My husband and mother-n-law were BOTH diagnosised. My husband who is only 54 with Demenia and MNL with Alzeheimers. This journey has FOREVER changed my entire life. I work full time and I'm carrying for both but due to my husband recent diagnosis I had no choice but to place her in Board and Care. My husband was placed on both Aricept and Namenda but started to hallucinate so I took him off both. Initially he was taken to the ER and they sent a social worker in and he asked me if I wanted to send him to a Psychiatric Hospital which I immediately refused to do. In fact I felt insulted. I'm also seeking holistic alternatives as there has NOT been a cure found in traditional medicine. In addition I have changed my cookware and I've removed my microwave.
Looking to walk this journey with others on this journey.
Sorry all this is happening to you. My DH was 58 at diagnosis. His Alzheimer progressed very fast. I know you want only the best for your DH (DearHusband). Sadly they are finding out that this most likely is in the brain years before the diagnosis. So any change you do now will not help very much if at all.
Don't discount the Psychiatric Hospital, as they often can help with the adjustments of the meds. Many here have used them.
You will find that there is no one size fits all kind of treatment, each person is different and each course of treatment is different.
(((Hugs)))
The star * by the name means their loved one has passed away.
Enyamor, You may want to visit the www.ucsf.edu/ftd site which has extensive and excellent information about FTD including lists of which medicines are less helpful. Aricept and Namenda are not usually useful when the brain disease is FrontoTemporal Degeneration, not Alzheimers.
Differences between FTD and Alzheimers Disease are that FTD often occurs at a younger age and doesn't usually have memory loss until late in the disease.
The www.ftdsupportforum.com is an online community that includes all caregivers, not just spouses, and has members from other nations (Canada, UK, Australia, etc) as well as the US. There are so many threads that at first you will want to explore just the areas that seem most pertinent. I visit this site (TheAlzheimersSpouse) in the morning and that one (FTDsupportforum) in the evening, and both are wonderful.
Welcome to my website. Please tell me what MNL is. I have not heard of those initials before. You have quite a load to carry, but you have come to the right place for support and information.
I started this website in 2007, because I couldn't find anyone who would talk about how I felt - I thought I was the only one feeling the way I did about what Alzheimer's Disease was doing to my marriage. I needed a place that dealt with my unique issues as a spouse of an Alzheimer patient. This site is now a place of comfort for spouses/partners who are trying to cope with the Alzheimer's/dementia of their husband/wife/partner. The issues we face in dealing with a spouse/partner with this disease are so different from the issues faced by children and grandchildren caregivers. We discuss all of those issues here - loss of intimacy; social contact; conversation; anger; resentment; stress; and pain of living with the stranger that Alzheimer's Disease has put in place of our beloved spouse/partner.
The message boards are only part of this website. Please be sure to log onto the home page - www.thealzheimerspouse.com - and read all of the resources on the left side. I recommend starting with "Newly Diagnosed/New Member".
Do not miss the "previous blog" section. It is there you will find a huge array of topics with which you can relate. There is a "search" feature on the home page that allows you to look up different topics that may have been explored in a previous blog. Log onto the home page daily for new blogs; news updates; important information.
After a 12 year battle, my husband died of Alzheimer's Disease on June 15, 2015, just 4 months ago. Since that time, I have been so deep in grief that I have not written many blogs or participated in the website as much as previously. I ask for your patience as I navigate through this difficult time. I also packed up and moved, but that's another long story not for now. I can assure you, any topic related to marriage and Alzheimer's Disease has been discussed on the boards and written about by me, so please use the "search" features on both the "previous blog" section on the home page (www.thealzheimerspouse.com) and on the top of these boards to research anything and everything related to being an Alzheimer Spouse.
So sorry you have to be here, but you have my sincerest welcome.
Welcome to our group. As Elizabeth said: a group no one wants to belong to but there is great information and support here.
Did taking him off the Aricept help?
My husband could not take Namenda due to the side effects: brain fog, vision changes, easily exhausted. He was on galantimine not Aricpet. I took him off that this last June after 7+ years on. He was starting to loose ground anyway and that has continued. His neurologist doesn't know yet - have until February to deal with her!
When my husband was diagnosed I spent a lot of time searching for alternative supplements that had been tried. Of course he has been on fish oil. I found a small study in Korea using tumeric. His neurologist said it couldn't hurt so I gave it to him for a couple years. I know they are now doing more studies on it but have found the amount needed for any benefits is more than can be taken in a current supplement since absorption is hard. They are working on finding a better way to get it to the brain.
What do you live? I ask because of the wording 'board and care'.
Enyamor, I am sorry for what you are dealing with, but I'm glad you found this group - it has been invaluable to me as I have dealt with my partners early onset Alzheimer's. He was diagnosed in '07, but symptoms started in '05. There were many answers to the problems that arose over the years in the postings on this board from years past and I mostly lurked, but found the information I needed reading back to the beginning, and reading all the helpful links that are on the home page. In fact I found on this site much more that was useful to me than all the books and other sites I sought out. The one book that helped was "The 24 Hour Day".
Aricept alone at a low dose helped at first - Namenda wasn't added until later, but he had been at a memory impairment clinic that helped determine what form of dementia he had. It would be good if they could narrow down the type your husband has. Aricept & Namenda are contraindicated with FTD. It is standard to use geriatric psych units to adjust medications, especially if symptoms or behavior get out of hand. I am wondering if the drugs caused the hallucinations or the disease did, as my partner experienced hallucinations and delusions at different phases of the disease. Increasing his dosages actually helped him.
The only natural product I found that actually seemed to help him was a product called Super Curcumin - an especially bioavailable form of the active ingredient in Tumeric (made by Life Extensions, they had the hghest dose available, and I could find it discounted on Amazon). The first three years after diagnosis it made a noticeable difference and he got a gain with it greater than with the Aricept. I could see a difference when we ran out of it a couple of times, and it helped for a while. I tried a lot of the other natural things people suggested, but that was the only one that helped.
I doubt your microwave or pans have anything to do with his disease, so don't cause yourself any needless worry.