aricept

[advice777]

my mum was diagnosed with alzaheimer in October 2008, she was prescriped dogmatile fort 200, aricept, trittico and lustral, I wonder if this combination goes well as she is more depessed since she took the medication. thanks

[ILADVOCATE]

  The prescriptions you are talking about are Zoloft and Tradazone. Those are standard anti-depressents. However, I personally know about Aricept because I tried it for tardive dyskinesia and had a pretty poor response. My grandfather was prescribed Aricept for age related memory loss after a cardiovascular impairment. He couldn't tolerate it either. That doesn't mean at all its the wrong medication generally. Its just it has a fair amount of side effects for some people. But as anti-Parkinsonian medications can cause depression and other personality alterations that might be the one. I''d say best to relocate your question to the neurology forum as unless she had depression beforehand, because if it came from Alzheimer's and its neurological in origin the treatment will be very different. One thing I can tell you is my grandfather is doing very well on Namenda which is used for Alzheimer's so you might ask about that. And see if the Aricept could be changed under the supervision of the doctor unless there is something else neccessary it is treating as that might potentially be the cause.
  Zoloft is fairly tolerable overall. Tradazone has the potential to cause my disability and elderly people are particularly at risk for that so if her doctor could change that anti-depressent it might be a good idea unless its specifically helpful where others haven't been. For more information on depression and anti-depressents google "Depression Central" though their use in someone with Alzheimer's if the depression comes from that would be a bit different. Speak to a gerontologist who understands these issues well.

[ParamedFlorena]

Hi advice777,

I would ask the prescriber to reconsider. I do not know the effect of any of the drugs you mention but it takes time to find the right combination of drugs. Maybe another combination would help her better? Depression is common when having alzheimer's. Some patients who have alzheimer's knows that they are forgetting things and that something affects their short-term memory but they can't remember exactly what it is. I've heard of many things but sometimes the best combination seems to be anti-anxiety drugs and antidepressants. I'm sorry you're going through a tough time. It is a land of insecurity to receive the diagnose your mom got.

Hugs,
Florena