My husband was given a perception for generic Aricept last Thursday. On Sunday he was completely out of reality. Is this a side effect of the drug?

You should be running this by his doctor, but in the meantime, can you look up for yourself the possible drug interferences for Aricept? I'm all for becoming an expert on physical problems when they arise, so I don't look like an idiot in front of the doctor when I ask questions. But then that's just my little quirk. I'm a research junkie when it's something that I don't understand.

It is possible it is a drug reaction. It is possible it was triggered (but not caused) by seeing the old house. It is possible that something else altogether is behind this change in behavior.

If he is seeing more than one doctor (which seems likely), I hope they each know all the medication (including any OTC) he takes. But you've been at this a number of years and I suppose you know that.

Drug reactions are highly individualized. Certainly Aricept doesn't cause that kind of reaction in the overwhelming majority of patients who take it. But that doesn't mean it is impossible for that reaction to occur, especially considering the number of other drugs your husband takes.

Certainly you need to discuss this with the doctor who prescribed Aricept and perhaps with the other doctors familiar with his case. A sudden and severe change in behavior needs to be investigated.

It sounds like you and your husband really have a lot of health issues to deal with, and at such a young age. I wish you a speedy resolution to this particular crisis.

My mother was having some physical and mental difficulties 2 months ago when she was taking Aricept and Welbutrin (an antidepressant). Both can cause dizziness and the patient needs to be sure to drink plenty of water. My mother fell three times at her AL in a month's time. The third time she broke her back and ended up in the hospital.She was dehydrated and immediately needed IV's. She had a new doctor who is tapering her completely off of the Welbutrin, and he took her off of Aricept. What a difference! She is 83 and still has cognitive impairment but is not always sleepy and slurring her speech.
She had a stroke so has aphasia, but now is aware of her difficulties and smiles and jokes about it instead of not even noticing she has it. She is in a Rehab where the staff is almost 6:1--much better. I hope you are receiving positive help and encouragement from your family and friends. Praise God you are still keeping your covenant of marriage, and looking for ways to bless your husband. I prayed for you today. May the Lord bless you and give you continued grace. Is your husband open to reading the Bible (particularly Psalms) and John 1? As a Christian I receive much needed grace, comfort and strength from God's word. God bless you! I hope your doctor will be able to come up with some answers.Please keep us updated.

I have just had the same experience with Namenda which is another drug for dementia. My mother became so out of it that it was scary. The doctor told me to keep her on the drug for awhile longer but I took her off this week. She would just stand and look confused and not know what to say to anyone. It was very scary. She was on it for 5 weeks and I had enough. If you read up on these drugs they do say side effects of confusion and boy did my mom have it. If you don't trust what the doctor says and those side effects don't diminish within a couple weeks, then my personal opinion is that it is making the situation worse instead of better. One doctor my mom saw while her's was on vacation said to me that those drugs really do nothing. She was so confused that I didn't know if there was something else going on causing it. As her caregiver, I see her everyday and knew something was drastically wrong. I will see within a couple of days if it was the drug making her confused or her dementia has indeed worsened. Either way, no more drugs for her for memory....

My husband is on Namenda and a low dosage Exelon Patch. He has a problem with having to get up several times each night to go to the bathroom. Does anyone else have this problem with these drugs causing this?

My mother-in-law was diagnosed with Alzheimer about 8 years ago. She was given Aricept and Namenda. After a few days using the drug, she became anxious, had hallucinations, got a bit aggressive and was always wanting to go home and asking for her mom and dad. She kept saying I wanted to hurt her, that I had her prisoner and she needed to go home. It was terrible!! I researched the side affects about these drugs. I found over 150 complaints about Aricept from family members of patients receiving this drug. Needless to say, I mentioned this to her doctor and they agreed to allow her discontinue its use. I started giving her a Natural supplement that did the same that Aricept was suppose to do, but without the side effects. She has had Alzheimers for the last 10 years and continues to use the Natural supplement, but has been very calm, not aggressive at all, and still walks normally, eats well on her own and is still pretty alert. Although she doesn't remember anything or anyone anymore, I consider she is doing pretty well with this disease for having it for so long.

Karisue, My brother takes Aricept and it helps him so much to talk. In 2003 he had shoulder surgery and got massive case of MRSA at the hospital. Fever was 105 for 4 days and he was sepsis and almost died. After 2 months hospital stay he went home with many issues. Long story is the ( Generic Drug ) for Aricept DOES NOT work for him at all. Medicare made him take it for about 5 weeks and he lost ability to bring out his words to even talk and make sense. So sad it was. I took him back to dr and he understood our issue. I had to fight Medicare along with drs help and finally got Aricept back. He at least is able to communicate and bring out most of words. PLEASE tell the Dr the GENERIC does not work and makes him another person. I doubt it was your old house that has triggered any of this. Perhaps it does not go with some his other drugs. My mother had strokes and the Aricept & Namenda together made her very normal mentally. She later was bed ridden but the mental meds worked great for her. Hope this story helps a bit. God bless you and him. Life is so complicated because our doctors have clues in these cases but at the sametime, its all trial and error. Breaks my heart having experienced seeing and working hard on these type of problems.

I would like to know what the Natural supplement is in order to do the same. Thank You

Annelia, that is an extremely common problem. It was THE problem we had to solve in order for me to keep my husband at home. At least in our case it was not caused by drugs, but by the dementia itself. Just about any reaction is possible with drugs, so definitely discuss this with his doctor, but I'd be surprised if the cause was those drugs. I'd appreciate the learning experience if you care to post back later after you've gotten some medical advice. May I ask what your husband's basic diagnosis is, and his age?

Annelia, in your post you said that a neurologist said that his dementia was caused by long term use of medication and then prescribes another drug...stop me from biting off his head but common sense says that every medication has some form of side effect and when combined with other meds it is a train wreck waiting to happen! I was horrible in chemistry (which is why I'm not a doctor) but I still fondly recall my chemistry class when I added one drop of god only knows what and the lab had to be evacuated. Adverse side effects happen daily and many go unreported. Anyone taking over two meds need to check and cross reference with a PDR (physician desk reference) or get a report from a PharmD. As for natural meds some studies show that two glasses of apple juice daily increases the production of acetylcholine in the brain- which is what Aricept does- minus the side effects which also is increased incontinence.