So done with Donepezil
Sorry for another poop topic but I just need some suggestions and maybe a pep talk.Mom has been on 5mg donepezil (generic name) since maybe May, possibly April. A little after she started taking it, she started having diarrhea and not making it to the bathroom in time with other loose BM. At the time, she was also eating a lot of candy and sugar-free mints without supervision and I thought that was from that. We increased her fiber intake, hid the candy, and stepped up on taking her to the bathroom in a timely order. We still had a few accidents but things were seemingly getting manageable.In June my older sister (os), the one who does mom's medical business, mentioned that a side effect of donepezil was diarrhea but she didn't think it would be a problem because mom had been constipated once in late March. I was floored. This whole time I thought it was mom's diet but it could have been a pill. I didn't even know why she was put on donepezil, just came home with the prescription from OS.
Mom's also on setraline and one of her doctors (wasn't told which) told us to reduce her prescription, because apparently that also has diarrhea as a side effect. We tried that. It didn't seem to make a difference except that mom was more anxious than usual so we went back to the previous amount for the setraline. It's been one week since we went back.
I'd like to stop the donepezil since the trouble started when she went on it. Although, the donepezil seemed to help mom, was a lot more "with it" and could do ADLs better, so I'm hesitant on if we should stop the donepezil or not.
Mom's also on memantine, and that also has diarrhea from what I've seen while looking through past topics on here. I told OS about it and suggested bringing it up with the doctor to try reducing that. I didn't hear back from her on it, left the message on read.
This early morning mom couldn't get to the bathroom and pooped herself in her pajamas and my dad seemingly left her there soiled. Thankfully I was right there and got her cleaned up. He seemingly had no clue what happened to her when he got back into the room.
I don't think she's even urine incontinent so it's really frustrating that she keeps pooping herself. She's always so heart broken when it happens. I don't exactly mind her pooping herself so long as it's in the bathroom and she is wearing dark clothes! but this is no way to live. Especially since it's getting difficult getting fluids in her, we don't need it lost to diarrhea.
Any suggestions or sympathy would be great. At least when she truly becomes fecal incontinent, we're already somewhat used to it. The silver lining