Aricept - what does it do??

widget

Registered User
Jul 18, 2005
44
0
Lincs
Hi guys
My Aunt's CPN visited her yesterday. She's rapidly getting worse (example: today i was talking to her on the phone and she was 'showing' me some photos.....oh and she used toothpaste as foundation!). The CPN had quite a long chat with her and my uncle and she is now recommending that the consultant prescribe Aricept. Yay! At last we seem to be getting somewhere :)

Bearing in mind that her last menory score was 7, can anyone give my uncle and i some idea of what to expect from Aricept? Her last consultant had already said that she was too far advanced for it

They're coming to stay with me again next week, so please be ready for loads of posts from me!!! :rolleyes:
 

Michael E

Registered User
Apr 14, 2005
619
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Ronda Spain
My understanding it that is that Aricept is one of the very few drugs that actually slows down the advance of Alzheimer's. Almost certainly the best one. Bear in mind it only slows down the advance does not turn the clock back. Enables people with Alzheimer's to carry on longer.

There is another drug Ebixa which artificially clears away some of the fog/cobwebs in the sufferers head.... Again it is virtually the only drug on the market that does this... has side effects and personally I sometimes wonder if it is truly helpful to be aware of the cliff edge.... It is not going to move ... but my wife is on both of them and I think there is nothing better.

I am sure there is a fact sheet about them both and somebody will post its address.

Michael
 

gerrie ley

Registered User
Apr 10, 2006
83
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90
bradford yorkshire
Aricept

My wife was diagnosed alzheimers four years ago and was put on aricept one 10mg pill a day.She has changed so much in her habits she is not the person I married fifty two years ago.I describe the disease as to being like the chinese water torture every day I strart the day fine and I put up with her but by the time it gets to reatime I am worn out thankfully one new habit is going to bed at 6.30 pm but the she bangs on the floor and shouts out until I join her and that happens every day.So my answer to your question is there is no cure with aricept only a slowing down of this dreadfull disease and the prolonged end of the victim becoming a complete cabbage an empty shell and it terifies me as I love my wife and wouldnt want to live without her
 

widget

Registered User
Jul 18, 2005
44
0
Lincs
Hi Gerrie Ley and Michael E
Thanks for the comments. It's funny you mentioned about your wife (Gerrie) insisting that you go to bed with her, my Aunt has just started doing that too and it's one thing that he can't understand. I suppose he's always there to tell her how to brush her teeth, hand her her nightie etc and maybe she wouldn't be able to do those things without him. Spoke to my Aunt on the phone today and she really couldn't string a sentence together, i'm getting quite amxious about their stay here next week. I've always looked forward to them coming and so have my 6 and 4 yr old but this time it seems different.....
 

noelphobic

Registered User
Feb 24, 2006
3,452
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Liverpool
Michael E said:
I am sure there is a fact sheet about them both and somebody will post its address.

Michael

All the drugs of this type seem to be on the factsheet in the address on my previous post.
 

DickG

Registered User
Feb 26, 2006
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88
Stow-on-the-Wold
Mary has been taking Aricept for six years and began when her MMSE score was 21, at her check last August her score was 12. I believe that Aricept has been beneficial for Mary though I have been warned that it may not be so beneficial in the future.
 

Norman

Registered User
Oct 9, 2003
4,348
0
Birmingham Hades
Hi Widget
My wife has benn taking Aricept now for ten years.
I have been telliing folks that it was 6/7 years ,but when we saw the consultant last weelk we checked the records and it is ten years.
As soneone has already stated Aricept can only delay the progress of the illness.
I am convinced that that is why my wife is still with us althiough deteriorating slowly.
Norman
 

Michael E

Registered User
Apr 14, 2005
619
0
Ronda Spain
bed times

This thing of wanting to go to bed early and insisting on being joined is a pain in the butt. Monique does this frequently - sometimes I get her to go up alone but invariably she comes down an hour or so later, stark naked and with an anger on her that you would think I had murdered the cat.... Alternatively she curls up on the sofa and sleeps there till I am ready or I accede to her request and get into bed and read for an hour or two.

I suppose they are scared of being alone in another part of the house...


Michael
 

Brucie

Registered User
Jan 31, 2004
12,413
0
near London
This thing of wanting to go to bed early and insisting on being joined
As long as it was not before 20:30hrs I would simply join Jan, but I was always better at rising early and thus going to bed early. Jan was a night bird, so the change was a real change for her.

Most of all I feared that she might time shift completely and sleep during the day and be active at night.:eek: Never happened thank goodness.
 

Michael E

Registered User
Apr 14, 2005
619
0
Ronda Spain
Trouble is I am a night bird - hit the sack around 11 or midnight - She really is sleeping excessively at the moment... Up with the lark around 13.00 some pills and a bit to eat then a quick afternoon nap from 14.00 to 18.00 and a desire to go to bed around 22.00!!!! At the moment no night walking at all - a month ago I was knackered with being up all night but it's changed.

I guess that's it - it just keeps changing - something different every week. Keeps boredom away!

I think I will go and chat to the GP if all this sleeping continues..........

Michael

PS hands up anyone who knows what scatological is but do not tell - for a while! It really is a great word and sums up a lot of what is going on...........
 

noelphobic

Registered User
Feb 24, 2006
3,452
0
Liverpool
Michael E said:
PS hands up anyone who knows what scatological is but do not tell - for a while! It really is a great word and sums up a lot of what is going on...........

I know - well actually the internet knows and it told me - but now I wish I didn't!
 

dmc

Registered User
Mar 13, 2006
1,157
0
Curiosity got the better of me and i had to look it up as well!! ugh
 

Lynne

Registered User
Jun 3, 2005
3,433
0
Suffolk,England
Michael E said:
PS hands up anyone who knows what scatological is ...........

:D Yes, I knew (& noticed it the 1st time you started to use it).
I think I thought something along the lines of "now that IS looking into things a little too deeply!";)
 

Michael E

Registered User
Apr 14, 2005
619
0
Ronda Spain
My daughters boyfriend emailed scatological to her as she was telling him of recent happenings chez mois..... She emailed it to me but I thought like widget it was 'off the wall' or similar but then she made me look it up... We live and learn - I had never heard it before but its a good AD word....
Michael