Medications.

I have a triage app on my phone that I use to look up my in-laws' medications to understand how their meds. Work and what they are for. I have heard of Namenda. My father in-law was prescribed that and it is for mild Alzheimer's

Ativan or Xanax is usually the first line of defense in dementia. It will work for a while, but as things progress, other meds come in to play and it is different for every patient. Sometimes an SSRI works. Sometimes an SNRI is better. Drugs that are good for Parkinsons are bad for Alzheimers. Most of the time the patient has other conditions and other medications that can cause interactions. Sorry to say, but it is a lot of trial and error, unless you have a really good Neurologist who knows the patient well.

I certainly agree with Pam. Drugs can be extremely helpful in controlling dementia symptoms, and it is a trial-and-error process to determine the right drugs for an individual. I would go further: Even a world-class expert on the disease doesn't always get it right the first time. He or she may have fewer errors, but it is still a trial-and-error process.

The only way to tell if a drug will work well for your loved one is to have your loved one try it. Start only ONE new drug at a time. Start at a low dose. Observe carefully any changes. Increase the dose gradually up to the therapeutic level. Back off if there are unacceptable side effects. Try something else.

Sigh. All this takes a lot of patience. Not all doctors and certainly not all caregivers have a lot of patience. And sometimes it doesn't even pay off. In our case the drugs he was one improved my husband's quality of life considerably. It was worth the effort to find the ones that worked best.

my husband is taking memantine started on 10g now put up to 15g I told the dr that when I put him on thr higher dose it made him more angry but dr has said lets give it a go the reason for him taking this is to stop hulluciations ,when checked on this meds it states it can give hulluciations as a side effect confused

daisy, a lot of medications can have the opposite effect if they are too high. Even antihistamines. Benadryl is used as a mild sleep inducer (Nytol) but excess causes insomnia. It is also used for hives, but too much can cause a rash. All things in moderation.

thank you that's a relieve off my mind xx pamstegman