Hi all, I'd love to hear if any of you have any experience with people who have taken Aricept? Does it work? What are the worst after effects? How do you get someone to take it who doesn't want to? I have a stubborn family member who NEEds it! Thanks, Lynda Lynda,
My mom was on it for about a year and I didn't notice any side affects. I wish I could say it helped her but I can't because not only did she suffer from the early stages Alzheimers she suffered from dementia as a result of TIAs (mini strokes). I do know the drug won't cure Alzheimers but it is supposed to stablize it and slow its progression. Our Dr explained that it truly did work for some people.
As far as getting that person to take the pills(whether it be Aricept or any other medicaiton), thats a whole other story. As you have probably experienced, there is no reasoning with a person who suffers from dementia or Alzheimers. What worked for me was that my mother would do what the Dr told her to do but she would forget and then argue with me that she didn't have to take her medication. What I did is I asked the Dr to write out all the instructions on a sheet of paper, sign it and date it. When mom and I got into one of those "medication discussions", we would go get the paper the Dr gave her(it was always taped to her mirror in the bedroom) and she would read it and that usually ended the "discussion" until the next time. If your family member listens to the Dr, then this might also work for you.
Lynda, I sympathize with you. Being a caregiver to a person suffering with Alzheimers/dementia is extremely stressful. I found that the Alzheimers Assoc. in our area was extremely helpful and provided a lot of help and support.
Take Care
Marianne
Hi Marianne, we have just found out about this and are very concerned. thanks for the tips, I don't know if she would even listen to the doctor!! Ugh.... She was the one who told me to throw out my medication! I didn't know she had this alzheimers at the time. Her behavior is real weird. She just sits and stares, she doesn't know 'what to do next unless someone tells her', she's said some things people can't believe at family gatherings, she can't remember who we are when we call. She's still driving her car!! Scary!! , We are 4 hrs away, but need to go up to San Francisco and 'visit'. Find out what's up. She is only 62. Thanks for your information. Lynda
Lynda, Fortunately my mother no longer drove a car, so that was one obstacle I didn't have to face - Good Luck on that one. One thing you might also want to check is her checkbook. When I finally got a hold of my mother's, her check register made no sense. It took me almost 2 days (with help) to go back over 6 months of bank statements to finally get it balanced and make sense. I then took over all her check writing and bill paying. I also had all the electric, water and heat bills sent directly to me to be sure they got paid. Just some suggestions. Hope they help.
Take Care
Marianne
My mom has been on Aricept and does not seem to have regressed in the two years after her diagnosis of early AD.. A car backed into her and she fell and hit her head. The AD came on like a tiger. Within a week of the accident she had a completely different personality. She has her memory but has lost all interests and does not talk much unless spoken too. It is so sad how just an incident such as this can cause such major changes.
She has a little stomach distress but that seems to be the biggest side effect of the medication.
Less,
Anyway to get a second opinion? That sounds like a closed head injury to me. My dad had the dementia thing (Aricept did not work). They can appear about the same but...did anybody do a brain scan?
Hurts
Been there. Hugs.
Pip
Thanks Pip. Yes, we took her to three different neuros in three different practices. We took her to a geriatric neurologist who specialized in the elderly and AD. She had all the tests except a PET which none of them thought she needed.
I am so sorry to hear that your Dad had dementia. Both of my grandmother's did.
I have researched head injury and it sounded so similar to her symptoms. I brought it up at the last neuro and she said that head injury such as she had can accelerate already existing AD so she felt certain that it was alzheimers.
It is baffling as sometimes my stepfather will say something incorrectly, forget someone's name, or stall when thinking of a place and she can pop right up with the correct answer.
I'm not familiar with a PET? Is that like an MRI? Somebody looked at an X-ray or MRI or scan of somesort and said "No head injury, it's only accelerated Alz". All I know is that my bro's docs treated him for 4-5 months for a back injury but it was an infection in his disc. Then there's all the stuff I went thru. And my daughter being misdiagnosed on her vitiligo.
Sigh.
What's a PET?
Pip
THE PET scan from what I read it is the Positron Emission Tomography scan that accurately scans the image at the cellular function. It is useful for diagnosing AD and dementias. It can show biological changes in the brain and help earlier diagnosis azheimers in its earliest stages and forecast the possible progression of the disease. It was a pretty technical article, but I think this is the gist of it. Pip - I just PM'ed you something on the PET - I didn't know the post rules here as far as websites and addresses..Got it and really liked it. You should post that. It's fascinating.
As for me - anybody want to email me - go ahead! At least my AOL saves to the hard drive (mostly).
Why is the PM file cabinet so small?
Pip