Aricept question

Pistol_Pete

New Member

Joined : Jul 2011

Posts : 18

Posted 7/18/2011 12:14 AM (GMT 0)

My Mom (96 yrs old) has been suffering from fairly severe dementia for almost a year. Before that she had been declining somewhat, but it seems to have gotten pretty severe pretty quickly. Her doctor tried Aricept a few months ago and Mom had horrible diarrhea, bad enough to land her in ER. We stopped the Aricept, but now the doctor wants to try it again.

My question is -- what do we hope to accomplish with this medication? Will it lessen her confusion? Or is it intended to merely stop the progression of the disease? While she was on it a few months ago, we didn't notice any benefit, although she only took it for two weeks.

Second question -- does the medication actually accomplish whatever it is we're trying to do? Anyone with experience out there?

Red_34

Elite Member

Joined : Apr 2004

Posts : 23581

Posted 7/18/2011 12:20 AM (GMT 0)

The meds for Alzheimer patients are designed to either slow down the progression or lessen confusion/emotional/aggressive tendencies. Aricept will not reverse the damage already done but it can help slow down the rate in which it's happening - perhaps even stabilize her. It takes a while to build up in the body so two weeks isn't long enough to see if this would help her. However, if she was having a bad reaction to it (diarrhea wise) then it might not be a good thing for her to be on.

Have you tried asking about other medications?

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