Start Aricept??

I understand your concerns. My Dad’s progression with Alz has been slow and I suspect these meds may be helping with the symptoms. I’ll just add what we have experienced.

My dad takes both Aricept (Donepazil) and Memantine (Namenda). He was on Aricept for a couple of years before Menantine was added. I wasn’t very optimistic about the impact it might have, but was surprised. I think they have really helped. And, this was recently proven after attempting to gradually decrease these meds. We discussed eliminating his meds with his doctor. Dad is 87 and has multiple health issues, so we are looking at quality of life at this point. His primary, who has treated him for 15 years, said that after a while these meds might not be helping much and we could gradually decrease them. He cited studies and placebo effect. However, there was a marked difference in his behavior and functioning after we started the decrease . The only difference was those meds. I resumed his normal dose and he returned to previous level. For him, these meds work well.

I didn’t notice that he had any side effects from Aricept or Memantine. Dad already had weak legs.

I hope that if your husband tries these meds they work well.

Thank you so much. My husband is 77. I think I’m in a bit of denial and need to at least try the drug. S is definitely slipping. I want him to have several more years before we need Memory Care or more help. We are moving in 2026 to a new independent living apt. With the idea that eventually he may need memory care but with me on the property. I hope we can enjoy more time “together.”

Good idea to prepare for Memory Care. That is vital, imo. The stress of full time care can be overwhelming.

While dad has substantial limitations from the Alz, he still maintains in ways that amazes us. We think he’s about 12 years into this. Yet, he can still say his ss#, bank card PINs, address, phone numbers, dob, draw a clock and look up phone numbers for various people and businesses and have almost normal conversations with them! But, he often doesn’t recognize the grandchildren, doesn’t know the day of the week, month, year, etc. He can bathe and use the bathroom, but not much else. He could not make a sandwich. And he has delusions and frequent fixations that are very debilitating.

Good luck with the meds. I’ll look forward to seeing your posts.

S is ok with personal info and recognizes everyone with super long term memory and recall, but confused with dates and time. He can’t draw a clock anymore. He can read a clock and tell you what time it is but has no conception of time management. If he has something at 12:00, he will be ready at 8:00 and can’t decipher that there are 4 hours to wait.
I can leave him alone for hours but he doesn’t accomplish much other than watching TV.
He can make phone calls but gets very confused about how to find the numbers to call.
Thank you for sharing.

My wife was on doneprazil for 12 months. It helped with her hallucinations a little, but made her very tired. Some days she slept 14 hrs a day.

My husband started taking donepezil a few months ago. It's impossible to say with certainty if it's slowed down his decline because I can't know what it would have been without the medication. But, it seems to have slowed it down. He used to have periods of steep cognitive decline interspersed with milder or stable periods. I haven't seen a period of steep decline since he started the drug. He hasn't experienced any negative side effects.
I understand your reluctance to "rock the boat." I feel the same way about procedures and medications that are offered to my husband. I just don't want to take a chance to make something worse! Good luck to you!

Thank you. I guess it doesn’t hurt to try. He did not sleep well at all last night after many good nights. If he were in Aricept I would have blamed the drug, but there were no changes. We haven’t even picked it up from the pharmacy as they were out of stock.
Taking it one step at a time, one day at a time, one hour at a time- who knows??

I agree with you on what effects a cdrug might be having. It's a moving target. My wife is trying nuplazid. It's supposed to help with hallucinations. It takes 5 to weeks to see changes. The normal progression of dementia countered by a drug... I'm not sure I know how to tell if it is helping. Nuplazid is $4700/month before insurance...

My husband is on it. No side effects noticed. Also on memantine. Memory continues to decline. Waiting to be approved for infusion treatment

@cnutt Welcome to Mayo Clinic Connect! We’re glad that you found this site. I’m glad that you jumped right into the discussion! Please feel free to continue to do so!