My husband was given a prescription for generic Aricept and he was completely out of reality. Is this a side effect of the drug?

My mother was having some physical and mental difficulties 2 months ago when she was taking Aricept and Welbutrin (an antidepressant). Both can cause dizziness and the patient needs to be sure to drink plenty of water. My mother fell three times at her AL in a month's time. The third time she broke her back and ended up in the hospital.She was dehydrated and immediately needed IV's. She had a new doctor who is tapering her completely off of the Welbutrin, and he took her off of Aricept. What a difference! She is 83 and still has cognitive impairment but is not always sleepy and slurring her speech.
She had a stroke so has aphasia, but now is aware of her difficulties and smiles and jokes about it instead of not even noticing she has it. She is in a Rehab where the staff is almost 6:1--much better. I hope you are receiving positive help and encouragement from your family and friends. Praise God you are still keeping your covenant of marriage, and looking for ways to bless your husband. I prayed for you today. May the Lord bless you and give you continued grace. Is your husband open to reading the Bible (particularly Psalms) and John 1? As a Christian I receive much needed grace, comfort and strength from God's word. God bless you! I hope your doctor will be able to come up with some answers.Please keep us updated.

It is possible it is a drug reaction. It is possible it was triggered (but not caused) by seeing the old house. It is possible that something else altogether is behind this change in behavior.

If he is seeing more than one doctor (which seems likely), I hope they each know all the medication (including any OTC) he takes. But you've been at this a number of years and I suppose you know that.

Drug reactions are highly individualized. Certainly Aricept doesn't cause that kind of reaction in the overwhelming majority of patients who take it. But that doesn't mean it is impossible for that reaction to occur, especially considering the number of other drugs your husband takes.

Certainly you need to discuss this with the doctor who prescribed Aricept and perhaps with the other doctors familiar with his case. A sudden and severe change in behavior needs to be investigated.

It sounds like you and your husband really have a lot of health issues to deal with, and at such a young age. I wish you a speedy resolution to this particular crisis.

My husband was misdiagnosed with Alzheimer's in 2009. Given Aricept. Started getting strange next day and by the 2nd day did not know me, where we were, etc. (we had been together 20 years at that time and in same house). Called psychologist who prescribed Aricept. Said drug didn't have that effect. This went on for 2 1/2 weeks with me calling Dr. every day or so (when I could get in touch with him). Finally he said "Well, take him off of it - it won't make a difference" Next day he got up wanting to go to work (had been retired for 10 years)I said we were at our home. He looked like he had been hit with a lightening bolt.He looked at me, Looked around and said "Where have I been? I don't ever want to go there again!
Internist said if symptoms started in a few days after starting drug (this applies to any new drug) that it most likely is the drug that is at fault for any reactions.
By Aricepts own literature - it takes 3 or 4 months to work. It May not work, it may work for about 6 months, or it may make the person worse. After 6 months the person will be where he would have been if he had not taken the drug.
THIS DRUG IS POISON!. (My husband had Normal pressure hydrocephalus and PTSD( from the war he served in had come back)
Many things cause cognition problems. Please check out all drugs, vitamin shortages, heart problems, anything that might be currently causing a lack of oxygen.
Aricept is on a level with LSD as far as I am concerned. I highly suspect DR.s' receive a "good payment" for prescribing this drug.

I have just had the same experience with Namenda which is another drug for dementia. My mother became so out of it that it was scary. The doctor told me to keep her on the drug for awhile longer but I took her off this week. She would just stand and look confused and not know what to say to anyone. It was very scary. She was on it for 5 weeks and I had enough. If you read up on these drugs they do say side effects of confusion and boy did my mom have it. If you don't trust what the doctor says and those side effects don't diminish within a couple weeks, then my personal opinion is that it is making the situation worse instead of better. One doctor my mom saw while her's was on vacation said to me that those drugs really do nothing. She was so confused that I didn't know if there was something else going on causing it. As her caregiver, I see her everyday and knew something was drastically wrong. I will see within a couple of days if it was the drug making her confused or her dementia has indeed worsened. Either way, no more drugs for her for memory....

Reality check here.

desert192, I am truly sorry for what you and your husband have gone through. The basic problem was a misdiagnosis. I've had some experience with that myself, and it is hellacious. I was being treated with anti-anxiety meds for what turned out to be diabetes that became life-threatening before the mistake was discovered. (Funny how none of those anti-anxiety drugs fixed y blood sugar levels.)

My husband has been taking Aricept for 8 years. When he first started taking it a neighbor, a well-respected pharmacist, came over and explained to me a lot of what you said about the drug. He said not to expect a large improvement and that the best we could hope for was to help slow down the rate of decline for a while. He was basing that advice on studies in Alzheimer's patients, and his observations of that population. But my husband does not have ALZ. He has Lewy Body Dementia, and as it turns out, Aricept is far more effective in this population! For almost all of the loved ones in my local support group and online group for this disease, it has made a remarkable difference in cognition and in reducing hallucinations. So, sorta of slightly good for ALZ, remarkably good for Lewy Body, and disasterous for your husband, who had neither of these conditions but who was misdiagnosed with one of them. I am truly sorry for the reaction your husband had, but Aricept is not poison and is not LSD.

Another example of a drug that has very different outcomes for different populations is Haldol, frequently used in emergency rooms or nursing homes to calm psychotic behavior. It is often effective for ALZ patients, but can be fatal or cause permanent damage in up to 50% of patients with LBD. My husband and I carry wallet cards with this information. The national Lewy Body Dementia Association has education of emergency room doctors as one of its goals. A good drug or a sort-of-good drug for one population can be dreadful for another population. That is one of the reasons misdiagnosis can be so destructive.

