Donezepil and diarrhea

Jacoland

Hello,

My mom has moderate vascular dementia and is on Donezepil 10 mg. While eating she gets diarrhea, I can’t hardly take her out. I always have a change of clothes for her in my car and the doctor ordered anti diarrhea meds. Any other tips? Or does anyone know of a med for vascular dementia that does not cause diarrhea? This is a nightmare for me and has got to be so awful for her.
thanks and hang in there everyone.

persevere

Although maybe not as severe yes, my wife experienced the same thing on donezepil. She also experienced vasa vegal (sp?) episodes which is basically fainting. Finally took her off after 2 years. I could tell her dementia accelerated but her physical health was better. They have alternatives in this class of drugs but I never tried them. Nemenda is in a different class and is often paired with donezepil.

Jacoland

https://alzconnected.org/discussion/comment/264513#Comment_264513

oh boy, she has had more falls. I’m going to get the doctor to switch the medication. Thank you very much.

H1235

My mom has vascular dementia and I was told donezepil would do her no good. They said there was no medication for vascular dementia. My mom does have IBS and has struggled with diarrhea for years. She is on Cholestyramine powder packets. They are used primarily for high cholesterol, but they have given them to mom off label for the diarrhea and it works great. Since vascular dementia is well vascular a cholesterol medication is probably helpful anyway. I would look into the benefits of donezepil for vascular dementia.

Quilting brings calm

My mom could not tolerate 10mg Donepezil for the same reason. We had to move her back to the 5mg. Truthfully I don’t think the medication helps all that much. It doesn’t slow the progression, just supposedly masks the symptoms for some of the people taking it.

Jacoland

https://alzconnected.org/discussion/comment/264553#Comment_264553

thank you for sharing your experience. The facility ran out of her donezepil one time for several days and they didn’t tell me. I noticed a difference in her behavior she was calling me all hours of the night and morning. She was more anxious etc.when she got back on it, it took a few weeks to get back to her baseline. it is definitely helping her.

Jacoland

Thank you for sharing that information. I didn’t realize it did not slow the progression either way it’s helping her behavior. I need to get the dose lowered or change the med to something different.