Donepezil and hallucinations

DottieD

New member
Jul 13, 2018
1
0
My husband tarted taking 5 mg Donepezil and then after a month this was increases to 10 mg. After about 2 weeks on this increased dose he stared to exhibit severe paranoia. He is convinced there are other people around who are “ out to get him”, make him do something bad, poison his food, gas him! When we go out in the car, he thinks we are being followed. He tries not touch anything in case he leaves his imprint! I don’t know whether he has got the Novochok poisoning thing in his head and this may be an issue.

These symptoms seem to lessen around teatime when he starts to relax a bit and be more like the person he was before he started the drugs. His specialist nurse ( we’ve never seen a doctor since we stared this dreadful journey) has recommended he drops back to the 5 mg dose and will contact me in a couple of weeks.

As you can imagine, this is frightening and upsetting for my husband and not much fun for me either. Has anyone else experienced anything similar?
 

Rosebush

Registered User
Apr 2, 2018
1,478
0
Hi, DottieD, yes my OH is always asking me where has everyone gone(it's just the 2 of us and the dog)when I ask him who he doesn't know and just says those people he also blames those people for stealing his things! and for putting all the folded up toilet paper in his pockets and the drawer next to the bed, maybe when we go to the memory clinic on the 24th I will ask them to reduce his Donepezil from 20mg to 5mg.x
 

karaokePete

Registered User
Jul 23, 2017
6,534
0
N Ireland
Hello @DottieD, welcome to TP from me too.

When my wife was put on Donepezil she suffered from both visual and auditory hallucinations. Memantine was then added to her meds and that greatly reduced, but didn't solve, the problem.

I don't know whether or not the donepezil was responsible.
 

PalSal

Registered User
Dec 4, 2011
972
0
Pratteln Switzerland
Some folks do not have to be on meds to have paranoia and hallucinations. Depending on where and how the brain is effected the patient can experience and exhibit these behaviors without drugs so I would definitely talk to the doctor. Perhaps your OH would have these symtoms now without the drugs. My husband definitely has paranoia. He had some hallucinations in his early years. they went away. He used to shout out in the middle of the night at people he saw outside the window. Eventually this went away and now he no longer hallucinates. Perhaps reading a bit about hallucinations from Dr. Olivier Sacks writings and videos on line would be helpful for you. I found Dr. Sacks helpful.
 

SoAlone

Registered User
May 19, 2016
142
0
Devon
I can only give my experience, my OH was on Donepezil and Memantine and had hallucinations whenever he was having a really bad episode. He has been taken off Donepezil but left on Memantine but these symptoms are still the same. This leads me to feel it is just a progression of the Dementia
 

Sammyjo1

Registered User
Jul 8, 2014
193
0
I wonder whether your OH is taking the medication in the morning as you say things improve later on in the day? If so, could you try taking it in the evening. We were recommended that OH took donepezil in the evening just before going to bed as that then helped with any possible side effects occurring during sleep.
 

Rosebush

Registered User
Apr 2, 2018
1,478
0
I give my OH his Donepezil in the morning as if he's in a bad mood I have then got the rest of the day to try again!.
 

Bunpoots

Volunteer Host
Apr 1, 2016
7,342
0
Nottinghamshire
Similar, but not the same, my dad had delusions which started when his Donepezil was upped to 10mg. He wasn't the least distressed but the people the delusions were about were. It was becoming impossible for any females to be anywhere near him!!

His dose was reduced from 10mg to 5 and the delusions stopped.
 

Phee

New member
May 19, 2023
1
0
I have songs and music in my head all my waking hours. I take 10 mg each of Aricept and mementine. Could this be the cause?
 

Lin B

Registered User
Aug 18, 2022
137
0
Hubby is on 10mg Donepizil and more recently 20mg Memantine. They appear to be helping with memory and function but my hubbies delusions/hallucinations remsin unchanged. He still believes that there are two Lins - me and 'other Lin'. He still thinks there are other people in the house although he doesn't have paranoia-they are all lovely people apparently. The delusions were present before any medication. I think it's difficult with dementia to really be able to say categorically whether a medication is really helping or not especially where delusions are concerned. He has Donepizil at night and I have switched hus Memantine to mid day as giving it in the morning seemed to be upsetting his stomach. No idea why giving it at lunch time should make a difference but it has. Good luck with everything.
 

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