Hi to everyone. I have read a lot of your discussions and finally decided to join. My DH has been dx for sure for a year now with AD, and for 3 years with dementia. He is in stage 3 and into a bit of 4. He has been on Aricept for a while now with no side effects, has never had personality problems except impatience. The huge problem is short term memory. My question today is:
Should he continue with Aricept when I am seeing no change? I have wondered if I should wait and see as he progresses and would benefit from the medication. Thanks your input.
My DH's diagnosis is not AD but what I have read from so many threads is that Aricept slows the progression in the early stages. The fact that you're not seeing much, if any progresson, would indicate that it is working. Enjoy this blessing now, and do as much as you can while he still can. Build your memories while you can both enjoy them. Other threads have indicated that, at some points, if you stop the med. the LO declines, and restarting it will not regain all that's been lost.
Joang and all the rest will be here later to welcome you and answer with more accurate info. You've come to a great place, where you can ask anything, vent, share info, joke, and get all the support you need on this journey. I'm sorry you need us but am glad you found us.
carosi is right Olive. That is what they say - Aricept and the other are believed to slow progression. I know it is tempting to want to stop - I think it is to affirm that they have AD or not. Unfortunately, if they do then the disease will progress while off the medicine.
Welcome. Please introduce yourself. There are threads to post your age. And another one to post your HB's age.
Welcome to the "club." My hb takes Aricept and Namenda w/no side affects. He has vascular dementia; so I don't know if that makes a big difference in affect of meds, but he is "deteriorating," gradually, I'd say--not day-to-day and probably not noticeably to others. Yesterday his gp's ofc phoned to say latest blood work says he's borderline diabetic; so guess we'll work on that. Diabetes runs in his family. He wants to eat when he wants to eat and what he wants; so we may have issues, or I may say "so be it." I'd say, stay with Aricept.
Aricept is a very good medication for AD, the only way you can tell if it is working is to stop giving it to them and see how it affects them. I don't recommend stopping Aricept. If he isn't having any side effects, I would continue giving it to him, Aricept works well for most AD patients and is probably helping him more than you realize.
Zibby, I just posted under Holding Pattern where I mentioned the neuro talking about vascular dementia. He said the treatment is about the same for a lot of dementias and that VA and ALZ usually go together.
Welcome olive. Everyone is on and off all the threads. You just scroll through the threads until you find a certain poster. You can click on the poster's name, example click on my name at the beginning of this message and it will take you to my profile. If you want to find more you click on search at the top of the page, type in my name, click comments and there will come up a whole bunch of comments with me name in them. That is the best I can do to find a particular poster. Maybe someone else has a better idea. I always read all the threads multiple times through the day and when I started on the site, I scrolled back through previous threads to read. A lot of good advice and information. Good Luck. Lois
To search for all comments made by a person--type in the person's name in the search box followed by a colon (example--olive:) and click on comments. This will bring up all the postings made by that person.
Carosi - "if they do then the disease will progress while off the medicine."
That is so true. Claude was on Exelon and Namenda for several years and and it slowed his progression tremendously. When he went on Hospice, their doctor took him off both of them "cold turkey". He almost immediately started on a downward spiral.
Thanks to all of you for responding. I think I will just relax and pray the aricept will help prolong the progression. We will have to assume it is doing the job . olive
olive, each day I read all the new posts (they are highlighted on your computer screen. Sometimes I reread the ones that have been posted a day, month or so before. Lots of different people post on each thread. I have been here for a year so there is a lot of reading available over the past 2 years. You will always find new and interesting things happening in other peoples lives. Joys and Sorrows. I am not explaining this very good so if anyone else can explain - just jump in. Lois
Olive, when I started I read through about the first two pages of threads, then kept up with them. I'd get confused if I just looked for one person's entry without knowing what they're responding to.
Olive, I read through the last few pages when I first started more than a year ago. Now, I read all the recent threads. I add comments if I want to respond or just read if I want to. The ones highlighted are the ones you've not read yet. After a while, you will get to know the posters and their situations and will begin to actually identify with and love them.
Olive, and other newcomers as well, there are threads (discussions) that were started at the beginning (in 2007) that have very good information as well as insight into the beginnings of some of us who just found out that our spouses had AD. There are threads on sundowning, wandering, what we wish we had known in stages 2 & 3, how to keep them from destroying the mail, how to keep them from buying online or on TV, and the one on taking away driving privileges is one of the longest! I think coconut oil surpassed it!
The main things we learned are now listed on Joan's main page so that spouses new to this illness can learn from what we went through. It will make their lives much easier if they read and heed! <grin> The three main ones are "if you have seen one person with AD, you have seen one person with AD" (they go through different problems at different times and no two are alike); the REASON BUTTON is broken - don't bother explaining or arguing - they can't reason any more and they forget even if you think you have won your point; and learn to love the young person who now occupies your spouse's body and understand that though you will occasionally sees glimpses of them return for brief moments throughout this insidious disease, your lover, friend, and mate is gone from you and will regress to a two year old before it is over.
We have become a family here, and no one can understand us and what we go through emotionally except each other. When I came, I read the old threads - two or three a day - until I caught up. I read everything everyone writes, if not daily then every few days. When someone has a crisis, they need the rest of us to be here for them; and when we lose a spouse, we mourn together and try to give as much support for the spouse as we can. The widows and widowers stay to help us through our journeys, and because they are family no matter what.
Read all of the discussions from the beginning (or at least the last year) if you want to find out what we have done in our situations to make our lives easier. Or, if you don't have the time, just begin reading today's and go backwards. <grin>
Okay, I am getting it now. I will be reading and catching up and will no doubt start posting with some of my questions. I assume it is best to post a NEW discussion when I have a question or want some advise. This morning I read the discussions of two years on driving....this is my big dilema now. olive
actually, Olive, it makes sense that when you read an old thread (like driving) you simply post at the bottom of it. That will bring it up to the top (ttt) and keep the discussion in the same thread. Sometimes it's useful for all to go back and read the old ones.
A suggestion was made earlier that widows and widowers go back to the profile page and enter a * or plus sign (my mac doesn't have a plus sign) at the end of their posting name and that way it will make it easier for us to remember who is still caregiving a spouse or if the plus is after their posting name we will know they have already been through the journey and are here to still help us.
Would one of you widows or widowers like to do one with your profile so we can see how it would work? Thanks. (Sandi, New Realm, etc.)
thats a very nice idea lois. its like a 5star general for the 'war veterans'..:)ie-those wonderful caregivers that come out the other side in tact and with a life of their own! divvi