Aricept

[almin]

My dear wife has been on 5mg aricept for 6 weeks and the dose was increased to 10 last week.
Since then she has not eaten a proper meal. The nurse said the side effects do not last long, but there is increased aggression and weight loss and I feel like stopping the aricept as there is only a 30 percent chance it will be of benefit.
Should it be reduced slowly or is it ok to just stop?

She was in hospital for two months for treatment for depression and came out worse mentally and physically with alzheimer diagnosis.

We are both 75 and are finding it difficult to come to terms with the dramatic change in life. P was diagnosed with a rare incurable form of vasculitis two years ago and things have gone downhill si ce then. We thought things could not get worse, but after several bouts of uti this year came the final blow of Az

 

[zeeeb]

I guess it's worth trying, and giving it a few months to see if the side effects slow down and if any real benefit is noticed.

With my mum (she was only 57 when diagnosed) we didn't notice a huge difference with the aricept, but we stopped it after she was on it for maybe a year, and although we didn't notice that she had actually stabilised, when she stopped the aricept, it was dramatic, within days we noticed that her panic attacks were back in full force, depression badly, she looked like death warmed up, looked like someone having a nervous breakdown (which is what she looked like for the year before her diagnosis) and all the stability that she'd gained, went out the window. So we put her back on it.

And although the alzheimers has begun to steadily decline, I can't imagine how much worse it would be without the aricept.

Maybe we only got a year or 2 of relative stability out of the aricept? Who knows, I guess only time will tell. Lately she's back to the panic attacks, she's shocking at the moment because they are changing her anti depressants. Hopefully it all stabilises again.

 

[lin1]

Hello Almin
Welcome to TP
I am sorry to hear about your wife

May I ask how your wife was , when she was on the lower dose of Aricept,
The reason I ask is , if your wife was fine on the lower dose, then I would suggest you go back to that and inform the person who prescribed it.
I am not sure if stopping Aricept that you need to do it gradually, I dont think so , but best ask the Dr who prescribed it.

Just like any other Drug, drugs that may help slow this vile disease may not suit everyone, that is why they normally start you off on a lower dose first.

Their are also other medications that could help to slow this vile disease down that may suit your wife better.

I am sorry to say that amongst other things, some dementia sufferers do sometimes not want to eat or drink, but I feel that this is not the case with your wife, as it has only happened since the increased dose of Aricept.

I suggest lots of small snacks between meals for the time being and dont worry about healthy stuff, as your wife is losing weight, calories are more important atm.

Has your wife lost much weight

Others will be along soon with more helpful advice

PS just had another thought, is your wife worse , confusion/aggression wise at certain times of the day

 

[chridgets]

My partner was on the same dose - 5mg then 10. I didn't see the personality change that you are seeing. However, she also stopped eating mre or less. She said she wasn't hungry. She lost quite a lot of weight. When we next saw the geriatric doctor, I told her what was happening. THe doctor took her off the Aricept. Now she isn't on anything except a very mild dose of something to help her sleep through the night. For her the side affects didn't go away. I know that everyone is different, so I would check back with the doctor.

My dear wife has been on 5mg aricept for 6 weeks and the dose was increased to 10 last week.
Since then she has not eaten a proper meal.

 

[chridgets]

I forgot to add, that since she has been off the meds, her appetite has returned.

 

[almin]

Tried to get in touch with the nurse who is supposed to in charge of P. Left message with her colleague this morning, but have had no response. This is the second time this has happened.

It has now been 5 days since a reasonable meal, although drinking well.

I left a further message this evening saying I cannot watch my wife getting thinner and weaker and as can get no professional advice, have stopped the aricept from today.

 

[chridgets]

Sorry to hear that you have had no response from the nurse. One thing I did was to get protein shakes. Bridget has been very amenable to drinking those. I live in Canada and these are readily available. I'm not sure what is available where you are.

 

[benjie]

Perhaps, if you can't get sufficient reaction from surgery, you could ask them to refer your wife for medication reassessment at the hospital. The GP is just that - a GENERAL practitioner and cannot be experienced in every aspect of medicine. My hubby has been on Aricept for some years now but was also on quetiapine to control the anxiety and psychosis. After a down turn (he has vascular dementia - which has different traits) he went into hospital and has stayed on Aricept but taken of quetiapine and put onto amisulpride(? not sure about spelling). This has helped him so much in that he almost seems to be back to his old self. As someone said earlier - everyone responds to different drugs in different ways.

Hope you will get some help very soon.

Benjie

 

[almin]

It was not the GP nurse who let me down, it was the mh specialist!

My GP is a treasure, but cannot take over until 3 months after discharge.

 

[almin]

Sorry lin for not answering your question.

P's appetite was low on 5mg, but manageble. On 10 it was far worse, no complete meal in the five days.

Still not heard from nursey, she must be very busy!

