http://www.sciencedaily.com/re.../05/090527181542.htm

quote:

In a large study using province-wide data, Dr. Gill and his colleagues discovered that people who used cholinesterase inhibitors were hospitalized for fainting almost twice as often as people with dementia who did not receive these drugs. Experiencing a slowed heart-rate was 69 per cent more common amongst cholinesterase inhibitor users. In addition, people taking the dementia drugs had a 49 per cent increased chance of having permanent pacemakers implanted and an 18 per cent increased risk of hip fractures.

Ugh! This is ticking me off! First we learn that for years her incontinence medication is cancelling any benefit from the dementia drug for years, now we learn that the drug may be responsible for some of her heart and circulation issues?

Rose, have you asked the doc about trying the Axona med reviewed here that we discussed in this thread?
Here's some more discussion about it...
http://www.alzheimersweekly.co...1188&highlight=Axona

http://alzheimers.infopop.cc/e...261/m/8601036143/p/1

Also there has been a lot of discussion recently about the use of coconut oil. Read more here:
http://alzheimers.infopop.cc/e...ms/a/frm/f/762104261

I was very impressed by the quality of coconut oil I purchased here:
http://www.tropicaltraditions.com/

Hope something helps!

Mom fainted again on July 4. Thank God DH was home to help me! Called EMS but she came to. Last episode was a year and a half ago. I went back and re-read the side effects of the Aricept and it does include the fainting and irregular heartbeat.

But what's the choice? The Aricept and Namenda do help her to be so much more aware and able. Unless it becomes a chronic issue I choose to keep her more mentally with-it for her quality of life.

TORP, I am not anti medication either, but had enough high school chemistry (college as well) to know one wrong "mix" makes a stink bomb to clear the building, and enough pesticide chemicals handling seminars to know how easy it is to really mess up. For Mom, it isn't that I thought the meds were dangerous,,, more that throwing a pill at someone was a quick doc fix delaying necessary diagnosis tecniques. TIAs are the likely cause of her hearing loss and she was constantly at risk for a "big one".

What comes to light here is icing on the cake. You might get the best today's medicine has to offer for your diagnosis and tomorrow you find out how wrong it is. Either misdiagnosis, or they fast tracked a drug based on demand by consumers or need of pharmaceutical co. to recoop investments. (Which of course sends the sales reps flying office to office with pitch and promise and samples).

Nothing surprises me anymore, but I hope people will push further for testing and treatment options. Thanks, for the article. Sorry I got off on a rant.

I was on Aricept for 4 years til it quit working.I've been on Galentmine(gen.Razadyne)the last going on 9 years.It has helped me even though I was rediagnosed with Vascular Dementi 4 yrs ago.........Only on 16 mg a day....

I'm not anti-medication by any stretch. But the more I learn about how little is known about these drugs before they are prescribed, the madder I get.

Also for the newbies, link to prior thread on interaction between this class of dementia drug and incontinence medication: http://www.reuters.com/article...dUSTON47359520080604

As I said before but am going to background for newbies, Mom was put on aricept years ago because she let a pot of prunes boil away on the stove and burned the pot. Daddy dragged her to their primary at the time, who put her on aricept with now further testing of any kind. He told us all she had Alz and of course we were clueless. This was over 12 years ago. In the fall of 2002 a few months after Daddy died she had a scary fainting spell while SIL was pinning the hem on her skirt. ER trip, 911.

The Doc in the ER checked Mom out, ordered a CT and discovered evidence of a lot of TIAs. Of course that had not been addressed, and there was no evidence of AD to this doc or the neuro. I was really PO'ed that Mom's real problem went untreated and she had been taking an inappropriate med. Plus, believing she had AD depressed her. SOOO WRONG and unneccesary and dangerous.

Now I can't help but wonder if the years on this drug contributed to her serious episodes of fainting later even after being off aricept.. ..

I know docs are trying to meet a demand for care and pharmaceutcal companies invest fortunes developing drugs for medical problems, People beg for a pill to solve things. Money is tight for specialists, blah, blah, blah.

But for real.
Cholinesterase inhibitors were developed as an insecticide first (is my understanding). HELLO!!!!

Thanks so much for this info TORP!

We had just such an episode last year with mom!

This explains why it came out of the blue.