Took my mother-in-law off Aricept due to side effects. Anyone else experience this?

My mother-in-law, age 88, is in late stage Alzheimer's and has been taking Aricept for two years. She came to live with us last November and I discovered that she had chronic diarrhea and had had it for quite some time. She also had weak spells where she just could not stand or walk and it would last all day. Also, she is 5'6" and had lost down to 103 lbs. I had her to the doctor to discuss all of the symptoms and he said he had no idea what was causing them. We even had to call 911 and have her transported to the ER one time. They also said they had no idea what was causing the weak spells or the diarrhea. They offered little help, well actually no help. I began to research the drugs she was taking; she only takes two drugs.And, guess what I found? Yep. All of the symptoms are side effects to Aricept. I stopped giving her Aricept last Saturday and it has now been five days since she took any. I found in the research that it took two weeks for this drug to completely get out of your system. And, yep, she has had no more weak spells and no more diarrhea. I looked at the side effects of the other Alzheimer's drugs and found the side effects were the same. We (her family) have decided not to put her on any more Alzheimer's drugs in hopes that she will now gain weight and become stronger. Anyone else experienced these side effects to Aricept? Did you stop taking them? It's a little scary for her not to be on any medication, but the side effects were taking a negative toll on her health. I also read that after the first six to twelve months any of the Alzheimer's drugs were not very effective. Sure hope we have made the right decision here.