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Has anyone had any experience, either positive or negative trying medication to lessen or slow the advance of dementia? Also wondering what kind of assessments and by what professionals you found most helpful?

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My 89-year-old mother is on two different drugs to supposedly slow down the progress of dementia. The meds won't stop the disease. I really don't know if the meds are working for her but I am afraid to stop the medications for fear she would get worse. She still has loss of words and sentences and garbled speech (when she does try to talk, which is not often now.) My concern is how bad would it get if she stopped the meds? Maybe there would not be a noticeable difference with or without the meds.
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In my mom's case, her memory and behavior improve with better nutrition and more social interaction. The improvement is noticeable compared to her previous craziness. But as far as treatment, I don't know anything that will reverse her Alzheimer's. She is prescribed some meds to slow down her Alz. but I honestly I don't know if the meds work because she was acting really crazy while on the meds.
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There are medications the question is...do they work?
I guess the one way to determine that is begin the medication, stay on it for a specific time like 6 months. Then discontinue the medication to determine if there is a decline.
The problem with that is some medications require the dose to be titrated up and if you discontinue you have to decrease the doses. So consult the doctor before you discontinue any medication.
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I do not believe there is any proven medication for dementia. I don't say there will not be as pharmaceutical companies are working hard on it. Many newer medications are expensive. It is to be recognized that MDs still get 6% on average of the medications they prescribe to patients. The costs for the benefit are overall outlandish, but only my opinion. What CAN help are medications for symptoms, for acting out, combativeness, etc. Some medications for Parkinsons help, but can often worsen one symptom, say balance, at the same time they improve others, say hallucinations. So it is the medication game. Not an easy one to figure out. Do your own research about each medication as much as you can and do be certain that the studies are not done indirectly by the pharmaceuticals as they often are, even when done by Universities. Good luck.
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Shane1124 Sep 2019
I absolutely agree, AlvaDeer. I have not seen any slowing of the progression of Dementia when folks take those meds.
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