Medication

jules60

Registered User
Feb 28, 2015
7
0
tyne and wear
Hi there everyone, I'm new to this forum and would just like to ask anyone out there if they have had any experience of changing medication for dementia. I care for my mother in law who was diagnosed with Alzheimer's almost 3 years ago. She was prescribed Donepezil (Aricept) which seemed to help at first. However she seems to be deteriorating again and I was wondering if a different medication might help. Does anyone have any comments on this?
 

Beate

Registered User
May 21, 2014
12,179
0
London
Donepezil is the standard medication. It will only slow down the progress for a while and it's debatable how effective it is long term. Some people get put on Memantine in the later stages. Consult the doctor who prescribed Donepezil what he thinks but to be honest, no dementia medication at the moment is all that effective long-term and some people get taken off them altogether when the MMSE score gets under 10/30.
 

Izzy

Volunteer Moderator
Aug 31, 2003
73,998
0
72
Dundee
After a few years my husband was changed from Aricept to Exelon (Rivastigmine). These are both anticholinesterase medications. After some time on it was suggested he be put on Memantine (Ebixa) as his MMSE score was below the acceptable level (I think it was around 12). We tried the Ebixa but it seemed to make no difference. He has no beavioural issues and I believe that this drug is used to help with agitation. He is no longer on any medication.

I agree with Beate that you should talk to the professional who prescribes the medication and presumably monitors progress.
 

stanleypj

Registered User
Dec 8, 2011
10,712
0
North West
Hi Jules and welcome to TP.

I agree with the others that you should speak to whoever prescribed the Aricept. It might be that another drug would provide some help for a while.

But, sadly, all the the dementia drugs do is to help with the symptoms for a time in some people. That is obviously good if the person you care for is one of those people. But the drug companies do not even claim that any of the drugs slow the progression of the disease. There is, as of now, no way of doing that.
 

jules60

Registered User
Feb 28, 2015
7
0
tyne and wear
Donepezil is the standard medication. It will only slow down the progress for a while and it's debatable how effective it is long term. Some people get put on Memantine in the later stages. Consult the doctor who prescribed Donepezil what he thinks but to be honest, no dementia medication at the moment is all that effective long-term and some people get taken off them altogether when the MMSE score gets under 10/30.

Thank you so much for your reply. We are going to see the consultant at the memory clinic soon so I will ask then.
 

jules60

Registered User
Feb 28, 2015
7
0
tyne and wear
Hi Jules and welcome to TP.

I agree with the others that you should speak to whoever prescribed the Aricept. It might be that another drug would provide some help for a while.

But, sadly, all the the dementia drugs do is to help with the symptoms for a time in some people. That is obviously good if the person you care for is one of those people. But the drug companies do not even claim that any of the drugs slow the progression of the disease. There is, as of now, no way of doing that.


Thank you for replying to my post. It helps so much to know that there are others 'out there' who are going through the same thing with their loved ones. We will be seeing the consultant at the memory clinic soon for a review so I will ask then about meds.
 

jules60

Registered User
Feb 28, 2015
7
0
tyne and wear
After a few years my husband was changed from Aricept to Exelon (Rivastigmine). These are both anticholinesterase medications. After some time on it was suggested he be put on Memantine (Ebixa) as his MMSE score was below the acceptable level (I think it was around 12). We tried the Ebixa but it seemed to make no difference. He has no beavioural issues and I believe that this drug is used to help with agitation. He is no longer on any medication.

I agree with Beate that you should talk to the professional who prescribes the medication and presumably monitors progress.


Thank you Izzy for replying to my post. We will be going to see the consultant soon so I will ask about this. It seem that there is no point in continuing with medication if it has no effect. My mother in law developed terrible 'cold like' symptoms as a side effect of Donepezil and she's had this for nearly 3 years!!!!
 

littleedie

Registered User
Mar 2, 2014
16
0
Hi jules60

Just reading this post re medication, my dad has been on aricept for 12 months and it does seem to have helped a little, although I can't explain how he just seems a bit calmer somehow. However it was interesting to read of the cold like symptons you mentioned as my dad has a constant dripping nose which drives him mad (and me too), maybe it could be the medication?
 

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