My mom has been on Memantine (Namenda) and the Rivastigmine (Exelon) patch for about 7 years. I truly did not think they were making any difference at all, but her geriatric psychiatrist wanted her to continue to take them, and she agreed. Interestingly, Mom is an identical twin, and her twin, my aunt, developed Alzheimer's disease at the exact same time my mom did., and their early cognitive disfunction was eerily progressing at the exact same pace. My aunt was initially prescribed Donepezil, which caused sever gastrointestinal issues, so she stopped taking it immediately. My aunt never took Memantine or Rivastigmine. Here we are, six years later, and my mom is living in Assisted Living, while my aunt has already had to move to Memory Care. My mom is very social with her friends in AL, and she can carry on conversations quite well, even though she won't remember what anyone said five minutes later. My aunt, on the other hand, can no longer make complete sentences and has a terrible time trying to express her thoughts. So, since Aunt is my mom's ideal "experimental control group," I have revised my opinion of the meds Mom is taking. Evidently they are giving her some benefit, since, although her dementia is definitely progressing, it seems to be doing so at a slower pace than her twin sister's dementia.
My husband took memantine for seven years, however, his dementia progressed. It is difficult to say if the medication was successful in slowing down his symptoms. His initial medication was aricept, which caused visual and auditory hallucinations. Dementia is a devastating disease. Hopefully, a cure will eventually be found.
Yes….after three days my mom turned into a monster! She was so mean. A few weeks later, we tried again. Same reaction.
I spoke to medical people in the family, one person, the younger and more “modern” one, said, “oh yeah, it has great reviews in clinical trials”. The other one, in his career for about 60 years said, “all those medications are crap. They are heavy on the kidneys and don’t slow the progression of increasing memory loss.” Even my mom’s PCP said the medications for this type of illness aren’t good. The neurologist gave it to my mom under the pretense it would “slow the progression of the memory loss”. When I printed the insert (book!) the first thing it said was “this medication is not intended and does not slow down the progression”.
I made the decision with the neurologist she would not be taking it. He gave her a list, “fish, blueberries, leafy greens and walking 2 x a day for twenty minutes”. I figured at this stage, there is no cure, it’s care. She can still do most of the things, just no cooking, cleaning (of course!), driving. She helps by arranging flowers, folding laundry, filling up napkin holder, stuff like that. She told me she hates feeling useless. She can shower, dress, fix her hair, etc. But it does take her 30 minutes to pick clothes out for after a shower and confusion sets in, se we help her out with that. Good luck!
My dad is on this medience. It sounds like it's doing all sorts of things to my dad. Lots of bad side effects. He has an appointment in September. Hoping the doctor will change his medicine to something else. The doctor said this was the best medience for my Dad. There's got to be better medience out there. Anyone know of any better medience.
Medience is good to a point if it works and doesn't have a ton of side effects. He said that my dad is going through the changes if the stages. Sometimes, he's his normal self. Other times, very grumpy and not himself. Thanks for the tips!
The NIH website states that it does not work for everyone, that ALZ symptoms can still progress even while taking it, and that evidence that it actually does what it claims is weak. It has a 55% chance of being effective for the patient. It does not cure ALZ, therefore symptoms will eventually progress.
This (mematine) was the first med prescribed when my sister was first diagnosed with vascular dementia, 2.5 yrs ago. It definitely made her symptoms worse, and was discontinued within 30 days. Aricept (generic donepizil) was the next med prescribed, and seemed to at least to do no harm for about one year...then side effects kicked in (vivid, disturbing nightmares, and urge incontinence), now discontinued. It is my understanding that these dementia meds "possible" benefits are VERY short-lived...less than one year, if beneficial at all - no way to really know for certain they are helping at all.
My husband has been taking 28 mg Namenda (memantine) in capsule form for 14 years with no ill effects. His disease has progressed quite slowly and he is still mostly independent. He also takes rivistigmine (patch form) and has no side effects from that either. (Aricept gave him GI issues.) There’s no way to tell if the drugs are slowing the progress but I think they are and am very grateful. He’s in a study of a drug from Jansen to control Tau protein growth which a PET scan confirmed he has. No change noted from that, six months in. Good luck going forward - my best advice is not to point out your boyfriend’s lapses, don’t argue about them, and don’t “challenge” him with questions. It won’t help, and it could turn him inward in embarrassment or sadness. Seize each day and find something good in it.
It could also be that the confusion is just getting worse. If you think it is hurting then ask your doctor the best way to get off of it and then see the difference.
