Community Chat

[kdgn]

((((Lotus))))

[Shelbelle]

My Dad had dimentia, he took it for about 10 years, it may stop the progression somewhat, but other than that no change in him. At first it made him nautious, but that quickly went away.

[lulu2]

Lotus, I am sorry to read about your mother and what you are going through.

We have elderly neighbors and he is suffering from Alzheimer's. I do not know what medications he is on presently but I do know it took awhile to get him to his present "calm" demeanor. His wife told me she and their grown children decided it was better for everyone that he was a shade above catatonic as opposed to aggressive. One on one, he can converse but at times he nods off mid sentence. If there are more than 2 or 3 people around him, he will not join in the conversation. He loves to sit and hold our dog by his leash. He always talks to him.

It is so sad to see our loved ones slip away.

[jubilant]

This may or may not apply to your situation but my dad had a lot of depression. He has had many surgeries with most of them being pretty major so they added Lexapro to the Aricept and also a small dose of a psychotic drug. It sounds like your mother's situation is different from my dads, although he was getting quite angry at times. He threatened to run over me with his walker and he became suicidal....at which point he had to go to a nursing home. He also talked mean to to us at times and I know how much that hurts. Right now, that has passed for us and hopefully these medicines can keep him the way he is now till he dies. That is what I am praying for....so far...so good. They may have to experiment until they hit the right combination for your mother. That is hard to watch. Hopefully they will find a good mix. I hope so.

[kdgn]

Lotus please remember that Aricept may allow the person to focus more, be less confused but it will NOT eliminate the stages of dementia/Alzheimer's. Your mother's actions, as you described them, is unfortunately quite common with the progression of the disease. They will say horrible things, accuse you and others of stealing from them but you have to keep something in mind: it's the disease talking and not them.

Mom was on Aricept and Namenda but it didn't stop her from the anger/anxiety stages. Xanax, given as needed, helped. But she was further along than your Mother is and Mom was very compliant about taking any medication given to her.

One grandmother had what we now believe was Alzheimer's. She accused her DIL of stealing her good silver and china. Back then there were no medications, I don't even think it had a name yet or if it did, it wasn't well recognized. My aunt had two nervous breakdowns over this. My grandpa had stroke-induced dementia and accused my grandma and uncle of stealing money from him. It did get worse.

Whether Aricept had anything to do with your mom's episode may be questionable. I remember once that it took me over 2 hours to calm my mom down after she decided that she didn't really live where she was and needed to go home.

[Lotus]

Thanks everyone....it's helpful to read about all of your experiences and I am very sorry that you had to go thru this too.

Mom is much calmer today....I have NEVER seen her like she was yesterday.

I forgot to mention that the doctor also put her on Lexapro this past Tuesday....I know it will take some time to see any results from that. If it helps perhaps I can start with the Aricept again. Yesterday's episode scared and saddened me.

This is a horrible disease.

[Mj12]

(((((Lotus)))))

Agree, it is a truly horrible disease. Very happy to read your Mom is doing better today.

[reese2]

{{{{{Lotus}}}}}

[september]

Lotus, I'm sorry to hear about what you and your mom went through yesterday. Sadly, paranoia is also a symptom of this disease, so it's hard to say if this wouldn't have happened even if she weren't on a higher dose of the drug.

Again, I have to say that the people at the Alzheimer's Association are there to help. There is a 24 hour hotline, weekly classes and support groups. They'll also provide help with legal issues, or point you to an elder law attorney if you decide to get power of attorney for your mom. While your sister is here, perhaps she can take your mom somewhere for a while, so you can go through papers and learn what accounts, etc your mom has. Also....keep an eye on what she's throwing away. Many people with this disease just randomly start discarding important paperwork, medications, and more!

[Jeremiah 2911]

Hi Lotus,

First I wish to tell you that I'm very sorry about what is going on with your mother.

My mother-in-law was prescribed Aricept one week after she was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease. Before she started taking Aricept she had problems with memory but she could still communicate well, tend to most of her daily activities and could still live independently with the help of her husband.

However, immediately after starting Aricept she began experiencing severe side effects of Aricept. She had physical side effects of gastrointestinal problems; vomiting and diarrhea and also began having nightmares and hallucinations.

She went back to the doctor and complained about how terrible she was feeling. Instead of discontinuing the Aricept, the doctor upped the dosage.

A few days later she had a psychotic episode that sent her to the hospital. She never fully recovered. She never recovered her ability to communicate and was subsequently moved into a nursing home.

A certain portion of the population can be sensitive and/or allergic to the piperidine derivatives contained in Aricept. Unfortunately, my mother in law was one of those people. We blame the Aricept for her demise.

Read about the efficacy of Aricept compared to placebo on the www.fda.org website. Here's a link to a letter from FDA advising the makers of Aricept to stop overstating the efficacy of Aricept:

http://www.fda.gov/downloads/Drugs/GuidanceComplianceRegulatoryInformation/EnforcementActivitiesbyFD...

Because of the shocking demise of my mother-in-law immediately after taking Aricept -- and from what we've read about the serious side effects of Aricept, we've decided that the risks of Aricept far outweigh the benefits of taking Aricept.

I feel for you and wish you all the best while navigating through this terrible illness with your mom.