Hi, all. I have moderate stage early onset and am taking Aricept and Namenda. Am wondering if anyone has noticed an improvement after coming off Namenda. Trying to get an idea how well or if it works as described. You can email me at ctunstall@aol.com

I am caregiver for my sister. She started Namenda a few months ago, adding it to 10mg Aricept taken for ~15 months. I felt there were subtle but definite improvements from it, or at least happening concurrently. We have not stopped the Namenda, so I do not have anything relevant for your specific question.

Cindy,
My wife is in stage 7 AD and takes both Namenda and Aircept she has beed on both for 4+ years.At one point for a time I found that she was cheeking the pills and when I left the room she would spit them out.I talked with her Dr. and he told me that I should start her back on the meds.Which meet starting over 5 mg of Aircept and 5mg of Namenda when she was back to the full doze I notice a bounce in her where she was improving.The Dr. said this would happen.than she would settle back in.The one thing I have found with the drugs is it slows down the progression of AD its not a cure.I have become a firm believer that it helps when you take the Meds and if you want to see a spike in yourself which is very hard to do because they are so small that its not worth it.One thing I tried back a couple years ago after talking with our Dr.We put her on Lipator 10mg.There was another jump and it also was short lived.I hope this helps.
Tom

Aricept and Namenda.
Hello,Cindy my mother was on Namenda when she was in my care. I must say she was very much happer, full of cheer, smiling,and even goofing around. When she went into the nursing home at the age of 53. They put her on the Aricept and Namenda. The first couple of months she didn't want any part of it. Then she transformed. Nurses and Cna's are always telling me how helpful she is. Everyday she takes the menu's for other residents. When I arrive for my twice a week visit she always tells me she has some things she has to do. So I must say between the combination of the two I have my mother is comfortable being herself. I hope that releaves some tentsion.

My husband is 63 and in the early stages of alzheimers. He is on Aricept and Namenda. I saw you talking about the different stages of alzheimers in numbers form such as stage seven,etc. This is new for me and have not heard of it in these terms. Just early, mid,etc. Can you enlighten me on this?
Thanks,
Sue-Z

SueZ,
Try the alzheimer's website. Or ank Yoounghope 1 ( Tracy). She seems to know alot bout all the stages. Hope this helps! I have EOAD, I'm 53, but no one has told me a stage yet!! I'm curious myself!! Good luck!

I was on Namenda for 2 months & It was a disaster.Not everyone can take Namenda..............

My father took Namenda for two months and had disasterous results. He became violent, aggitated and uncooperative. We've also heard great results. Within days of discontinuing the drug, his personality returned to normal.

It's hard to know with this disease. Was it the medication or simply a stage he moved through?

It is one thing to read about the stages, it's another matter completely to confront it in reality. Make sure you have loving, supportive people around you and everyone is clear about your requests.

We think my Dad is in the final days but we've thought that since 10/20/07. Our prayers are with you through this journey.

Namenda is a "booster" to the cognitive functioning meds such as exelon, reminyl and aricept. I have been on Namenda since it was approved here in the US in 2004 and it made a HUGE difference in my short term memory in the beginning as well as cognitive functioning. However as I have been on the meds so long we see little difference or benefit of the medications but we also know that if I completely quit the namenda we will see a quick decline and are trying to hold on and maintain as long as we can.

As far as stages there are 2 types of scales. 1) The 3 Stage Scale which is Mild, Moderate & Severe
2) The 7 Stage Scale that is more in depth from Early Onset to Later Stage.

It is very difficult to stage individuals with dementia especially those that are Early Onset or in the Early Stages because depending on the day they may be having they could be in stage 3 and tomorrow stage 5 and then the next day could be a very good day and you will think they are them old selves again.

Staging really isn't that important as long as you know your loved one's needs, his strenghts and weaknesses. Let them do what they can for themselves as long as they can, encourage them don't discourage.

I agree with SnowyLynne. Not everyone can take Namenda. My mom was diagnosed with alzheimer 6 years ago. She start taking Namenda along with her medicine that she'd been taken since she was first diagnosed, Aricept, Zoloft and Seroquel. The Seroquel made her sleepy. I saw a big improvement at the beginning. She had less hallucination, less wondering and she seem more alert. She only took Namenda for one month. All of a sudden one morning my mom had a hard time waking up. This was the first time that she'd done this and I was terrified. I constantly shooked her, then she would awake and then go back to sleep. I thought maybe the Seroquel was working on her. So I waited awhile. I went back to wake her up and it was the same thing. I decided to take her to the emergency room. The doctor checked her vitals and did a xray. Everything came back normal. The doctors couldn't find anything wrong with my mom. She was admitted. The very next day my mom was back to herself after 1 day of sleep. I asked the doctor what did he think the reason was why she wouldn't stay awake and he had no clue. He said just to be safe, to discontinued the Namenda and see how she'd do. We did. Its been 6 months now and she never had that problem again. When you look up the side effects for Namenda, it doesn't say anything about problem with waking up. This just a warning!

My dad is 72 and was diagnosed with early stage dementia about 5 months ago. He has been taking this Namenda for 4 weeks. He has not been acting the same as he did before the drug. Before he got on Namenda, he was doing things like put the pot on the stove and walk away forgetting it was on. Right after he got through with the starter pack and then got the first prescription filled, he suddenly started doing odd things that he did not do before the Namenda. He now sleeps a LOT, whereas before the drug he slept normally. His BP was always pretty good before this drug, but now it is running high with daily checks. Tonight it is 191/101. After the Namenda, he began obsessively watching a family photo memorial DVD that he has of his brother who died earlier this year, whereas before the Namenda he watched it once or twice at most per day then put it away. He now watches this DVD for literally hours and cries. I truly do not think it's the dementia causing this. I think it's the Namenda worsening his symptoms and even adding new ones.

