So they are taking my mom off the aricept. Odly it took 3 months for it to even start working yet it has only taken a few days for her to start slipping again. She is still admint that nothing is wrong. Monday she asked me 3 times what day it was and where was she going. Even the doctors thought it would take at least a week to kick in. Right now she's down on 5mgs and from there they'll take her off completely. We know that before the aricept mom was between stages 2 & 3. To be honest though, she was so much calmer before she "remembered" it all. The question now is, will she qualify for a alf or a nh by the end of two weeks? I don't mean to sound ungrateful for the doctors allowing my mom up to "remebering lane" but it's been a rollercoaster up there and I believe once we place her it's not going to be such a terrible thing---I pray anyway!
It's strange that they tell us Aricept can't bring back any lost functions, just hold off some of the others. But I know people who have improved on it. My MIL wasn't one of them. The side effects were worse, fecal incontinence was horrible. There just isn't anything they have right now that will really help them. Most of what is out there is experimentation.
Turquoise
A few years ago we were on vacation, and DH forgot his Aricept. I was panicked, thinking that he was going to immediately get a lot worse. We went to a walk-in clinic to get a short-term prescription for it. When I returned home and spoke with his doctor, the doctor told us never to worry about missing Aricept for a week or two since it takes awhile for it to leave a person's system.
The normal progession of AD is a roller coaster, with some level places, possibly a very few short-term improvements, and then drop-offs again. I don't think anyone knows if the drugs actually do much or not. The research supposedly says that the disease would progress faster if it wasn't for the drugs...but who knows? Columbia's nursing home calculator is a pretty good tool (do a search for "predicting time to nursing home admission").
DH also had bowel problems with Aricept and then Reminyl. He seemed to level off with Namenda for a few months, which is prescribed for moderate AD. In stage 5-6, they've now taken him off both drugs.
I'm reading the post and there's some myths to clear up. I've been on the board for over 2 years and seldom post anymore, but working with AD and having family with AD takes a lot for me to want to post. Some subjects provoke me to do so.
I want to address if the RX's work, they do most recent NIH (national institutes of health) published this week states Aricept works, works well. But also in these studies it warns and in others that taking someone off Aricept causes a decline and they never return to normal functionality. This is very true, so one should stay on it from diagnosis to death. According to Howard Feldman, MD the foremost expert on AD (more publications on AD and research / practice for 30 years than any other) in the world recommends this to all patients.
Combination therapy is advisable as well Aricept w/ Namenda is great as it works on two parts of the brain and maintains functionality. No drug claims the person gets better they maintain there abilities with slower decline. Understanding the drugs effects in simple terms is the meds boost the good chemicals that send signals through the brain and nervous system and block the bad chemicals.
in my opinion, some meds is better than none as moments slip just one moment for a little longer, folding the close, remembering my name, remembering my childs name or that of their great grand child is worth that little pill.
If you also want a good read it discusses the meds and AD care, it's short at 140 pages, Alzheimer's Essentials (Gordeau / Hillier)
Just wanted to add a little here. My dad is in a nh now. he is 80 and has alzheimers and parkinsons. I believe that he has had alz. for about 10 or more years.
He was taking aricept when he was at home. He was taken off this drug by my mom. My mom and dad thought that it might be causing him to "see" and "feel" bugs in their house.
Well, I do not know if this contributed to him goin downhill and ending up in the hospital and then nh. But, in the nh a little over 3 mo., they give him aricept and namenda for his alz. and sinemet for his parkinsons plus a few other meds. I do think that this combination for alz (the 2 drugs), does help my dad. He is better, but not as good as before the cutting off of the aricept by my mom.
This was really interesting info for me, especially since I just saw a great but heartbreaking ad for Aricept on TV this morning that said exactly the same thing -- that the drug helps through all of the stages! I do believe that DH is slipping faster without Reminyl (Aricept family) and Namenda, even though he did struggle with stomach problems when taking the drugs.
Before DH went off the drugs, I read a medical journal study from Britain (Birmingham University) that had said Aricept is not very effective after a certain stage. I checked that info at the national research center where he is a patient and they pointed out that the FDA information was based on patients with MMSE scores >10 so that once the scores drop below 10 it is not generally perceived that there are sufficient benefits to warrant continued treatment. Arghhhhhh, what have we learned? We need the medical folks to interpret this stuff! Or, a very good point by Mimphisto, we continue these expensive medications in the hope that they might slow the decline and give our loved ones treasured moments of improved functioning.
