It is me Sally, So much confusion. Divvi, I just want to thank you for giving me the information I needed for the stages of Alzheimers. I saw that site a while back and thought I had is marked but I didn't.
My husband is well into Stage 6 b or c. Monday I really want the doctor to stop the Razadyne. I don't feel it is doing him much good at all. He takes Namenda also and don't think that is doing much of anything also. We are at the Medigap now so everything we get is full price to us. If it helps him fine but if not I just don't want to give him something that is not working. So confused and wondering. Sally
Sally-I hope some one can help me remember-an over the counter drug called "hupadine" or something like it. Would you consider it. I doesn't make sense to me to give your husband drugs that aren't working. After a while I don't think any of them do. My goal is to keep my husband calm and content. I'm not expecting him to complete the Sunday NY Times puzzle. Now that I do it alone it just isn't any fun any more.
Huperzine A, I'd have thought I'd posted about that so much you'd be sick to death of hearing about it! :-)
www.vitacost.com is one place to get it, from Source Naturals. He'd take 200 mcg twice a day, in place of the Razadyne. Discuss it with the doctor -- it's reportedly more effective and has fewer side effects than the synthetic cholinesterase inhibitors (Aricept, Exelon, Razadyne), and would cost about $5 per month. If the doctor wants info on the clinical trials etc, let me know and I'll get you a point of contact. (VitaCost is a good place to get a lot of vitamins and supplements, I've been told they're very reliable, and the prices are rock bottom.)
The other possibility is, if you can hang on until December, a generic for Razadyne will hit the market then.
The big problem with taking patients off the drugs is that you don't know whether it's helping. Some patients get better when taken off, some show no change at all, and some head into a very steep decline. Unfortunately, if your husband went into a decline, it wouldn't do much good to start him up on the meds again -- patients who nosedive never recover their former status.
There's no way at all to predict which way your husband might react.
Sunshyne I didn't remember it because it wasn't appropriate to my needs. As the brain gets all filled up with trivia I go into sensory overload which is more fun than remembering stuff. :-)
Sunshyne, Thanks for the information again about Huperzine A. I have a feeling his doctor may go for it. I don't know. I have read lots about it. I think it is really more for the beginning stages. I will have to see. If Razadyne is going generic at the beginning of the year I will hang in there come hell or high water. That is the best news I have had in a long, long time. How in the world did you find out about it. I guess there is somewhere that I should be reading and I am not. I think I started a discussion on the Huperzine A a while back. Sally
Sally, I get the Alzheimer Daily News by email, which I subscribed to in a weak moment. (When there isn't any news, they go back to old stuff like, crosswords will prevent AD. Arrgh). Anyway, that's where I saw it, and there were links to various internet sites. The people who sell Aricept are expecting to take a really big hit when it happens, since many patients will switch.
Starling, so it was you who told me vitacost.com was good. Their prices sure are, I haven't gotten the order yet so I don't know about service.
Also, for any of you pet lovers out there who haven't tried 1800PetMeds.com, their prices are great and so is their service. (Cosequin, the glucosamine for cats, costs $22 for 50 pills at Petco, and #19 for 80 pills at 1800PetMeds.com. I buy two boxes, get free shipping, and even though they say 5-9 days for delivery, have gotten them in 1-2 days.)
Is there any place I can find the symptoms of each stage of AD? How many are there? My husband is in a care home, is barely walking and has trouble eating - pureed food only. We are not expecting him to live through the winter.
Judi, some people use three stages, most use seven, and some break the final stages of those seven out into sub-stages. The most comprehensive (detailed) list I've seen is at:
I definitely agree that the Fisher Center discussion of stages is the best one. That is the alzinfo.org address. That is the one that actually gives symptoms that my husband has that makes him a stage 6 patient. Although he doesn't have trouble dressing or bathing or going to the bathroom alone, he probably doesn't know my name, or that I'm his wife (don't know that for sure, but it is my belief). He hasn't known his address for a couple of years. It was his first stage 6 symptom.
He has been doing moderate pacing for quite a while already. Not the really heavy stuff yet, but he gets antsy at about 4pm and calms down after supper. It turns out that is stage 6 behavior. And he has begun to cling, which is also stage 6. They understand they are dependent and get scared they will be left on their own.
He doesn't have the big symptoms, so people have asked me in the past why I say he is early stage 6, but from this site and others that talk more about aphasia symptoms, it is obvious to me where he is on this journey.