<p>My mother is 76 and is starting to lose her memory. She gets flustered easily and gets very upset when she can’t find something. I took her to see a neurologist, who did some testing (including EEG) and gave her a prescription for Namenda even though there was no specific diagnosis. She started at 5 mg and tolerated it well, but when it was increased to 10 mg she felt dizzy and spaced out, so the doctor said to go back to 5 mg. I don’t see any changes with the Namenda, and my mom says she doesn’t feel any different.</p>
<p>Because the Namenda is so expensive and doesn’t have a generic form yet, the doctor now wants her to switch to generic Aricept (donepezil hydrochloride).</p>
<p>I don’t know if my mom is in the early stage of Alzheimer’s or something else. Her mother lived to be 96, but didn’t recognize anyone for the last 8 years of her life. Do either of these drugs actually help?</p>
<p>The drugs slow the decline. They are effective. Namenda and Aricept are in different categories of alzheimer’s drugs. It isn’t uncommon for people to take both of them.</p>
<p>My mother took both until it was clear that they were no longer working. I wish she had started them both earlier,in fact. There are also some new ones on the market (a patch) that seem to be effective in helping the patients stay verbal. </p>
<p>I would ask the doctor specifically if he is diagnosing Alzheimer’s or just dementia. With Alzheimer’s I would suggest that you have the MRI?? so that you can see the progression of the plaque. It may not have done much for my mom, but it helped me understand the progression and gave me a good idea of the timeframes for treatment.</p>
<p>She had an MRI in February, mainly as a followup on a meningioma in the left frontal region that she’s had for years. The meningioma hasn’t changed, and there is also a small lipoma. The only other finding was evidence of moderate white matter ischemic changes. The report didn’t say anything about plaque.</p>
<p>The EEG didn’t find anything unusual. Her next appointment with the neurologist is in September. She’ll be starting the generic Aricept when she runs out of the Namenda, in about two weeks. We’ll see how well she tolerates it.</p>
<p>The one thing that confuses me is if the drugs slow the decline, how do they know how fast the decline would have been without the drugs?</p>
<p>Alzheimer’s is a clinical diagnosis and I thought that amyloid plaques are poorly visualized with an MRI. The meds, to the best of my knowledge, help a limited number of people (I’ve heard as little as 18% and as much as 60%) for a limited period of time (6 months to 2 years). I have never heard of an MRI helping you track the progression of the disease. </p>
<p>MizzBee - where did your mom go? Was it a specialty or research center? The Alzheimer’s clinic here at Duke doesn’t seem to have that technology. </p>
<p>I feel for all of you who are going through this with your parents and loved ones. It runs in my family and I now find that both my parents are forgetful. I wish Alzheimer’s research was further along.</p>
<p>^^^When I say clinical diagnosis, I mean that there is no diagnostic test such as an MRI, only a constellation of symptoms and ruling out other diagnosis such as vascular dementia, electrolyte imbalances, and drug reactions.</p>