Exelon

[Smeds]

Hi everyone my husband has vascular dementia and has been on aricept for 2years but only on the 5ml the doctor has just changed the tablets to Exelon, does any one know anything about these tablets as Aricept does seem to be the main one, are the Exelon as effective as Aricept.

[Nebiroth]

I believe that Aricept is usually the first choice because it is cheaper and considered the least likely to cause side-effects, rather than any question of effectiveness. Also, the individual reaction to thesedrugs (which all work to the same effect, in slightly different ways - except Ebixa which is different) is highly individual, so it may have been considered that Exelon was a better choice for your husband.

Exelon has the advantage that it can be given in patch form. This can help to avoid side-effects (the most common of which are gastric, ie, nausea or actual sickness and diarrhea) because the drug is delivered in a slow steady amount through the day rather than the peaks associated with tablets. The patches can also be helpful if the patient has problems with swallowing.

It;s my understanding that Exelon is often the drug used if Aricept is found to be unsuitable for whatever reason.

It may also be a personal choice by the prescriber, based on their particular experiences.

[Izzy]

My husband was on Aricept for 10 years and has now been on Exelon for two years. They are of the same family of anticholinesterase inhibitors. He was on the patches to begin with but they irritated his skin. He has been on capsules for some time now. He had now ill effects from either drug.

He has now dipped three points in the MMSE and while the doctor has agreed to continue to prescribe Exelon she offered us Ebixa instead. I've written about that on another thread. We are sticking with Exelon.