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It would seem that as long as the patient can tolerate the medication that keeping them on the Aricept would be the way to go, even if the affect is minor, any slow down in progression would be a benefit.
Begiining, have you considered insisting they put your husband back on the meds? As long as he can tolerate them of course?
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We've discussed going back on the meds. This may be difficult for some to understand, but my DH has actually wanted the disease to progress as fast as possible to its inevitable conclusion.
He has always said that he would never want any medical treatment that extended life, even when medical treatments worked. This is consistent with the medical directive that he put in place. He had advised all family members and his doctors that this was his belief through the years -- and he had even refused to take medicine for his high cholesteral. DH felt that each person had the right to make their own choices, but that he personally would not ever fight to delay a terminal disease once God had indicated it was his time. He told everyone that he would never want to be a financial or emotional burden, and that the faster a terminal disease progressed the better it was for a family. DH was a supporter of the choice of legal, assisted suicide and even had objected in the past to the fact that an Alzheimer's patient could not by definition qualify as making an "informed consent" under any of the proposed statutes. (Frankly, I suspect in my deepest heart that he had planned to eventually take his own life, but that the disease quicly took away his ability to plan a suicide. I locked his gun cabinet and eventually sold his gun collection, and he never noticed.).
I fought with him to get him to take the drugs for the first few years, when he still was able to function well enough to be somewhat independent since I wanted our kids to have their Dad as long as possible. He reluctantly agreed that as long as he could be independent, he would not be a "burden." At this point, he is no longer able to be alone and we had agreed that this would be the trigger to stop any and all treatments. Since DH had expressed himself so clearly on this issue through the years, I know that he would have hoped for the fastest progession of his disease and the earliest release possible. The trade off is that the harder stages will come more quickly too. Others, of course, may be trying to preserve their loved one's level of functioning as long as possible -- as I did, during the earlier stages.
Last edited by Beginning; 08-03-2007 at 07:31 AM.
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Hi, I am new here,just looking for some support. I am so sad,my mom was diagnosed about a year ago. She has been going down hill ever since,today being the worse day. Yesterday my dad had to take her to the emergency room for stomach pain. They had her there for about 6 hours,they ran all sorts of tests and blood work. They concluded it was most likely acid reflux.
She has been on namenda,and this week started on aricept. She is more confused than ever, she is scared that I am not going to be ok, she sometimes says she sees things that are not there. I am an only child & no one to talk to. I am falling apart at the seams. My dad is currently taking care of her,but it seems like she is just getting worse, and we will no longer be able to cope. I hope that someone answers me, I need it! I am so depressed, and I cry all the time. Please anyone that can offer support I need it!!
Thank you!
Being on the aricept and other new meds may help her. You unfortunally have to give it time. It took my mom nearly 3 months to get to an understandable level. She's leveled off for a bit right now but they just completely stopped her aricept. So they are waiting to see where that leads. Once the doctors get your mother situated on all her meds she should be ggoing up (at least for a time) rather than down.
Godspeed,
christi
Hello all,
Not trying to hijack this thread so if I need to start a new one please let me know.
My mother was started on Aricept a week ago. She c/o not sleeping well and leg cramps so her GP stopped Aricept and she starts Namenda tomorrow. My concern is that after reading the Namenda info online, it appears does very little unless in conjunction with Aricept. So I have to wonder if her GP should have left her on Aricept in hopes the side effects would cease or is the Namenda just as effective.
Though I was employed in the mental health field for many years, I guess I didn't prepare very well as this all seems to be pretty overwhelming.
gm
the leg cramps can cause eventually life threatning problems (at least thats what we were told) Some people tolerate Aricept other's can't for that reason. It's one of those things--they've made a drug so high function that it has to have some serious side effects. My mom is on Nameda right now and she really does seem to be doing just fine on it--she even has come off her sleeping pills.
She went back to Aricept on her own because she felt the Namenda was not helping as much. Seems to be handling it ok but still experiences stomach problems.
My mom used to see people in her house! Usually someone she knew who has died. We thought uh oh, daddy is coming to visit because her time is near.
But then she would come up with these odd stories about my sisters coming over and visiting with friends that my mom never met, and then just leaving. she would say she was fixing dinner and then everyone just left her there alone. I would get these strange phone calls about twice a week.
Since I am out of town it took me awhile to figure out none of that was actually happening.