Due to my concerns, I have been online researching Namenda. I notice there are many positive glowing reviews and many extremely negative reviews. I believe the negative ones the most because they were certainly posted by real people who are dealing with dementia issues and not by, say, pharmeceutical reps. I'm not saying all the positive reviews are by drug reps, only that certain people have financial reasons to get people to take this drug.

Thank you for this forum. My mom left a message for the doc tonight and he called right back. He is letting my mom step this drug down right away because clearly something is wrong.

I was on Namenda for 8 weeks & by that time I was drooling,& hardly knew what was going on.I threw it away & prayed I'd come back to where I was before taking it.I did,& I'm fine now.......Not everyone can take Namenda....

Hi, Jennifer, welcome to the boards.

You'll see such a range of posts about Namenda because our ADLOs can have such a wide range of reactions to it. My husband responded extremely well to Namenda -- so much so that his neuro said it was a "miracle." Some of the response may have been due to my finally managing to shield him from some sources of stress -- his symptoms are very sensitive to stress -- but some was unquestionably the drug. Four years later, he is still holding fairly stable on Namenda, with galantamine added later (another positive response, although not as dramatic) and then Axona (also positive).

Some of our members have had experiences similar to mine.

Others have had their loved ones develop very unpleasant side effects, and had to discontinue the Namenda.

I hope your dad will get back to feeling better once it's stopped. Perhaps one of the other AD meds may help him -- don't be put off just because he didn't react well to Namenda. The cholinesterase inhibitors (aricept, galantamine, exelon) work via an entirely different mechanism, and Axona is different from all of them.

There are also some promising drugs coming down the pipeline, if he might be interested in participating in a clinical trial.

Come on over to the Caregiver forum, and tell us how we can help.

Hi JAB, I've been doing the "stress shielding" route also. Their mentally ill grandson had been staying with them for 6 years but I managed to get him relocated- hopefully permanently. He helped inadvertently by getting arrested for breach of peace and resisting arrest.

I believe the stress of dealing with his antics has made the dementia worse. There was no improvement with Namenda plus he started up with doing other strange weird things he had not been doing before. Daddy's routine is very set. He literally does nothing more than watch tv, put the pot on the stove for coffee, smoke, and go to the toilet. Oh yes, Mama said while he was on the Namenda he became obsessed with the batterry on his (seldom driven) car running down so he took the car for a spin a week ago and came back with a small dent and paint missing on the bumper. Have no idea what he hit. I hope it was only a trash can or mailbox because there are tons of kids on bikes around their neighborhood.

quote:

Originally posted by Lecanto Cindy:
Hi, all. I have moderate stage early onset and am taking Aricept and Namenda. Am wondering if anyone has noticed an improvement after coming off Namenda.

Dear L Cindy
My mane is Tom and I take Aricept and Namenda. With all the positive results I've had it would take a rather large bulldozer to make me stop!
They started me on Aricept alone at first and added Namenda after 30 days.

Hi Cindy! I'm early stage, early onset Alzheimer's, Stage 4. Started Namenda last November, and forgot about it, till about 2 months into it I and others started noticing my verbal and written skills were improving.

There are a large number of medications that people take that, while helping most, have side effects up to and including death. For instance, I benefit greatly from a big dose of Seroquel, which has a death rate of several percent, less than 10% is what I remember. Taking it was taking a risk, but without it I couldn't be at home.

I was one of the few who can't take Namenda,at the end of 2 months I was drooling & hardly knew what was going on.I stopped it & threw it away.......

SnowyLynne
I was taking Aricept but I was having awful dreams and thoughts.

I was taken off of Aricept and have been taking Namenda for about a year.

I feel better taking Namenda but I am told that I have gone down hill a little since I started taking it.

Barbara

This is a good discussion.

I went on Namenda on first diagnosis 3yrs 2mnths ago. Nine months later I added Aricept. The addition of Aricept like knocked my socks off as it did for my wife. I had cognitive acuity, sharpness, "with it" come back. It has stayed ever since.

My measure, Estate Planning. To avoid getting caught short without enough left for my wife to live on after the Nursing Home we have seriously pursued financial planning. Post Namenda pre aricept I could not understand it in spite of having been a lawyer active in Estate Planning over 43 years. Post aricept it all changed, I could get it and hold it.

Between the start and end of this post I have been to the financial planners to re-discuss financial planning 3 years after making a plan.

My mind was still able to grasp the intricacies of it. The aricept still works.

What about Namenda? I could take it away, but the elephants haven't been stampeding so why monkey with it. The Doc said he suspected my increase of acuity was because of the Namenda Aricept Cocktail. Perhaps it is

I've been on Exelon patch for 4 months and on Namenda for 8 weeks. I notice a modest improvement in memory, cognition, initiation and attention. But I struggle with insomnia. I understand the effects of these meds may disappear after a while. I don't have AD but something else. Incidently, my appetite is under better control.

Iris L.

I am not a drug rep and have no affiliation with any drug company but I am stage 4-5 EOAD age 49 and I have had much improvement in many areas of my life, physical and mental with the Namenda Aricept cocktail.
Carrie

I was on Aricept for 4 yrs before it quit working.I had nightmares but they stopped after about 2 to 4 months......
I was rediagnosed with Vascular Dementia about 4 yrs ago but still take Galenimine 16 mg a day......It works for me.......

This is my 2nd post on the thread. I'm posting again in an attempt to stress my approval for the Aricept/Namenda coctail. As with several others, I was a lost sole prior to taking the two drugs together. I've been taking them now for over a year and my entire family and I have noticed that I'm almost "back".
It seems that there are others that have not had the same sucess and others that have had bad experiences with the combination. I guess that only proves the point that all cases of AD are different!