Dr may be Discontinuing Memantine at next visit

There’s a prevailing philosophy among many in the medical profession that dementia meds don’t really work. AARP published an article a few months back saying they are a waste of money. That is way too much of a generalization & doesn’t take into account the different types of dementias or the individual nature of each person. I belong to a local dementia support group that meets in person in my community. And we each find that the right combination of meds is very helpful for our LO. And often for way longer than projected. Dementias are progressive & eventually medications can/will stop working. But sometimes the solution is a higher dose, or perhaps a different med. It’s important to strongly advocate for your LO. And yes, it can be difficult to get your LO back onto a med & stabilized once they are off it. I have seen this. Make sure it’s not just an insurance/cost savings decision that the provider is basing it on.

@sheila07. I agree with everything that @coping123 said. You need to be the advocate for your mother in law. If you, and other family members, are seeing some positive moves forward, then you want to tell the docs about them and keep her on the medication. If you see no changes or improvements, then taking her off the meds is probably the right thing do do. Ask if there is something else she could try instead.

I too, agree with coping. My husband was taken off of Arricept which he had been started on in the early stages of MCI when he was around stage 5 and put on Memantine. It was hard to tell if 5mg per day helped or not. But when they added an additional 5mg it made a huge difference. He was also taking Risperidone as well which made a big difference so it’s hard to tell sometimes how much each is contributing. I don’t know how we would manage without medications. Of course Risperidone is used off label, it isn’t a dementia med but Memantine is.

Thank you all, I appreciate all your input and suggestions. I will definitely be talking to the Dr at her next appointment of some other options. Thank you for your support.