Then she kept saying she could hear someone upstairs and would go up there to investigate. Since her fall today we are putting a child gate across the stairs. No more going upstairs for her.
lately, all that has stopped and she actually seems more alert and functional. But her fragility is increasing. Hopefully she will let us sell her house and move her closer to my sister.
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You do what you have to do! If you wait until she 'lets' you do anything, it will end badly. My Mom would have lived all by herself and set her house on fire if we had let her have her way. She would have gone out in deep winter in a summer jacket, and left the door unlocked, in New York City! The time came when I became her live in help, and I morphed from the daughter into the mother. She became the child. But there was some resentment. She used to complain on the phone to my sister, who believed her, being several states away. I was being so mean to her, I was not allowing her to do what she wanted. One time, when I told my sister that Mom was walking into the street in front of cars, she answered, "she has had a long and happy life, it is OK if she goes out alone and gets hit by a truck. Better to have freedom than safety." This caused a major rift in the family, since I wanted her to be safe more than to be free. This problem is only now solved. Mom is dead, and we will allow that controversy to die also.
Mom gave POA to my brother, so he finally made the decision about the nursing home. Funnily enough, the one who was so against it said, "oh no, she can't come to live in MY house".
Love,
Martha
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I agree with Martha. If left to mom and dad they would still be at home and driving. They both think they are perfectly ok and it is just the rest of the world that has gone nuts. At some point you have to make the decision if not for their safety then for the safety and sanity of others. No solution is perfect but some are better than others and I actually sleep at night knowing my parents are safely tucked in assisted living rather than at home doing who knows what!! We had some very scary moments before they moved and I am glad they are a thing of the past!
Please! I'm new. Someone let me know if I should have posted a new thread. I looked for a way and didn't see a button. ANYWAY....My mother is 82 and slipping pretty quick. She's on Namenda and Aricept. Has been on Acpt for about 2 years now. Namend just for about 8 mo. She is covered (especially the calves) with a scaly skin disease that doctors either shrug at, or throw the usual eczema meds at. Has anyone else had parents get a related dermatitis and associate it with either drug? We're at wit's end. Docs don't seem able to figure it out. She went to my allergist. He did a cursory blood test and told us she was allergic to eggs and milk but it was only a 6 out of 10. Any comments? Tks! ~ Librarygal59
The new thread button is at the to and bottom of the front page that list all the threads but here is fine :-) Also welcome to the board Gal.
Both of my parents are on Namenda and Aricept and have had no skin reaction. If you do a google search on Namenda it does state that skin rashes, redness, and peeling are possible side effects. If the rash was not there with the Aricept but appeared after she began taking the Namenda I would suspect the Namenda. I would definitely point out to the GP that skin reactions are a known side effect of Namenda. If you can't get a satisfactory answer out of the GP then you might want to take her to a dermatologist and be sure he knows she is on Namenda, when the rash started and when she started the Namenda.
My mom is also on Namenda and Razadyne..she is having such trouble with "losing" things...she is tormented looking for her things ..she looks constantly...and it eventually comes to her accusing me of stealing her things and treats me with utter contempt...she, at one point, would not speak to me for a year and a half because she thought I took her family pictures..some of which don't even exist. We have moved her from her house to an independent living arrangement 4 months ago..but my question is ..have any of you had to deal with this problem and do you have any suggestions for me.
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I am so sorry you are having to deal with this situation and I do have empathy. When a loved one with dementia gets an idea into their head it is just as real to them as any idea you might have. They come up with explinations for what they mind does not understand and obcessions where their mind is stuck. No argument will convince them that they are wrong.
The only incident I have had to deal with similar to this was over a Christmas Table cloth. After mom and Dad moved to AL, instead of having Christmas at Mom and Dad's home we all went to my sister's house. She had Mom's Christmas table cloth for the occassion. My Mom decided that it was stolen and was furious. She carried on about that table cloth for two months. No reasoning could convince her that it was used to make her happy not angry. Eventually she forgot about it and we went on to the next obcession.
There is no hard and fast rule as to what to do. Sometimes you can recreate the missing item, give good explination for where it went (repeated 100 times), or try to ignore the ranting and divert her attention to something else. You have to be tolerant and creative. Be plesant and don't argue. Most of all remember that this is the working of a brain that is damaged and whatever it is that is annoying at the moment will change.
Welcome to the forum and hope to hear from you again. I will keep you and your Mom in my thoughts and prayers.
Love, deb
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coming off aricept... 
Re: coming off aricept... 
Re: coming off aricept... 
