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Caregiving
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- Coping with Memory Loss
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- Health and Wellbeing of the Caregiver
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Hi Terry,
It's vital that you follow your doctor's directions for any drug. I know they are expensive, which is one reason people try to cut back. Also, side effects can be an issue. If you want to cut back because of side effects, please contact your doctor because there may be other medications that work better. It would be good to contact your doctor any way. If the expense is the problem, there are some drug programs that may help you afford what you need.
Good luck,
Carol
Terry,
I would think that the person has to take it everyday according to the instructions. If there is side effect, let the doctor know and he/she can give you another prescription such as namenda or exelon. Taking aricept every other day does not make sense and it would not be as beneficial even if there is no side effect. It is better to take it everyday or change to another drug.
Good luck,
Nina
We have just started my mom on it, and she has never ever taken any meds ever, so we thought we'd do every other day for a week, see how she tolerates it, then move on to every day.
Does that make sense??
In this case, you can just put the tiny pill in yogurt or apple sauce so she sees no pill and will take it without any sign. It sounds like you are trying to get her used to any pill at all. Try to blend it with food and she does not have to know.
Take care,
Nina
She's taking it no problem, as she takes alot of vitamins and supplements, so we just include it in her vitamin "pile" and down it goes with the rest of them.
Sounds good. I think taking it everyday is still better to make sure the pill is effective. If you worry about side effect such as loss of appetite, you can tell the doc. right away. I think this kind of thing works better to be taken regularly. It makes her more perceptive.
My father-in-law could not take aricept because he had loss of appetite. He no longer takes any drugs for dementia because he takes a lot of med for his heart and depression and etc. No more vitamins.... He is in a nursing home now and they control the med strictly so we would need to ask them to add vitamin and etc. Since he is 90, he no longer takes too many vitamin pillls like he used to like to do in 2007.
Nina
Hi Terry,
Many drugs are introduced in this way - gradually. So what you say makes some sense. Still, you need to check with the doctor, or at least a pharmacist, about how she takes this drug.
Take care,
Carol
Terry,
The other way to do it is use less dosage in the beginning first:
"Dosing Information
Before starting on ARICEPT 23 mg/day, patients should be on ARICEPT 10 mg/day for at least 3 months. The starting dose of ARICEPT is 5 mg/day and can be increased to 10 mg/day after 4–6 weeks. Please take ARICEPT as prescribed by the doctor."
About the side effect, once your Mom stops eating, you can stop the pill right away. It won't have lasting effect and she won't starve whatsoever. Just one meal. That is how my FIL's caregiver stopped the pill right away and then told the doctor later.
Take care,
Nina
Great, thanks Nina. We heard back from her doc, she said perfectly OK to give one every other day for the first month, see how she does. I feel much better now. The only bad thing is we can't get her on prescrip. plan until open enrollment in October, which means out of pocket til then...$250 for 30 pills. YIKES!!!
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Thanks Carol. I think what we are thinking is giving her one every other day for the first week, just to ease her system into it, then we'll start with every day this coming weekend. If she starts with any loss of appetite issues or diarrhea we'll take her off, she can't afford to lose any weight. We'll check with her doc to see if she can try something else.