has been no slowing of decline and we are weaning him off those. I wanted to try to help him if it was possible. I think it's a personal decision between the provider and whoever is making the medical decisions.