Dementia worsened by medication

[France]

my mum was prescribed 5mg then 10mg of donepezil, her behavior worsened on the 10mg so we stopped the medication, but she has not returned to the way she was before she started taking it. She has now been prescribed memantine. I am scared that if this medication does not suit her she may well be left with a further deterioration of her condition.

Has anyone experienced this.

 

[Louise7]

Welcome to the forum. When you say that 'you stopped the Donepezil' was that with the GP's input? Donepezil should not be stopped abruptly - it needs to be gradually reduced - so hopefully that is what happened otherwise it could explain the sudden deterioration. My Mum was fine on 10mg Donepezil but quite a few on here have posted to say that 10mg caused changes in behaviour so the dosage was then reduced back to 5mg. Presumably the 5mg also didn't suit your Mum?

It can sometimes take a while to find the most suitable dementia medication and dosage but none of them will stop the progression of the disease, they just help to control the symptoms, so further deterioration is unfortunately inevitable.

 

[Littlebear]

What is your mum's diagnosis? My husband was initially diagnosed with Alzheimer's. Donepezil made him angry & extremely violent. In fact he had been misdiagnosed with Alzheimer's when in fact he had FTD. He should never have been prescribed Donepezil. The consultant who finally got the diagnosis right (I'd been questioning the original diagnosis for years but that's another story) said it wasn't the first time he'd come across the same situation & that 'it is more common than you might think'.