In the overall scheme of things, this ranks a minus one, but I just have to say -
does the commercial for Namenda make your skin crawl like it does mine? The saccharine, gagging sweetness, the over done gentleness & affection, the demure & accepting manner of both the caregiver & the "patient" - in my world, horsefeathers!!!
If I were to fuss over my husband like that, I think he might hit me. Well maybe not that extreme, but he would sure let me know he didn't like it. If my husband were to be so acquiescent I think I would faint. Maybe they should come into a real home dealing with this & show how it really is. No wonder the public at large doesn't "get it"!
Well now, I said my piece - note to self - relax....
Agreed. I've seen it--all sweetness and tranquility. I did have several years where mine was mainly peaceful and compliant, but there was plenty of confusion and frustration too, and the ad doesn't hint at that. Not to mention the crazy that kicked in later...
And how much does it really help? Just a month or two. Then you are scared to stop for fear that maybe it is helping and this nightmare could be worse. You are stuck with another expensive worthless med because you are scared to stop it. How long will it be before they come up with something that really stops AND reverses this horrible disease.
And then there's the fact that Sid's neurologist, who is a top Alzheimer researcher, told me 3 years ago to take Sid off of Namenda because studies were showing that it was worthless.
I am glad Art could not tolerate namenda, that leaves just the galantamine to get him off of. I asked his neurologist about taking him off it but she said no. She thinks it is helping him. She even got a little worried when I told her he misses days a couple times a month cause I forget to check to make sure he took them.
Charlotte, What is this neurologist worried about? That Art might not recover if he misses a few doses?
Mim, It's not just the saccharine sweetness of the commercials that is dishonest. It's the underlying lie (implied by the drug companies as well as the doctors) that these do-nothing drugs effectively treat dementia.
She fears if he misses more than a day, he will loose the cumulative benefit of the drug. She won't admit the drug might not be helping him. Some day I will stop it and see what happens. Worse that can happen is he will go downhill faster.
I agree - I hate those AD drug commercials. They give people a false impression that AD victims are all sweet and pleasant, just a memory problem.
I never started my husband on the drug and took him off the Exelon patch a few months before his passing. I always felt the less medications the better and in the end it changes nothing.
Actually Namenda is likely responsible for my husband's paranoia and attack on me several years ago. The doctor had him step up from 5 to 10 mgs and when he went on the 10 mgs he became violent. I'd like to se that depicted in the ads ;P
The drug companies shouldn't be allowed to totally misrepresent life as a dementia patient and caregiver...it does everyone a disservice and perpetuates the misconception that dementia is only a memory issue and that people who have dementia are subdued and well behaved.
LFL, You must be joking! To suggest that any company, much less a drug company, should not misrepresent the lives of people who buy their products is just plain anti-American. (Are you by any chance Canadian?) Our whole consumer economy is based on such misrepresentations.
I would love to produce a parody of an ad for one of these Alzheimer's drugs, showing a paranoid dementia patient attacking the spouse-caregiver. But where would it be shown? Saturday Night Live?
I long for the days when drug companies and lawyers did not push their wares on TV. The cigarette ads were nothing compared to what is pushed on TV now.
There was a reason why medical advertising used to be illegal in the states. But I disagree about the cigarette companies, their lies and drug pushing put the medical companies to shame. The cigarette companies knowingly sold a product that damaged its clients and lied about it, creating a medical controversy where one didn't exist if you just looked at the science.
I was reading a year ago why Namenda often has no effect. All medication is at the molecular level, and Namenda's molecules have the same type of charge as the molecules it is disired for it to work on. So often Namenda is driven away from its target. They have been working on a new version of Namenda with an opposite charge so it is attracted to its target molecules. We shall see.
As to advertising. I agree, the ads don't represent the realities of dementia.
myrtle. I'm a red blooded American in a neighboring state (NJ). I am only too well aware of the impact Big Pharma has on our lives since J&J and its subsidiaries are just down the road from us. Ironically, the DR. who dx'd DH is well renowned in the Alz research field who just happens to hold the patent on Namenda icw a pharma company. Guess what? He suggested we participate in a Namenda trial for patients with FTD at UPenn.