How long does Aricept work for? Do people become immune to its effects?!
Question:
How long does Aricept work for? Do people become immune to its effects?
For Altziemers medication?
Answers:
I took this from a medical site.
Never
I mean that. It is never advised to take someone off their Alzheimer's meds. Now if the med was for anxiety, depression, or sleep or many many other things other than specifically for Alzheimer's I would say that those drugs could be adjusted or eliminated all to gether. But, with Aricept or other AD drugs, no, never, ever remove them completely.
I have seen many times that the person who was on Aricept has been removed. Either from unaware family or uninformed doctors. Always the same result. The patient goes quickly into a downhill spiral. People think that the drug is not working because the patient is still exhibiting problems related to the Alzheimer's, so it is assumed that the drug has ceased to work. Nothing could be farther from the truth. It simply has to be raised, that's all, not discontinued.
After the person is removed, they start to get worse pretty fast. Problem is that most of that "damage" that comes back after being removed from the drug can be permanent,,,even if the patient is replaced back on the drug right away.
In other words, you may not think that the drug is doing any good, not until the drug is removed, but then you will realise that without the drug the patient would have been much worse, and by that time they are and it's likely to be permanent.
It's off here if you're interested.
http://www.healthboards.com/boards/archi...