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My mother took Namenda 5 mg and seemed to do well, however, she became mean and uncooperative.. The only thing that had changed was the dosage of Namenda had been increased from 5 mg to 10 mg. When we decreased the Namenda back to 5 mg, my father said it was like night and day. She was cooperative again. Now the psych doctor insists on increasing her Namenda dosage and she is mean and mostly uncooperative. The psych doc said it is probably because her dementia is progressing. Anyone have any similar experience with a loved one and Namenda?

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My Mother was on Namenda(5mg. then 10mg.) for several years, and I do beleive it helped to prevent a rapid decline in her cognitive abilities,but over the course of her time taking it I began to realize that the times of the day that she was most angry and uncooperative with me were shortly after taking her Namenda. It took me a while to identify this because I never expected it and her Dr. never mentioned that there could be a corelation in all of our many conversations about her meanness towards specifically me as her caregiver. As I said it got progressively worse and I finally made the connection. I talked with her Dr. and he agreed that sometimes this gets worse the longer someone is on the med.We agreed to remove her from the med., since she seemed to be declining more, cognitively, and she seemed to have hit a wall with what meds could do to help. BE PREPARED, though, when you remove the Namenda, there is likely to be a rapid,irreversable, decline in her cognition. We eventually placed my Mom in a facility, her cognition is very poor,BUT, she seems much calmer and happier. Hope this helps.
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I will add that we experienced this twice when the Namenda dosage was increased. Each time we decreased the dose on our own back to the lower dosage and mom seemed to do well with it. This is the third time the psych doctor insists on increasing the Namenda dosage stating Namenda should not do this. One person I met in a doctor's office told me the same thing happened to her mother when they tried her on Namenda, i.e. she became mean. They tried their mother on it two different times and both times she became mean so they chose not to give it to her. I am just wondering if the Namenda is her problem rather than the dementia. I do want to do what the doctor says but I just have concerns the medicine may be having unwanted side effects.
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I have a story about Namenda... I am a caregiver for my grandmother-in-law, and she had been declining fairly slowly into Alzheimer's, and her neurologist put her on Namenda to try and keep the decline to a minimum. Shewas able to walk and talk fairly well before he put her on it, and only needed basic help with everyday things. She became incontinent almost immediately upon starting Namenda, and after 4 doses, the fifth morning, she would not wake up. She was completely out of it, and went to the hospital. She was practically comatose for 4 days, and when she came back to, she was unable to do much. We thought that was going to be the end. The doctors suggested taking her off of all her meds, and we did. 5 days later, it was like she woke up from a bad dream, and was back with us! Nothing short of a miracle. However, since then, she has declined so quickly, and is now angry and aggressive all the time, except for breakthroughs of the nice grandma we all love. I guess I'm just saying that it's different for everyone... especially with Alzheimer's, some things work for a day or a week, then they stop doing that they're supposed to... it's like a guessing game most of the time.
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We recently made the decision to discontinue my mother's treatment with Namenda XR. Aggression is listed as one of the side affects, but Mom's weakness, dizziness, sleepiness, and stomach upset are what prompted us to to take her off of it. In her case, the benefit does not appear to outweigh the side effects. namendaxr/possible-side-effects.aspx

At the bottom of the page is a link to "Full Prescribing Information, including Patient Information". That site shows graphs comparing the progress of patients on Namenda XR to patients taking a placebo.

I hope these will be helpful to you.
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Hmm, this is interesting to me. Mom's been on Namenda XR for a bit now, and I always give it to her in the a.m. Before that, it was Namenda 10 mg morning and evening for a year or so. Have not noticed any aggression to speak of in the mornings, but now lately in the evenings, not every night, she's been on the nasty side. Will go to bed and about an hour later emerge from her bedroom looking mean and telling me to go home. (So anger at the end of the day because of Namenda XR in the a.m. I'm thinking not). Wondering if she'd go down the tubes completely with no Namenda at all, since they're doing away with the regular Namenda. I'm real tired of trying to get her meds to work for her together (a bit of mirtazapine, the divalproex and the donazepil). Every day is different and none too happy for her. Some afternoons-evenings are hell for no apparent reason, some not. The family doc wants no part of working with the psych meds, and the visits to the neurologist don't seem to be very helpful. His nurses have me feeling I'm expecting too much, yet he happily prescribed the psych meds. I get the distinct feeling they just don't know much. I know the disease is probably progressing. Some days would just love to drive her to the ER and drop her off.
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My mil has been on this for about 4 years. As she is progressing, her anger is getting worse. She was getting up at night, yelling and slamming things around etc...all because she was mad at her other son for not visiting or help us. We went to the Dr, and he got her on a low dose of generic Xanax. THAT made a difference of night and day! The Dr said that is an easy fix. She just needed a little. She was never an angry person before, so that is all it took. Don't get me wrong, she still gets a little mad, but nothing like what I was waking up to. Good luck.
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My mother is on Namenda 10mg twice a day, I really don't think its the medication Namenda I believe its the dementia because my mom has some aggressive days that last for weeks but her good days go on for months. As a matter of fact before the Dr. put my mother on Namenda he aggressive behavior would go on for months so my experience since my mother been on Namenda has been the best medication to help her with her memory and control her aggressive behavior.
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Doctors don't live in the home with the patient. I do as I please doctors be dammed. I live with my mom and I know how she reacts. My style is to fire the doctor and find one who listens to what we are saying. If it's having a bad effect and the doctor is not listening to you, maybe it's time to find a new doctor.
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Regardless of what the doctor is telling you, if she is doing well and non aggressive on 5 mg. keep her on that. Doctors are not Gods and you have every right to refuse the dosage, and in fact I have refused all the drugs normally given my husband (Aricept, Namenda, etc.) for dementia because of the side effects and these drugs will NOT CHANGE the diagnosis. Listen to your gut.
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My mom starting taking Namenda about seven years ago. Her dementia continued to progress at about the same rate. I asked her PCP about discontinuing this medication about three years ago after reading that it is only effective for a couple of years at best. He said that no one knows how long it works or if she would decline faster without it. Late in 2015 mom started getting more and more aggressive, and after reading about a possible link between the Namenda and aggression, I asked for it to be discontinued the past January. I have not noticed any acceleration in her decline and she is still aggressive. She is being treated with a couple of new drugs to control her aggression. Bottom line - I don't think the Namenda made any difference in either her decline or her aggression. The only difference it seemed to make was in her bank account. I wish I had discontinued it several years ago.
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