My 92 yo mom was started on Aricept three days ago, after the first dose she complained of diarrhea, after 2nd dose she continued to complain of diarrhea, nausea and stomach "pains". The pains subsided after about 6 hours. After the third dose, she is unable to get restful sleep hearing buzzing noises and having vivid dreams that are disturbing to her. She called me early this morning because of the troubling night and says she won't take any more of that medication. I will contact her physician tomorrow, What would be some alternatives? Thanks.

I will warn you to be very careful with this medicine. My mother started Aricept in November and the doctor put her on it for prevention, she now remembers nothing. I have spoken to 5 people who have been on this medicine and many thought they were going crazy and lost up to a year of thier precious life, one many started seeing things in rooms and chancing trying to catch items.

Doctors do not listen to people when they say this medicine is causing problems.

I am sure it helps a few but I have found more that it harms.
Linda

Aricept was the first thing my Mom's doctor tried on her, not saying she had Alzheimer's, but dementia. After the first dose, Mom just said she didnt' feel right, we tried one more day, and she didn't feel right, so we just stopped. If it made her worse, why even try it. She went on Namenda a month later with no noticeable problems, but no noticeable help either. She spiraled downhill till we got her the Perispinal Etancept(Enbrel)treatments last March. She improved, and now seems stablilized.
The treatment has kept some patients stable for over three years, we are very hopeful for approval by the FDA soon.

Please see the thread titled "Enbrel for Alzheimer's" for many pros and cons.

Thanks, Felicia

Taking 3 doses of a medication is not really a very good test. Some of the problems may clear up on their own. If you do not want to discontinue Aricept, there are a couple of things that your mother could do to work around the Aricept side effect situation.

Taking the medication in the morning as opposed to at night may help with the sleep problems. (It did with my loved one.) Taking Imodium may help to clear up the trots. (We had some success...but eventually decided to discontinue Aricept because of this.)

There really are not a whole lot of alternatives to Aricept...None (including Aricept in my opinion) do a very good job.

Good luck and welcome.

Hhmmm, your mother is 92 and can still make a phone call! From my perspective, she's doing great...Do you know why the doctor felt the aricept was needed?
I actually found that for my mother--85 at diagnosis-- aricept brought back her power to concentrate and read (for an extra year), but she was diagnosed very early.
Two thoughts-- if she stays on aricept, could she live with you while her body adjusts to thenew med? (if so, give it in morning... it can cause vivid dreams)
or, given that she is so high functioning, could you just make sure she takes all the dietary methods that help all of our brains-- salmon, blueberries, cinammon, etc--making sure her nutrition is perfect, getting her to a daycare for stimulation.

Mom mom had an AWFUL time with Aricept...nauseous all the time, diarrhea, wouldn't eat, very weak. We kept giving it to her thinking her system would get used to it. After 13 days and she could hardly walk by then (had no problems walking before) we stopped. She now takes Razadyne ER with absolutely NO problems!! She was out tending her garden again today!