Donezepil/Aricept causing nightmares ?

Morganlefay

Registered User
May 20, 2014
85
0
Buckinghamshire
My OH was diagnosed 6 years ago and has been only very slowly becoming iller, although it has speeded up lately. He has been on Aricept all that time. Now he is having severe and disturbing nightmares: there are armed men in the house, there's a baby in pain somewhere in the house etc etc. despite my trying to calm him and say that he's been dreaming he insists on searching the house (while still a bit asleep) . Sometimes he's having violent fights with people and kicks and shouts. He has always been a peaceful chap and never violent or bad tempered. I have now asked the Pharmacist who says that it would be OK for him to take the Aricept in the morning, which would help with the nightmares. Has anyone any experience of taking it in the morning instead of at night ? Any any ideas about how to stop the nightmares if changing the Aricept time doesn't work ?
 

canary

Registered User
Feb 25, 2014
25,018
0
South coast
It might not be the Aricept that it causing the nightmares - vivid dreams are quite common in dementia. In fact, if he has been taking Aricept for 6 years without this problem, then I think it is unlikely to be the cause.

Im sorry I cant help with advice about what to do though, as neither mum nor OH have/had this.
 

Morganlefay

Registered User
May 20, 2014
85
0
Buckinghamshire
It might not be the Aricept that it causing the nightmares - vivid dreams are quite common in dementia. In fact, if he has been taking Aricept for 6 years without this problem, then I think it is unlikely to be the cause.

Im sorry I cant help with advice about what to do though, as neither mum nor OH have/had this.
Thank you anyway. Just feeling a bit down today. Having to get used to being just focussed on him and finding it hard. Though I know that feeling sorry for myself is not the way to go - it's hard to avoid sometimes ! Thankyou...
 

Bunpoots

Volunteer Host
Apr 1, 2016
7,342
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Nottinghamshire
My dad took all his pills, including aricept, in the morning when he started to get stroppy about taking his pills at night. It didn't cause any problems.

Like canary I think it's unlikely to cause vivid dreams after 6 years. It did give my dad some very interesting dreams when his dose was upped to 10mg though!!
 

Duggies-girl

Registered User
Sep 6, 2017
3,620
0
My dad has always taken all of his pills in the morning and when he started Donepezil it proved just too complicated to take this extra pill at night time so we switched it to mornings.

He has been taking it in the morning for over a year with no ill effects.
 

Vic10

Registered User
Feb 18, 2017
172
0
I have recently been advised to give my OH his Donezipil in the morning rather than at night by the memory clinic to reduce the risk of disturbed nights
 

jenniferjean

Registered User
Apr 2, 2016
925
0
Basingstoke, Hampshire
My husband has been taking Donepezil since being diagnosed, first being MCI. He takes it at night and he's not had any problem with disturbed nights. It's worth remembering in case it starts to happen.
 

LynneMcV

Volunteer Moderator
May 9, 2012
6,116
0
south-east London
My husband always took his aricept/donepezil in the mornings. However, he also went on to have vivid dreams / waking nightmares / delusions and hallucinations very much like the ones you describe - and they started kicking in around four years into his diagnosis.

In our case I don't believe it was anything to do with the medication he was on, particularly as he had been taking the donepezil for so many years without any issues. I believe it was just a progression of the dementia itself.

Over time, additional medications were added - a mild anti-depressant, a mild sedative taken as and when needed and an anti-psychotic drug taken as and when needed. For my husband, these are what helped keep the anxiety and paranoia at bay for the most part.
 

Morganlefay

Registered User
May 20, 2014
85
0
Buckinghamshire
My husband always took his aricept/donepezil in the mornings. However, he also went on to have vivid dreams / waking nightmares / delusions and hallucinations very much like the ones you describe - and they started kicking in around four years into his diagnosis.

In our case I don't believe it was anything to do with the medication he was on, particularly as he had been taking the donepezil for so many years without any issues. I believe it was just a progression of the dementia itself.

Over time, additional medications were added - a mild anti-depressant, a mild sedative taken as and when needed and an anti-psychotic drug taken as and when needed. For my husband, these are what helped keep the anxiety and paranoia at bay for the most part.
,,

Thank you all for very helpful advice. I'll move the Donepezil to the morning and see how we go. LynneMcV it sounds very similar to your husband's case, so I'll keep my fingers crossed for now, thank you
 

Debs42

Registered User
Jan 27, 2013
34
0
Hi
My husband has been on Aricept (Donepezil) for about 3 years. Recently we saw a new consultant who advised changing from taking the pills in the evening to taking them in the morning. Apparently there is good research that says they can casue nightmares if taken at night. He didnt have any problems apart from very occasional weird dreams, but he hasnt had any recently
 

KatieR

Registered User
Mar 13, 2019
32
0
Hello,

My husband wasn't taking any medication, even though he was showing signs of impairment, and he had the same awful nightmares in which he was fighting or arguing with someone. Sometimes he kicked or hit me! It might be a symptom of the disease.
 

Countryboy

Registered User
Mar 17, 2005
1,680
0
South West
Hi I started taking Aricept in 1999 and always took it a night time the reason for that is , I still drive during the day time, I was put on the generic equivalent for one month but went back to Aricept the following month so this November it will 20 years i have been on that drug and never had any side effects at all