My mom was taking Aricept for 2 years and I am not sure it was doing anything but her neurologist added Memantine 7 months ago and it has helped her tremendously. At her 6 month follow up the doctor remarked at the difference.
Now was that the drug or other factors as well? Probably some combination. However, it seems to be helpful for at least some people.
Sorry, I made a mistake reporting that memantine gave my husband terrible diarrhea. It did not. It was another prescription that did that...cannot remember the name of it now. Memantine seems O.K. Cannot tell if it is helping or not. When my husband was in the hospital last month due to fever, severe wheezing, and pneumonia, the doctor said that his dementia was getting worse and he kept saying he wanted to leave, get out of hospital even though he still needed care.
My mom started it when she was approximately in stage 4-5. She showed remarkable improvement with her day to day memory. We were amazed, however it didn't slow her progression and as you can read with the other comments, everyone is different. It took about 1 month for us to notice an improvement but we were very pleasantly surprised.
My husband had been on Memantine for about 9 years. Then one night he had such a horrible dream that I couldn't wake him. He was thrashing around, and tried to bite me. I was so scared I called 911. They were going to give him the drug that people on drugs are given to come back around. I told them he did not overdose, that I have his medications locked up, and I was the only one with a key. The EMS gentleman took his knuckle and pressed in the middle of hubby's chest, and it immediately woke him up. He didn't question why there were 4 strange men in the bedroom, he just whispered that he needed to use the bathroom! After that, I contacted his neurologist, and they immediately took him off Mematine and gave him medication so he shouldn't have those kinds of dreams in the future. I've never had anything like that happen again.
My dad is on this medience. It sounds like it's doing all sorts of things to my dad. Lots of bad side effects. He has an appointment in September. Hoping the doctor will change his medicine to something else. The doctor said this was the best medience for my Dad. There's got to be better medience out there. Anyone know of any better medience.
Yes, I am on it. I have been diagnosed with MCI...mild cognitive impairment. My husband and I both think it has helped.
It is possible that at this point he needs a different medication. I suggest you see a doctor who treats and understands the nature of the disease. Not every doctor does,
I spoke to medical people in the family, one person, the younger and more “modern” one, said, “oh yeah, it has great reviews in clinical trials”. The other one, in his career for about 60 years said, “all those medications are crap. They are heavy on the kidneys and don’t slow the progression of increasing memory loss.” Even my mom’s PCP said the medications for this type of illness aren’t good. The neurologist gave it to my mom under the pretense it would “slow the progression of the memory loss”. When I printed the insert (book!) the first thing it said was “this medication is not intended and does not slow down the progression”.
I made the decision with the neurologist she would not be taking it. He gave her a list, “fish, blueberries, leafy greens and walking 2 x a day for twenty minutes”. I figured at this stage, there is no cure, it’s care. She can still do most of the things, just no cooking, cleaning (of course!), driving. She helps by arranging flowers, folding laundry, filling up napkin holder, stuff like that. She told me she hates feeling useless. She can shower, dress, fix her hair, etc. But it does take her 30 minutes to pick clothes out for after a shower and confusion sets in, se we help her out with that.
Good luck!
Medience is good to a point if it works and doesn't have a ton of side effects. He said that my dad is going through the changes if the stages. Sometimes, he's his normal self. Other times, very grumpy and not himself. Thanks for the tips!
It definitely made her symptoms worse, and was discontinued within 30 days.
Aricept (generic donepizil) was the next med prescribed, and seemed to at least to do no harm for about one year...then side effects kicked in (vivid, disturbing nightmares, and urge incontinence), now discontinued.
It is my understanding that these dementia meds "possible" benefits are VERY short-lived...less than one year, if beneficial at all - no way to really know for certain they are helping at all.
My mom was taking Aricept for 2 years and I am not sure it was doing anything but her neurologist added Memantine 7 months ago and it has helped her tremendously. At her 6 month follow up the doctor remarked at the difference.
Now was that the drug or other factors as well? Probably some combination. However, it seems to be helpful for at least some people.
husband terrible diarrhea. It did not. It was another
prescription that did that...cannot remember the name of it now. Memantine seems O.K. Cannot tell if it is helping or
not. When my husband was in the hospital last month due
to fever, severe wheezing, and pneumonia, the doctor said
that his dementia was getting worse and he kept saying he
wanted to leave, get out of hospital even though he still needed care.
It is possible that at this point he needs a different medication. I suggest you see a doctor who treats and understands the nature of the disease. Not every doctor does,
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