Since we have the mundane problems of the world out of the way, is there anyone's LO taking the Namenda and RazadneER. Although I could care less what stage my husband is in his travel with AD I am interested on the length of time these medications are being taken. It is July and when I ordered Eddie's RazadyneER I got a call that our Part D was at the max and the prescription will be 491.65. The Namenda is the same cost so I really have to rework my budget to be able to afford it. We will get no relief until we reach $6500.00 I believe. I guess to answer the question I will need to know what stage he is in. Does not know me as his wife only a very small part of the time. Needs help for his personal care and bathing procedures. Sleeps all night long then is up for 3 hours and then naps for at least 4 hours and then is up for maybe 4 hours and goes to bed and the cycle starts over again. Sally
Sally you can ask his dr for some relief maybe with sample packets -or contact the pharmaceutical maker of the drugs they may send you some samples as well thru his dr. divvi
My husband is on both of those medications. It sounds like your husband is at least at Stage 6. Is he in diapers? Can he talk to you? How bad is his walking?
The reason I ask is that he is at least at Stage 6, but depending on your answers he might be far enough along in Stage 7 that he qualifies for Hospice. Tell your doctor, can be the family doctor by the way, that you want a Hospice evaluation. If he goes into Hospice either they will take him off the drugs (not doing anything for him anymore) or that is how they will be paid for (still doing some good and necessary for his comfort).
You go here for the basic 7 stages: http://www.alz.org/alzheimers_disease_stages_of_alzheimers.asp
and here for an expanded explanation of the last 2 stages (6 and 7) http://www.alzinfo.org/clinical-stages-of-alzheimers-disease.asp
And welcome to the group.
I second that you tell his doctors that he has reached the donut hole in his Plan D and that you need help. They can help you contact the maker of the drugs and also give you samples if they have them.
My DH has been on Razadyn e for several months. He is stage 5 and 6 (I think). I thought it really helped the first couple of months but not much lately. The Dr. is putting him on namenda as soon and our insurance company approves. After that we will get it like the Razadyne through the VA and pay nothing.
my dh is also on both razadyne and namenda. he just started namenda again for his 3rd time. i see no improvement or bad side effects. he had problems with it before,but seems to do okay with it so far. he has taken razadyne for quite some time. i always ask for as many samples as i can get. if you don't ask,most drs we have had experience with, will not offer them. why,i don't know,they should. i is really upsetting that the meds that might help,are so expensive,even when insurance pays. with all the meds my dh is on,i always,without fail ask for samples. jav
My DH has been on both Razadyne ER and Namenda for a year and a half. He hasn't had any side effects. However, they have not slowed down his progression either. The doctor says he is probably one of the 30% who get no help from these drugs, but she wants him to stay on them anyway - just in case they are helping (that means he would be gone by now without them, which I doubt). So we're keeping him on both. We have been given samples of both several times. Whenever she has them in stock, she lets us have some. This helps with our expenses.
My DH is on Exelon patch since last November and Nemanda (10 mg 2Xdaily) since mid-May. I can't tell if it's doing him any good. I was told it would just slow down the disease's progression. He is definitely worse than he was but I don't know how much worse he would have been without the meds.
They are frightfully expensive. He is not in the do-nut hole yet. But he probably will be before too much longer.
For those of you with spouses on a cholinesterase inhibitor (aricept, exelon, razadyne), talk with the doctor about switching to huperzine A. It is a plant extract widely used in China and is reportedly more effective than the synthetic cholinesterase inhibitors, and has fewer side effects. It hasn't been officially "blessed" in the US for treating AD yet, but clinical trials are under way, and the results are good. It is available here, over the counter, as an herbal supplement for "improving memory."
Sunshyne, My husband just switched from Exelon patch (he was on that for 6 months with no improvements) to Namenda. Can huperzine A be taken along with the Namenda? Do you know of any studies on this?
shoegirl, my husband is on both. He started on namenda, and then when the huperzine A clinical trial came up a few months later, was accepted into that.
They have several huperzine A trials going on, some don't allow the ADLO to be on any other meds, one accepted patients on namenda (which is the one we enrolled in), etc. I imagine they're going to crunch the numbers to see whether the combination of huperzine A plus namenda works better than either drug alone. The synthetic cholinesterase inhibitors have been found to work better in combination with namenda.
Just returned from Neuro visit..G obviously has declined. He's having another Cat scan next week to check on his status. The Doc wants to increase his Namenda (he has only been on 5mg daily) and eventually put him on Razadyne also. From reading this string..????..he feels strongly that it may help. We'll see how it works. G ha never been able to adjust to larger doses of Namenda..day at a time. In answer to the dreaded questions, he zipped thru some and could not answer others..who was our last President? What year is it ..totally blew that one..I can see that he is very depresssed about this now..just hope it doesn't show up in the hostility that has been present lately.