Medication

letty61 · April 15

Hello

Has anyone given their love ones Aricept ? if so , was there any improvement ?

Lynn24 · April 15

Aricept did not help my mother. It is supposed to help with agitation but it didn’t work for her. Only medication that has helped so far is Seroquel. It helps her sleep and it helps her remain more calm during bathing etc. It is not a cure all for my mother but it has helped more than Aricept. Hope this helps.

Jackie_K · April 15

Same here. We just increased the dose to see if it does anything. I haven't seen much of a difference but then again, who knows if without it, things would be worse? Since she hasn't experienced any side effects we are keeping her on it for now.

Quilting brings calm · April 15

it’s kind of a mixed result with that. There’s many older threads on that medication, both brand name and generic ( donepizel). Mom is on the lowest dose because the next higher dose caused her gastrointestinal issues. I don’t think it helps, but I don’t think the lowest dose hurts either. Truthfully it’s hard to tell if it helps because there’s no way to know if slow decline is due to the medication or just the way your PWD is going to progress.

M1 · April 15

Here's a common statistic others here know I've guoted before: the data show that one in twelve will benefit, one in twelve will have significant side effects, and for ten out of twelve it won't make any difference one way or the other.

Ellie72 · April 15

My mother has been on Aricept for about a month. It seems she is more agitated and having more frequent outbursts. Has anyone else experienced this?

Lynn24 · April 15

Yes my mother took Aricept for three weeks and we noticed same symptoms. It seemed to cause more anxiety. Seroquel is helping with her agitation. She has been taking it twice a day for about two months. It is helping her sleep better also. She sleeps 6 to 7 hours each night.

Ellie72 · April 15

Taking her to the neurologist tomorrow. Hopefully we will get new meds. It hurts to see her like this. Thank you so much for the info.

letty61 · April 16

https://alzconnected.org/discussion/comment/205800#Comment_205800

Thank you so much for your input the Dr decided to put her on Namenda instead of Aricept , today will be the first dose she takes (2x a day ) she is also on Seroquel is going on a week and I see no difference maybe it takes more time .. Im hopeful ..

Jackie_K · April 16

@letty61 good luck and please do keep us posted! We are trying to get my mom on something for her agitation too, but unfortunately the wait for a psych visit is 9+ months right now. I too am hopeful though - it is hard to handle the agitation, but it must be even harder for her to be living with it every single day. I just want her to have some peace. Let us know how the Seroquel goes…

Lynn24 · April 16

Hope and pray the Namenda works for your Mom. This journey is all trial and error and can be very exhausting!

M1 · April 16

Letty, hope the changes help. Seroquel dosing can be ramped up fairly quickly and safely, so if you're not seeing improvement but are not seeing negative side effects, you can increase by increasing the dose (usually by 12.5 mg intervals if you've got 25 mg pills) or by increasing the dosing freuqency (say from once a day to twice a day or three times a day), or both. Doses of up to 800 mg are used in schizophrenia and the doses used in dementia are usually a lot lower than that—but I just tell you that so you know that it's okay to increase if you need to. Would talk to the doc about it, but there's room to move. If she's been on the same dose for a week with no improvement i'd start nudging it up, and you can increase every 3-4 days.

Bryahsmom2005 · April 16

my father has been on a very low dosage of Donzepil which is the generic version of Aricept.. He has had minimal side effects but he is only on 5mg.. he does not display signs of aggression as of yet so that was never a factor. I can not say whether or not it had slowed down the progression of the disease as I notice that his cognitive state is still declining. He has his good days and bad days. On his good days he has a lot of clarity. On his bad days his gait is slower and he is not as motivated to do normal tasks but I don’t know if that is the medication. Hope this helps and I hope you find relief that you are seeking. Sometimes you want the doctor to hear you out.. maybe you can call and have a consult with the doctor when your Mom is not present. We just had a similar situation where I felt dismissed and unheard by the doctor. And because my father was present he became very confused, upset and angry with the conversation. Needless to say it did not go well. We are now in search of a new memory care doctor as his doctor is very dismissive .. it is very frustrating hang in there.

letty61 · April 17

https://alzconnected.org/discussion/comment/205971#Comment_205971

Thank you , I will definitely talk to her doctor if I don't see any improvements .

letty61 · April 17

In the beginning I was afraid to asked questions about the disease I just didn't want my mom to keep hearing that dreadful word (Dementia , lucky I guess my mother English is not that good and she wasn't able to understand the conversation , just don't want depression to set in on top of everything else .

letty61 · April 17

https://alzconnected.org/discussion/comment/205927#Comment_205927

I cant even find one that speaks her language so I'm having difficulties due to the language barrier , her neurologist keeps insisting she needs to be asses , I agree but so far after calling numerous places , I keep getting no where so is very frustrating , I have expanded my search for further away from home and still no luck … I seen when she gets agitated and confuse , I always tried to direct her away by talking to her on something positive ( like how beautiful the day is ) (le me do your hair) she loves that .. since taking Seroquel she had a great day yesterday ..Im hopeful and praying alot ..

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