 

[chris53]

Hello Almin, a warm welcome to Talking Point, so sorry your wife is not eating, probably more of a worry to you then the dementia, it was a big worry for my dad when mum first became ill, this was before Aricept was given to her, in fact it took a long time to get her on this as my dad sadly passed away and all these changes with her were put down to grief, she was started on 5mg for one month to see if she was able to cope with it as sadly it is not a "one size fits all" medication, she was ok on this and then put on 10mg it DID take at least three months until it seemed to kick in, this was in November 2011, it has helped her, but there are other medications that can be tried and maybe help, mum is now eating and gained weight again, but I have noted that her tastes in food have changed a lot, and to start with I gave her very tiny meals loaded with calories, our GP also gave her Ensure drinks (she did not like the milkshake ones, only the juice ones) and this helped a lot, I hope you do get the call from the nurse, yes it seems she may be busy, but you just need clarification on what to do next,please do let us know how you are getting on, take care - best wishes - Chris - P.S mum was given mirtazapine before Aricept (an antidepressant) as one of the side effects is weight gain

 

[almin]

P is also on mirtazapine, this brought her appetite back after six weeks of not eating properly, but when the aricept started it just went down again, and even worse after going to 10mg.

Sadly she also sleeps 18 to 20 hours a day due to other problems and has no energy, which should improve if we can start eating again.

 

[almin]

Still no contact from mh nurse!
Seeing GP tomorrow for blood test results and advice.

 

[Bree]

Me Too

MOH is also on Aricpet 10mg so that's why I looked at this thread. He eats well, and so far this drug seems to suit him. He had severe nightmares at first but these have subsided.

My post however is regarding the lack of response from the MH nurse. This has happened to me also, several times. I strongly feel that the NHS is seriously underfunding mental health, and until more money is put into the pot, this sort of situation will continue.

 

[Kevinl]

My wife went down from her usual size 12 to 6 stone 4 pounds when she went on Aricept, the doctor put her on Citlopram and she's back to her normal self now in fact I've had to put here on a bit of a diet recently. She never says she's hungry but she'll eat anything I put in front of her. Worked for her and the Citlopram cheered her up no end too.
K

 

[almin]

Thankyou kevin,
Pat has been off aricept for a week now but still has no appetite. How long was it before the hunger started?
She is already on citalapram, perhaps we should get that increased.

 

[WirelessPaul]

Reading this thread has reminded me of the difference between the treatment for Alzheimer's and Cancer. When I had cancer there were specialists, doctors and nurses checking on this and that all the time. I could speak to the specialist asking for a drug to be included in the regimen. Things were changed and adjusted as side effects became evident. Trials were brought up and the whole system had an impetus

With Susan (Now 65, diagnosed in 2008) the actual care is minimal, Aricept prescribed years ago now and Memantine added about 3 years ago; no real specialist input or as indicated here follow up. I wonder why we have to put up with this poor care organisation for Alzheimer's. How come there can be an inadequate responses in this area which causes more and more stress for the carer and ill health for the patient. We seem to be under resourced all across the system.

Susan and I seem to be lucky so far in that the Aricept and Memantine have not caused any big problems and Susan seems to be 'happy' and content most of the time.

WirelessPaul

 

[almin]

Since stopping aricept there has been no vomit, no diarrhea, no stomach cramps and best of all no dribbling!!
Sadly, after three weeks the appetite has not yet returned but we are still hoping.

Almin

 

[Padraig]

Wireless Paul,

Sorry to disagree with you. There appears to be a belief among people dealing with Alzheimer's that are badly treated compared to those with cancer. Well as someone who has first and experience of both I find one is no better than the other.

I've had the whole of my stomach removed due to cancer at Gloucester Hospital. I was sent home with no support (I live alone) and there is not a day goes by that I'm not in pain. I'm meant to phone Gloucester for advice and support. There's a lot of hype and talk about cancer; just smoke and mirrors plus hot air.

Had a scan and blood test was carried out on the Sat the 28th of Sept and I was informed that I would receive the results two weeks later. Just been notified that I must travel to Gloucester once again on the 31st of October to be told the results. So much for tow weeks.
With all the modern technology, one would think they'd contact my local surgery a three minuet walk from my home with the results.
With reference to my experience with Alzheimer's I gave up on the whole system and took control of the care for my wife on my own. In the end, everyone left me alone to get on with it and that was fine by me, as there was less stress caused by people who thought they knew better.
With reference to medication; never used Aricept or other drugs once I managed to restore her physical health. The damage to her health was inflicted while she was in the 'care' of others for a short period of time.
Once again I accept that I'll just have to manage this cancer my way as I did my wife's Alzheimer's. The strange thing I find, is that no one wishes to question how I managed to turn my wife's condition around. Could it be that the 'experts' don't like being proved wrong? Maybe it requires that little more dedication. This like many of my posts will likely bring the thread to a close.