Medication for AD - Having doubts about whether any of it helps at all.. anyone else?

[bellagirl25]

My husband has AD, middle stages, I am torn between whether the 'cocktail' of drugs he takes are doing him any good at all. I feel they are either having no effect, therefore what is the point?

I sometimes feel they make him worse! He get meds checked every 6 months by a Neurologist. What I can't understand is when you look at some of the side effects of these drugs...they can cause the very symptoms they are being taken for in the first place...'confusion' 'lethargy' 'mood swings' 'tiredness' disorientation' 'memory loss'etc etc , I could go on and on.

I know there is no cure for AD, is it just me or are we being prescribed drugs that could either be doing nothing at all, or indeed making the person worse? I believe most Doctors are mainly advised by the drug companies, so who do we believe. I just wonder what is best...taking a cocktail of chemicals, or let nature and the body take it's own course. I just see NO improvement, in fact the complete opposite.

The drugs he takes for AD: Memantine(Ebixa), Setraline, Mirtazapine, and some Prometax (patches) which I haven't started yet...

Anyone's comments please?? I don't think I am alone here.

PS I live in Portugal, therefore I have to pay around €150.00 a month for these meds, it's not the money, but if I saw some benefit at least it would seem worthwhile.

 

[Wigan]

It's hard to say. My mum has been on Aricept, Galantamine, Citalopram, Sertraline, Quetiapine, Metazapine and we stopped all of them as the side effects outweighed the benefits. The Citalopram and Sertraline made her hyper active, as did the metazapine (along with craving sweet things which gives you even more energy), Aricept made her agitated and have angry mood swings plus painful stiffened muscles, not sure what Galantamine did as she wasn't on them long enough before the doctor stopped them and put her on Metazapine and Quetiapine (the latter made her extremely angry) so WE stopped them after 5 days. She was off everything and we paid to see a private consultant who is now trying her on Exelon patches. It's far too early to say what effect these are having/will have but hopefully she won't suffer any of the side effects as with the others and they bring benefits.

I think everyone is different and what suits one person won't suit another. Some people have reported very good results from some medications so it's hard to know whether to continue or stop. I am sure others with much more experience of the drugs you mention will also post their comments.

 

[Badietta]

Hi Bellagirl

My husband is in the early stages and has been prescribed Ebixa (which, thank goodness we don't have to pay for - living in Italy) and the difference in him has been amazing. However, he also takes drugs for heart and blood pressure problems and has what he calls his "pilled" days, days when he goes woozy, looses his balance and generally feels groggy for, sometimes all day, or sometimes only a part of one. We have spoken to the GP, the Neurologist and the Cardiologist and no-one can give us a straight answer about the cocktail. Each one says that it can't possibly be 'their' drugs. So I don't know. I have thought that, maybe, something else is going on in his brain at the time which causes this reaction, given that it is only some days and not others. Yes, most mornings he threatens to come off the lot but then what would the future be? It's all very confusing. You have my sympathy.

Badietta

 

[Izzy]

Ebixa made my husband very very sleepy. We tried it for a month but he's off it now. I think we may try it again. He was on Aricept and then Exelon for around 12 years. Now he is on nothing and I don't like it. I think we'll try the Ebixa again.

 

[Badietta]

Hi Izzy

I'm really interested that Ebixa made your husband sleepy because it woke mine up big-time. OK, so the memory loss is still there, but he is so much more able to concentrate and focus, so much so that, sadly, he now realises how bad he was last year. It's weird how different people can be.

Badietta

 

[CollegeGirl]

Hi Bellagirl

I must say that I feel the same. Apart from lorazepam, which does calm my mam down a bit, for an hour or so, I've often wondered about the meds she takes and whether they have actually made any difference.

It's difficult to say because we don't know how she would be if she'd never been given the meds.

It's a difficult call.

 

[Izzy]

Hi Izzy

I'm really interested that Ebixa made your husband sleepy because it woke mine up big-time. OK, so the memory loss is still there, but he is so much more able to concentrate and focus, so much so that, sadly, he now realises how bad he was last year. It's weird how different people can be.

Badietta

Around the same time as the Ebixa Bill was diagnosed with an under active thyroid. Along with this he was on antibiotics. I think we'll try the Ebixa again.

 

[Miss Merlot]

Honestly....??

If it were up to me, I wouldn't medicate at all - my POV is what's the point in medicating this horrible disease at all, whether it works or doesn't....??

Honestly can't say Aricept has made a blind bit of difference with MIL, but even if I'd still wonder what was the point...

 

[Varandas]

Well,... Miss Merlot said it all! There is no cure (yet).
Like you, here in Suisse we have to pay for Axura and it is not reasonable (since we do not see any improvement), but with Citalopram I have noticed changes in body temperature and the constant 'feeling cold'. I can only trust the doctors opinion and judgement and after all...going through the different stages of this terrible maladie, We need any help we can get.
All the best

 

[Izzy]

Honestly....??

If it were up to me, I wouldn't medicate at all - my POV is what's the point in medicating this horrible disease at all, whether it works or doesn't....??

