My dh never had an incontinence problem before taking Aricept. It did smooth out his moods, but the cost has been runny stools. When I cut the Aricept in half, the incontinence stopped but the attitude returned. He's now also on an anti-depressant, as well as the Aricept. So, I'm wondering if I can just remove him from the Aricept all together and perhaps the anti-depressent will control the rage. Any thoughts on this approach, have any of you tried removing the Aricept-type drugs? If so, what has been the reaction?
About 2 yrs. ago, dr. prescribed 5 mg. aricept, after 3 mos. increased it to 10 mg. aricept. All this time dh complained of side effects. Several mos. later add Namenda. Then dh put his foot down and refused to take either meds so dr. prescribed Exelon patch which he tolerated very well but after 3 months dh refused (for whatever reason) to take that. Dr. asked me if I noticed any change in the mental department but I didn't. Dr. said then the meds probably had had no effect. I can't say his condition has worsened quickly. I wonder how long they tested those meds before selling them?
After getting doctor's approval, yesterday I cut dh's Aricept in half and will see how all goes for him. The last time I did that, his diarrhea issues went bye-bye, but his behavior issues returned. Now that he's on Celexa, I'm hoping that will take care of the behavior stuff. I pray that this works as I feel so sorry for him. At 4 am this morning he made a wild dash for the potty and was in there for quite a long time washing out his undies and whatever else he cleaned up. I stayed in bed and let him take care of it himself, but was aware of what was going on. I think this will take some time to slow down the effects of the old dose of Aricept. My hope is to discontinue it altogether.