Alzheimer's Drugs - What are your experiences?

[Cirrus777]

Hi, What are your experiences of Alzheimer's drugs please? My mother is 75 and lives on her own and is somewhere in the middle stages of the illness. (She has had it about 6 years.) I tried giving her Donepezil (Aricept) but it made her very ill - she felt very sick and was wandering around not knowing what she was doing. I told the GP and he said "Oh well you tried" but there are 2 others, so I went back and he's given Galantamine (Razadyne) which I see also has feeling sick as a side effect.

Has it been more of a positive experience giving the person you care for one of these drugs, or did it not make any difference or make things worse? Thanks.

 

[Beate]

My OH has no problem with Donepezil but I'm not sure how that will help you. Some people just don't tolerate them, there is not much you can do.

 

[lemonjuice]

I think a lot depends on the individual, the 'stage' they're at and whether they have just Alzheimer's or mixed dementia.

Certainly they didn't benefit my mother at all. Yet for others they have halted the deterioration dramatically- but sometimes only for about 18 months.

 

[CynthsDaugh]

Donepezil also made my Mum ill, she 'took to her bed' as I put it. She was given Rivastigmine next but that also disagreed with her so wasn't continued. The medication may have slowed the progression down, but as it reduced the quality of Mums life to the extent that she didn't want to do anything we decided not to continue.

 

[Beetroot]

Long discussion withy psychiatrist about whether or not Mum should have drugs. She has mixed dementia and is drug sensitive. Psyche said she's not exhibiting any behaviours that would make it worth while giving them a try so leave it at least for the time being.

 

[Kevinl]

Has it been more of a positive experience giving the person you care for one of these drugs, or did it not make any difference or make things worse? Thanks.

I don't know if you can have a "positive" experience in the sense that whilst my wife took Donepezil and had no adverse side effects, however, she continued to decline
I didn't have a clone of her so I can't say whether or not it actually did anything as I couldn't do a controlled trial.
The scientific evidence says it works so I guess you have to go with that in case it does work and slows her decline down, however, if it's at the cost to her quality of life is it worth it?
K

 

[Linbrusco]

my Mum has been on 5mg of Donepezil since Dec 2013. It made her less anxious, but that is all we noticed.
She didn't tolerate an increase to 10mg with upset stomachs and constipation.

Two medications that she is been on for overactive bladder and pelvic muscle spasms, which she had been on for a year prior to her Donepezil, the Geriatrician wanted her to come off as they had an interaction with the Donepezil, plus with her age (now75) he said they were not good long term and to replace with paracetamol.
We tried taking her off these meds one at a time, but oh my, the resulting anxiety, tears, and sleeplessness, pain and discomfort was awful, and we felt as a family her quality of life was better than just because the Geritrician said so.
This was after consulting with family GP also.

 

[Georgina63]

My parents are both on Memantine, and that seems to be positive. Prior to that they were on Donepezil and before that galantamine, which we think may not have agreed with Dad - but it's difficult to know exactly what effect each drug is having. Gx

 

[BIWO]

There can side effects with Aricept and in my Mum's case they prescribed 5mg initially for a month and only upped the dose once it could be seen she was not suffering any side effects. In terms of impact, once my Mum started taking the drugs it made her less anxious, stopped the 'wandering behaviour' and hallucinations. As I understand their impact has limited 'shelf life' but medics continue to prescribe as it does help to keep dementia in check. My brother is Pharmacist and he says that studies suggest that patients continue to get benefits even after the dementia starts to progress.

 

[Lawson58]

OH was initially put on to Donepezil which calmed him down and was very helpful for awhile but eventually had side effects. He was then put on to rivastigmine and that also kept him calm, however he is now slipping memory wise. He takes a whole cocktail of drugs for cardiac and other issues so it will be interesting to see what if anything comes next. I never expected these drugs to fix his memory but anything that helped his attitude was very welcome.

 

[Bunpoots]

My dad takes 5mg of Donepezil. He tolerated it well so was upped to 10mg, but this caused some horrible out of character behaviours. His dose was reduced back to 5mg and he's back to being dad again. He has Vascular and Alzheimers dementias.

 

[beverrino]

my mum started off on Donepezil, but it really did not suit her, made her very light headed and unsteady, with a very low BP (she is on medication for high BP).

she was changed to Memantine with a much more positive result. It did not help with her anxiety, so she also takes Sertraline 100mg and that helped the anxiety.

she is much more settled with herself now - and the down changes are usually a result of a UTI.

I think she has been taking Memantine now for well over a year

 

[Cirrus777]

Thanks for your replies everyone. I'll have another word with the GP about it and see if there's one she can tolerate.