My DH is on both Exelon and Namenda. He has just reached the maintenance dose for Namenda. What I am noticing now is that he wants to snooze more. He sleeps later in the morning, when he comes out he has his meds, ( and insulin), had breakfast, takes a peek at the paper ( he doesn't really read it like he used to but scans it as far as I can tell) and then right there at the kitchen table he is "resting his eyes", just dozing off. Then he will head to the TV room, turn on the TV and before long is a asleep. Has anyone else observed this once the LO has reached Maint dose on these meds? I did look up the side effects on google and only one mentioned sleepiness as a very uncommon side effect.
Mimi, each stage is different and some spouses (spice) sleep almost 24 hours a day or doze so much you think that they do. Then, they will turn around and stay awake for 24!!!! It doesn't have to do with the medication as much as it is the stage he is in. Sometimes they get their days and nights mixed up too (which is very frustrating when you are sleeping together and have to go to work the next day) and sometimes the sleep is so deep that you can't wake them up. They have to wake up on their own.
It is not uncommon nor medication related for them to need a lot of sleep, just like a toddler does. This is where you get your housework done, visit with friends on the computer, and read a book. Don't try to keep him awake. He'll wake up soon enough and then you will wish he was napping!
My DH is also on the maintenance dose of Namenda. I notice that he falls asleep if he sits down in front of the TV. Kind of like how the kids used to always fall asleep in the car. This is new so maybe it is the Namenda. In any case, I agree with Mary, sometimes I wish he was napping instead of looking for an argument.
Sid is on 14 DIFFERENT medications, and three of those are taken twice a day. Namenda is a twice a dayer. At least 12 of the meds. come with warnings about drowsiness. But besides that, Alzheimer's Disease is tiring on the brain. Focusing and thinking are tough jobs for them, and they tire very easily.
I always use this example from my therapy days to illustrate a tired brain. I worked with kids whose brains were like Alzheimer brains - slow processing, poor memory, poor language and comprehension skills. I was in a therapy session with a 13 year old boy, and we were playing a memory game, which required him to process information, remember it, and explain it. After about 10 minutes, he held his head in his hands, and said, "Stop! My brain is exhuasted. I can't do this anymore. You're wearing me out!" Then he begged me to make him do laps around the running track outside. He said that was much easier than all of that thinking.
That would explain it as he does tell me it's wearing to try to follow verbal instructions. Maybe trying to follow the plot of whatever we are watching on TV is also exhausting. Thus, fall asleep.
Mary!You just mentioned something that came to mind a few days ago..Normally I am up late and DH has always gone to bed about 8 or 9 as he had to be up so early for work. This has been his mode still. He could always fall asleep on a bed of nails! Well lately, when I go in and make a little noise he does not wake up like he used to do. So I find I check to make sure he is breathing.
Today we got something in the mail. Our tax lady did such a great job, we got a tax refund from CA for a whopping 2.97! I tried to explain this, which was totally unexpected since we had to pay this year..finally I just gave up. You are correct, he cannot track.
Last night he was watching a tv program that really had his interest. I knew what it was but asked him what he was watching. Rather than say, a documentary on WW II he just pointed at the tv.
Or is I ask " what happened" in a scene..he can't say.
MIMI: you mentioned that you looked up Namenda on Google. My Doctor told me that the sight most that doctors use is: www.medlineplus.com. I looked up Namenda and they said that side effects are extreme tiredness, dizzyness,confusion,sleepiness, pain any where in the body but especially in the back and coughing. This is pretty much true for my DW
Mimi - I posted about this under the aricept and namenda thread but will post again here. My hb started on Namenda the end of January. By the time he got up to full dosage he was complaining of being tired all the time. I called the neuro and she said to give it time. She admitted that a small percentage will have tiredness as a side effect. I did and in March when he was still having the problem of being tired I decided to cut it down to 1/2 pill in the morning and full at night. NO change. so I dropped the morning all together. Still tired - just a little bit of walking exhausted him. He has now been off for almost two weeks. I could not really tell the effect because he was also fighting that cough going around as he came off. He is now feeling better and is not tired like he was. While I have been gone working he has gotten up and cut the grass and gone back to puttering in the shop. He stays up longer now and says he feels more able to think and do things.
I was disappointed with the Namenda because he also seemed to be still be loosing ground as far as his memory goes, seemed easily confused. Well, I have noticed he is remembering better. this winter when he watched his hockey games shortly after the game he couldn't even remember who won, let alone who played. Tonight he watched one that went into triple OT and an hour later he remembered that and who won when our son asked. Otherwise, he doesn't seem to be in the fog he was in. Since that is side effect along with tiredness, I believe Namenda will not work for him.
We talked about whether to stop it and continue. We both agreed that he would rather have a shorter time being alert and able to do more than a longer time sitting and sleeping.
I feel bad because I beg the doctor for it (she moved his diagnosis to moderate so the VA would pay for it) and now he seems to be one that it does not work for. Who knows maybe the galantamine is not either but I am not ready to see.
The only way you would know if it is the Namenda is to stop it and see if there is a change. Remember - the drugs do not work for everyone. Was the drug causing the problem or was it the progression of the disease? right now it looks like the drug. He feels better and that is what counts to us.
The Great One has been on his Namenda full strength for a good week+ now and I think he has become adjusted to it now. He seems more awake now, certainly in the afternoon. Maybe it was the combination of getting to full strength and having had daughter no 1 visit from South Africa for 4 days and on the very heels of that his 2 brothers here ford 4 days that just took the wind out of his sales. I am the one now who is so tired I could drop. I feel like a robot with every day the same thing...hardly anything different except for the occasional trip to a fun store, not grocery or drug or cleaners etc...something fun like jewelry! There I can see happy sparkling things even if they won't find a way to my chest of gems....teehee
My dh seemed to go nasty -- agressive and unmanageable on the Namenda starter kit so I didn't follow through with it. I probably should have given it a chance? Anybody else get this reaction?
my DW is on namenda and has been for about a year. she sleeps about 16 to 18 hours a day but she was doing that before when she was on the aricept and even when we tried the excelon. it seems that the tiredness is just a part of the AZ and that the meds just kind a help it along. she does seem to get upset more easily now but it seems that it is just a progression of the illness. the only time she got really agitated was when we tried her on the respiradal. guess that one was not a good choice.
Discovered another side effect my hb had from the Namenda besides tiredness and confusion: vision change. He had his eyes checked before he started the drug but didn't receive the glasses until he had been on it a month. (VA is slow). He kept complaining they were blurry so used his old glasses. Today he had the eye doctor appointment to recheck the prescription. When he put the glasses on they were fine - clear not blurry. Just before we left I googled Namenda side effects and found vision change as one of them. Remember that vision change, tiredness, and confusion occur in only about 2% so evidently he is one of those.