Memantine

My DH has been on Memantine 10 mg twice/day for several years now with no side effects. They started with 5 mg to see if he could tolerate it, then moved up. But he does not take Donepezil.

My DH has been on both since October 2023. He does not appear to have any side effects.

My DH was started on Donepezil 5mg. 3yrs. ago. Our PCP did so reluctantly. He didn't believe these drugs worked. Well in about 3 days, I started to see a marked improvement in his memory and cognitive abilities. Because the PCP never prescribed the pills, he increased the dose to10mg in a week. 10mg is a typical maintenance dose but is not to be increased until 1 month after started taking the pills. My husband immediately started having headaches and an upset stomach. I took him to Urgent Care to have him checked out. Nothing showed on any bloodwork. I did not tell them about recent increase in dosage because I didn't want that to influence any diagnosis. I called our PCP told him about my husband's side effect and said, he was good on 5mg., I'm dropping back to the 5. Saw neurologist for the 1st time 6 mos. later he added memantine 10 mg 2X daily which seemed to help with no side effects. About a year ago I saw a decrease in my husband's cognitive abilities and memories. I told neurologist, he suggested we increase the donepezil to 10mg, since it had been almost 3 yr. since he had started the 5mg. Sounded reasonable. Again, I saw a remarkable increase in his thinking and was happy until…About 2 weeks after he had a psychotic break. He left the house. I thought he was outside working. Neighbors called me and said they were leaving the small town and saw him walking out to the main highway. They offered him a lift but he wasn't willing and seemed upset. I went after him. By then he had crossed the 4 lanes of traffic (with traffic light). I tried to approach him to ask him to get in the van and we would go home and talk. But being a long light and I had to wait for the changes, it took awhile to try and get to him because he kept crossing the road. At one point, he was on the opposite side. I had to drive a distance past him and make a U-turn. I no longer saw him. I assumed he had cut through someone's back yard. I thought this is crazy so I called 911. I was on the side of the road with my 4 ways on. Local police pulled up and asked if I had car trouble. I said no and started to explain about calling 911. He stopped me because the message was just coming through his radio. He then said, yes I saw this guy walking but then I didn't see him. We both thought he had walked through yards to side road that led back through the town. So he left and caught up with my husband where we guessed he might be. I knew my husband wanted nothing to do with me but the officer said he wouldn't get in his car and didn't remember his address. So I stayed behind my husband driving with my 4 ways while he walked home. We didn't talk for several hours, I didn't know how to approach him but I'm getting better but still need to learn a lot more. He later told me he was planning on running out in front of a truck to hit him. I said, that doesn't always end things, you could have been left paralyzed and think about the driver who would have hit you and how he would have felt. At that point he was still able to grasp that meaning. Medications are no longer working but he is seeing a psychiatrist who is managing other meds, an anti-depressant and possibly something else if needed. So these drugs do work but you still need to be mindful of side effects if there is a change in dosage.

I'm jealous of your early success. DW has been on donepezil 23mg and memantine 10mg x 2 for quite some time now. I never saw any improvement, and it's impossible to know whether the meds delayed her decline.

DW has been on memantine 10mg twice a day and donepezil 23mg at bedtime for about 5 years. It may be my imagination, but I believe these meds are making more of a difference now than they did early on. They are both advertised as designed for moderate-to-severe dementia. I have twice tried to wean DW off these meds at the direction of one of her previous neurologists and a previous hospice doctor. Both times I noticed an immediate negative decline, so I restarted both meds. Every case is different and experiences documented on this site describe a variety of different reactions to these meds and others. You are doing the best you can do by monitoring how you DW responds to these meds and adjusting accordingly. Continue to work with your doctors to find the right combinations, and be prepared to change as your DW progresses.