Doctors do not get payments for every Rx they write. Who would keep track, how would they prove it, and who would do the paying? Not all doctors are equally smart about handing out prescriptions, but I doubt that greed motivates their mistakes. Smart doctors try ONE drug at a time, start on very small doses, watch reactions closely (for example, tell caregivers exactly what to look for and call them about) and increase to a therauputic dose gradually when they are sure the patient tolerates it well. Not all doctors are smart about that.

Of course we keep the drug companies alive. We keep the automobile companies alive by buying cars and the farmer's markets alive by buying locally grown produce, and the incontinence products companies alive by buying pads. So what? That is hardly a reason to stop using drugs, driving cars, or eating cucumbers.

I would very much not want to be on this journey with my husband without the help of the drugs he takes.

My advice to KariSue remains the same. Seek medical advice on this change in behavior. Play detective and write down clues to discuss with the professionals.

Good luck to all of us!

The higher dosage of Aricept 20 mg daily almost killed my Mother (79 years old). She quit eating, got weak and hydrated and anemic, due to the higher amount of gastritis that the Aricept caused which gave her terribly stomach pain and digestive bleeding (she associated food with pain), plus she was constantly confused and dizzy, and was having severe diarrhea, pancreatitis, and continual urinary tract infections. She was hospitalized, received an endoscopy, colonscopy and capsule endoscopy which didn't show any other problems with her digestive system, other than an inflamed stomach and bleeding from the ileum. Her blood pressure was hyper and her hemoglobin count was low. She became so weak that she also contracted pnemonia from the hospital stay and had to be rehospitalized and then was transferred to a rehab facility for agressive therapy. Even though her neurologist knew she'd been bleeding from her stools for several years, was taking Anti-inflammatory medications, and had a coronary obstructive history of triple bi-pass and stoke, she still increased her dosage of the Aricept from 10 mg daily to 20 mg daily, even though she hadn't graduated to the severe form of Alzheimers yet. From all the doctors that examed my Mother during this critical life-threatening time, none of them attributed her problems to the Aricept. It was after I had read about the side-effects and took her off of the medication myself, that she began to get better. No more gastritis, no more confusion and dizzyness, no more hallucinations, and her appetitie is back. She will never get back to where she was before she'd began the Aricept, because her digestive system is "hashed" and the only food that she can eat now, so as not to start up the bleeding is very very bland food. A leading consumer advocacy group says that the highest dose of Alzheimer's treatment Aricept is dangerous and ineffective and should be removed from the market. Data shows that the 23 mg dose of donepezil is significantly more toxic than the 10 mg dose. The public citizen petition asks the FDA to warn doctors and patients against taking 20 mg of the drug a day. Be aware that cholinesterase inhibitors (Aricept) causes bladder outflow obstruction, pulmonary disease and increases gastric acid secretion. Patients do not get monitored closely for these symptoms. Also, Aricept should never be given to those receiving non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDS).

Jessie, Aricept does not kill. The disease is what killed him.
katnmouse: funny how one medication works well for one person and not for another. I guess that is why medicine is called "a practice".
In Kari Sue's case too many drugs are worse than no drugs at all. AND NEVER drive by the old house, that really sends them over the hedge.

Karisue, My brother takes Aricept and it helps him so much to talk. In 2003 he had shoulder surgery and got massive case of MRSA at the hospital. Fever was 105 for 4 days and he was sepsis and almost died. After 2 months hospital stay he went home with many issues. Long story is the ( Generic Drug ) for Aricept DOES NOT work for him at all. Medicare made him take it for about 5 weeks and he lost ability to bring out his words to even talk and make sense. So sad it was. I took him back to dr and he understood our issue. I had to fight Medicare along with drs help and finally got Aricept back. He at least is able to communicate and bring out most of words. PLEASE tell the Dr the GENERIC does not work and makes him another person. I doubt it was your old house that has triggered any of this. Perhaps it does not go with some his other drugs. My mother had strokes and the Aricept & Namenda together made her very normal mentally. She later was bed ridden but the mental meds worked great for her. Hope this story helps a bit. God bless you and him. Life is so complicated because our doctors have clues in these cases but at the sametime, its all trial and error. Breaks my heart having experienced seeing and working hard on these type of problems.

Annelia, The product is call Transfer Factor Recall of 4Life Research and you can find information of the product I have been giving my Mother-In-Law for the past 3 years on this site:

I do agree you should always consult with your doctor for any medication changes. I did consult with the doctor and did research in the PDR and other many medical sites. By the way this supplement is included in the PDR (Physicians Desk Reference) and many physicians utilize these products. This is NOT a supplement that you will find in natural food or vitamin stores. This is actually not a vitamin or herb. Its a combination of a molecule that has been in research of over 50 years. Go to the site and you can print a PDF fact sheet which you may take to your physician, so he/she can determine if this would be helpful for your husband. Good luck...I hope it works well for you.

I have no faith at all in aricept. A few years back my mother was given Aricept after a stroke. She started on a low dose and graduated to a higher dose after 10 days. Right after the increase in dosage she went into a stupor and never really improved. She may have also suffered a mini stroke. The doctors said that there was no correlation, but I think differently. I suggest you have serious talks with all the doctors so see their take on your husband's change in behavior.