Honestly can't say Aricept has made a blind bit of difference with MIL, but even if I'd still wonder what was the point...

My husband was diagnosed 12 years ago. As far as I can tell it was the Aricept which helped give us so many good years. 12 years down the line he is now much more advanced in his Alzheimer's but we still enjoy doing many things together. If medication keeps him at this level for even another 6 months then that's what I want. If he was comatose and enjoying nothing I would not want to prolong the agony. That's not the case. He is my husband and he deserves any chance I can give him while he is still enjoying life. That's the point fior me. So yes. Really.

 

[sleepless]

Likewise, Izzy. My husband was diagnosed 10 years ago, and prescribed Aricept at what I believe was a very early stage. Since then we have enjoyed life, our marriage, and some wonderful holidays abroad. As with Bill, there are now changes, but I am grateful to have had all these years together, and continue to try other medication (Ebixa in his case) in the hope of keeping him content for as long as possible.

sleepless

 

[Canadian Joanne]

We have to remember that the AD drugs don't help everybody. They have helped my mother so I'm keeping her on them as long as she is physically capable of taking them.

I feel it's worth trying the drugs at least but they may not help everyone.

Izzy, since Bill was also diagnosed with an underactive thyroid when he was first on the Ebixa, I agree with your trying it again. It's worth a try.

 

[Izzy]

Thanks Joanne. I'm going to phone the clinic tomorrow.

 

[zeeeb]

I feel the same. If they aren't doing anything, what's the point.

For mum, she was having severe panic attacks and looked like the perfect image of "someone having a nervous breakdown". Aricept seems to have controlled that somewhat. So I'm happy for her to take it. She went off it for a few weeks whilst trying to diagnose the Parkinson's. She immediately went straight back to panic attacks and nervous breakdown mode. So while she can have that kind of affect, she'all keep taking it.

There is nothing wrong with going off the drugs to see if its better or worse.

 

[malc]

the aricept and now mirtazipine to calm her down have worked for my wife,i honestly believe that if it wasn't for these meds denise would have drifted away from me ages ago,yes the cracks do show ie she thinks she feeds the chickens and takes the dog a walk everyday(don't have chickens and she can hardly walk)but generally she is coherent.

 

[Gerita]

Hi Bellagirl

My husband is in the early stages and has been prescribed Ebixa (which, thank goodness we don't have to pay for - living in Italy) and the difference in him has been amazing. However, he also takes drugs for heart and blood pressure problems and has what he calls his "pilled" days, days when he goes woozy, looses his balance and generally feels groggy for, sometimes all day, or sometimes only a part of one. We have spoken to the GP, the Neurologist and the Cardiologist and no-one can give us a straight answer about the cocktail. Each one says that it can't possibly be 'their' drugs. So I don't know. I have thought that, maybe, something else is going on in his brain at the time which causes this reaction, given that it is only some days and not others. Yes, most mornings he threatens to come off the lot but then what would the future be? It's all very confusing. You have my sympathy.

Badietta

Ciao Badietta!

Your posting interested me insofar as my husband was also recently prescribed Ebixa/Memantine. He's been on these for the past 9 weeks or so and I don't see any change whatsoever. As a matter of fact, we'll be having the 6 monthly check-up in two weeks' time and I am wondering how long will it be before I see any improvement, if any? And then again ... am I putting too much faith in these pills? After all short of a miracle, it's a tragic fact for all of us here that we cannot turn the clock back for our loved ones much as we'd like to.

 

[Miss Merlot]

I should have qualified my statement that it depends on the age / stage of the person when they start on the medication.

With my MIL, who was 75 and already quite bad when she went on the tablets, it seems we are just prolonging an untenable situation which would be best left to see itself through naturally...

That said, OH thinks very differently on this so horses for courses I guess...

My husband was diagnosed 12 years ago. As far as I can tell it was the Aricept which helped give us so many good years. 12 years down the line he is now much more advanced in his Alzheimer's but we still enjoy doing many things together. If medication keeps him at this level for even another 6 months then that's what I want. If he was comatose and enjoying nothing I would not want to prolong the agony. That's not the case. He is my husband and he deserves any chance I can give him while he is still enjoying life. That's the point fior me. So yes. Really.

 

[Nanak]

My Mum was quite far advanced by the time she saw a specialist and was diagnosed. The specialist said she was too far advanced for tablets but she was given Aricept. I don't think they did any good. I do often wonder if they would have helped her had she been diagnosed and given them a few years earlier.

Kim

 

[Izzy]

Bill is going back on Ebixa today.

 

[artyfarty]

My mum is on Ebixa and Mirtazipine. I really cannot tell if they are having any effect whatsoever. I do know the first two weeks on Mirtazipine were pure hell- massive mood swings, aggression, getting upset but the doc said to persevere and she has settled down on them. Been about a year but I honestly can't tell if her symptoms are down to the AD or to the drugs. She seems to be going downhill at a steady rate but how could I tell if it would be different without the tablets? I hear that it is very difficult to give up anti depressants so I wouldn't even consider taking her off them now.