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!