Message 473 of 2147

Aricept

I need some input.

My soon to be 87 year old mother has been on Aricept for several years. During the past few months both her mental and physical health have been deteriorating. She has many of aricepts side effects (headache, diahrehha, nausea). She is losing her memory of the past few years and cannot remember what she had for dinner an hour before. The owner of her group home consulted with the group home doctor and it has been suggested that she should be taken off aricept since it is losing it's effectiveness. This drug costs $200.00 each month. Does anyone have any experience --positive or negative as to what happens once a person is taken off aricept? Please let me know. Thanks!
KathieSunnyAZ's profile
I don't know the answer to this one (what a surprise, huh?), but I did find a reference to Aricpet withdrawal online. The following appears as the answer to a question similar to yours:

Barbara,
I attended an Alzheimer's educational conference last summer that addressed this same question. A physician decided that a nursing home resident had been on Aricept so long that it was no longer effective and discontinued it. The presenter, a nursing home administrator, said the woman immediately became worse and suffered an overall cognitive decline. He called the physician and requested that Aricept be continued. They put her back on it and she returned to the same level as before the medicine was discontinued.
It seems that at least in some instances, Aricept might have a stabilizing effect for a longer period than studies indicated. It would be up to you and her physcian to weigh the side effects against the benefits of Aricept.
Linda Fisher
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Wurdguy's profile

over 2 years ago
My husband's doctor said that removing any of the dementia drugs cause a rapid decline and it usually isn't fone until the latter stages of dementia when the person becomes bedridden.

I would have a neurologist help make the decision - not a nursing home doctor - if she was my Mum. There may be another drug that he would suggest to replace Aricept...we never used Aricept because of the side effects.
HippyGirl52's profile

over 2 years ago
My Mother was out of Aricept and all was fine as far as her going regularly, now she is back on it the diarhrehha has started again.
csansun's profile

over 2 years ago

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