Medication
My LO has declined according to her recent memory test she had a few months ago. Her neurologist prescribed a medication called Memantine. The first week she was doing fine, but the second week there has been some changes. She tells me she is drowsy, dizzy and feels funny. I noticed her mood has changed since taking this medication. She does not want to do much other than stay in bed now because she does not feel well according to her. I left a message for her doctor to let her know about what’s been going on these last few days.
Just wanted to reach out to see if anyone else has been having issues with this medication and how you handled this. Thank you
Comments
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I developed insomnia when I began Namenda and began to titrate up. I had to revert to 5 mg and slowly resume titration up. Then I had no problems with Namenda.
Is your mom beginning with a 5 mg dosage, titrating up to 10 mg, then 15 mg, and then to 20 mg?
Iris
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MIL has been on memantine and has tolerated it very well. The dosage started very low and has increased over time, and I know that it can only help for so long. It does seem to stabilize her.
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Hi Iris. They started her off with 7mg dosage, titrating up to 14mg, then 21mg to 28mg.
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@SusanB-dil Happy to hear your MIL is tolerating it well. I know it’s probably going to take some time for my Mom’s body to adjust to this new medication.
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My DW started Memantine recently. The doc prescribed 5mg am and pm. The pharmacist recommended once a day to start and if she tolerated it to go to twice a day. She did ok with the evening dose and after a week we started the morning. She had the same reaction you describe with your Mother. We kept at it for a week but she did not tolerate it any better, in fact she seemed to be worse, so we stopped the morning dose. She is now back to feeling pretty good and acting involved. We are debating trying the morning dose again but I am thinking she might be better off without it. She also takes 10 mg Donepezil at night. She had a similar reaction to it with a morning dose.
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My partner didn't tolerate either donepezil or memantine. The reaction you're describing is pretty common.
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DH could not tolerate Donepezil. His issues were GI related I guess. It completely suppressed his appetite. So much that he lost 15lbs in a couple of weeks, and he was already lean,
Since there was no evidence that it was helping him, the Dr and I agreed it wasn’t worth it to keep trying.
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Sounds like she is getting the 24 hour extended release version, that should come in a capsule. There should still be a week in between each dosage increase. Are you overseeing her take the medicine? Side effects of tiredness, dizziness, confusion, constipation and dehydration are not uncommon and can be more likely as the dosage increases. You can get into a loop here, where a person is tired and does not drink enough, then because of the not drinking the med is not totally flushed from the system and starts to build up, which makes a person more tired. Usually the doctor reduces the dose and then increases more slowly, although some people cannot tolerate this medication. My LO had problems with the second increase and with the third increase it was as if they hit a wall, could not walk, collapsed into a chair and slept for 3 hours after each dose. We eventually discontinued this medication.
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They started her off with 7mg dosage, titrating up to 14mg, then 21mg to 28mg. First week she was fine, but she didn’t tolerate it good at all going into the second week with taking it twice a day. Like your DW, she was getting worse which I was starting to get worried. I reached out to her PCP to explain what’s been going on. She seems to think the dosage was too much for her starting off, so she recommended going back down to a lower dose for a few weeks to see how she does. She also takes 10 mg Donepezil at night which she does well with that also.
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@M1 She does tolerate the Donepezil so far. I’ve read that all of this is common.
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@towhee Yes, that’s what they started her on which is the capsule. I setup her medication and make sure she takes them everyday. The neurologist did tell us what the possible sides effects would be which started getting worse after the second increase of this medication. Her PCP changed it to the lower dosage. I’m hoping she will do better with this. If not, we may discontinue also.
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My mother tolerated the donzepil well but not memantine, it also made her sleepy and lethargic. We discontinued it after a month. The quality of life side effects outweighed any other improvements, which to us it was not helping in any observable way.
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Commonly Used Abbreviations
DH = Dear Husband
DW= Dear Wife, Darling Wife
LO = Loved One
ES = Early Stage
EO = Early Onset
FTD = Frontotemporal Dementia
VD = Vascular Dementia
MC = Memory Care
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