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My father has vascular dementia, which has mostly affected his short-term memory. He has had 3 stents put in over the last 5 years, one of these was in June. He is on Crestor, Namenda, Atenolol, Clopidergrel, Low Dose Aspirin, & Donezapil and he has a pacemaker. He has been depressed for many years. Long before his heart problems occurred--I am inclined to believe the depression contributed to his heart problems. My mother has had two major surgeries on her spine in the last 6 months and they have been living with me while she recovers. At first he was determined to get home, but he has accepted that its not going to happen for awhile yet. All he does is sleep anymore. Sometimes he reads. He barely eats. I am sure some of his lethargy is a side effect of his medications, but not all of it surely? He has almost no initiative. What I am wondering is given all his medications, would an antidepressant be of any help to him? He will be 80 in a few months. He has been an active man all of his life, with many passions like gardening and cooking and friends and he's just kind of . . . stopped. He is not hard to care for. I just know he would feel so much better if he took a walk now and then and moved his body, but I also know I can't make him do anything. Am I just trying to find a way to change something that cannot be changed?

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Your excellent question was in today's (Aug. 20) email from AgingCare and thanks for asking it because I think many of us share the same concerns. How much intervention is appropriate to the conditions and how much is us wanting the conditions to be different?

That list of meds is intimidating in terms of adding another one. Something you might change right away is the amount of full spectrum light your father gets. Would he go outside with you for a bit of sun every day. Here in Florida, 10 minutes probably would do the job, and then more depending on how far north. Early morning is best. If he won't go out, there are special light fixtures available. Possibly he has something like SAD -- Seasonal Affective Disorder -- which causes depression because of lack of light.

Blessings to you to overcome your own sadness and to your parents in their suffering.
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My mom has the same thing but is awake in her 90's.I took her off anything that made her sleep and it was great. I would call his dr or get him there, any drug that makes him tired should be changed or taken off of. Are these new meds to him or was he on them and awake before? my Mom takes an antidepressant and its was a miracle for her when she started many years ago, she will always be on it. Try Music and old TV shows and get him off whatever meds the dr says he can get off of. Namenda? Does that work, is that really necessary? My mom cant walk, talk or barely see and I puree her foods and feed her with music on, she is all smiles.Loves to hear me sing and sometimes makes her body wiggle to it. I think there is hope you can liven him up, dont ever give up ok and best of luck to you.
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Find a better doctor to step in and spring clean the meds list:
My mom, 90, was on WAY too many meds, as each time there was an incident the old doc would just layer on another one. This year she almost died in the hospital. She wouldn't eat. She was withering away.
The best thing I did: I found her a better doctor and we cleaned up all her meds and took away most of them, some were redundant or interacting badly with others. After a month she was better but still agitated so then we added back Seroquel (mood stabilizer) and Cipralex (anti depressant) in very low dose.

I also investigated natural remedies :
When she was in the hospital I sat with her for a couple hours 2x day and made her slowly sip my special drink: gave her a lot of digestive enzymes (health food store, just open the capsules pour in the powder) in a tasty protein smoothie everyday and it brought her appetite back.
I also insist on plenty of B vitamins, minerals, live culture yoghurt, and all tasty foods.
And playing her favorite music. Fresh flowers. Cheerful stuff.
Now she is much better and walking again with a physio who comes to the house.

PHEW
It has been an exhausting battle, making demands to the medical system, but it's one worth fighting. Don't give up, you can make a big difference.
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The traditional medical doctors almost always over medicate, because they do not see what is happening day to day. You need to call the dr. Most likely they can lower or take him off or try something else without SIDE EFFECTS. I took my best friend off all his hand full of meds and got him on all natural cures for pain, bp, kidney health. He got so much better.
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This sounds good. This is why WE are called caregivers. Because WE CARE. Not to sound angry, but the medical profession is a day to day money making machine. Be proactive, take charge, ask questions.
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Now that I have the correct spelling of those other two drugs - Donepezil which is Aricept another dementia drug like Namenda and also sedating, and Clopidoqrel - which is an anit-platelet drug used in heart patients, I can now answer. Both Aricept and Namenda will do nothing to reduce dementia and they are both sedating. The other drug is for his heart condition. Both heart medications should not be causing the sedation, and should not be stopped. Both Aricept and Namenda can be stopped because they are just bandaids for dementia. My suggestion is to ask his doctor to take your father off all drugs that are unnecessary for his heart condition. You can reduce the cholesterol through diet and again, dementia is a terminal condition. Best wishes...
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Perhaps pstiegman is confused about myelin sheaths forming over nerve cells. A destruction of them usually causes MS and cannot be restored and mental status declines. Be very careful in offering advice which you cannot back up with a medical degree and license.
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Your father's medications send up a big red flag. Namenda, Aricept, and a cocktail of 15 other medications caused my mother to go into renal failure which then caused a debilitating stroke. If your father's current physician and psychiatrist do not thoroughly review and reduce your father's meds, then you (if you're DPOA) or your father have the right to request a new physician and psychiatrist. A reduction in meds brought my mother out of Hospice. Good luck to you and your dad.
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Ferris, check it out on Medscape and the FDA website ! :-)
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Thank you. We've got him down to 3 meds.
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