Has anyone had a parent or loved one do worse on Namenda XR?

I don't give my husband any drugs for his dementia; just letting nature take its course. I am not flushing our money down the toilet, otherwise known as paying for drugs that have unpleasant or serious side effects.

I did extensive research on these meds as well as talk to a lot of people whose family members took them. I was not impressed at all.

Sorry to say that Aricept and Namenda seem to make the dementia worse and the drug companies rich. Don't believe it even slows anything down. Mom was on Aricept and never got to Namenda. We dropped Aricept without change in her behavior. Like of these drugs the drug companies give a bonus to the doctors for subscribing them.

Thank you everyone who took the time to respond. We took her off Namenda, and her gait improved, the anxiety and confusion eased almost immediately.

Namenda was no good for 83 year old MCI husband. He was on 10 M of Aricept and that seemed to work. When they added Namenda, his gait, walking and balance were negatively affected almost immediately. Didn't stick around to see what else would be affected. Physician took him off this Medication immediately.

Absolutely! My mother was on 20-30 mg a day...depending on who filled her medicine pack for the week. My good ol sil would put 1 10 mg in the morning, one after lunch and another 10 mg after dinner. I cannot tell you , not only how confused and agitated it made mom. But it affected her gait, walking, her ablity or lack thereof, to eat a bowl of cereal...let alone a bowl of soup from the constant tremors she was having. Got her away from said sil, took her to the UP in Michigan, called her Dr. and told her I was weaning her off it altogether. She was fine with it. Afetr 3 weeks....she's BACK!!! She's 86 by the way...I don't believe anyone over the age of 75-80 should be on anything as horrible as Namenda. Of all the side effects...she had about 80% of them. She is now thinking more clearl than she has in years, and has finally decided to get away from the witch and is now in assisted living facility in Mackinac City close to my sister and brother. My sister, who is special( challenged) is living with her as well and they couldn't be happier!! We thank God for helping her to make that decision, so very blessed...and just to see the glow in both of their eyes and laugh again...such a beautiful thing their life is now!!!! Night and day...God bless you and good luck!! :)

To lindabf
You wrote something that struck a nerve!!!you mentioned "depth perception". I have been very concerned over the fact that my husband won't make an attempt to walk around the dog or even the door frame. Is perception part of FTD and/or Parkinson's?
Puglover2

I take my husband to the University of Arkansas Medical Geriatric Center. And there he sees a geriatric psychiatrist. She took him off Namenda about nine months ago because she said the research did not support it's value. I do believe he feels better and is even less confused.

Why is no one seem to be perscribed valium?? at least we know the side effects of this old anxiety drug...

This is very scary, as my mom just started Namenda last week, per her neurologist. She is also on the Exelon patch, but not Aricept. I will let my dad and sister, who live much closer, to keep a close eye on her.

My dad's been on Zoxadon and Alzam. His decline is visible physically and he can hardly move with limbs very stiff. He suddenly started shaking a lot too. Very hard to see him like this. We haven't tried Namenda or Aricept. His doctor hasn't mentioned it. All the best.

My mom spent a 'lovely weekend at the beach with a friend' to realize on Monday morning that it was me, her daughter... But actually I think the Namenda XR is helping her. She is at peace and enjoying life, (even if she doesn't always remember who she's with, that's ok. Without it, she becomes angry and volatile. It's keeping her home longer and out of nursing care. She's on the 28 mg along with Excelon patch.

My 85 year old husband was on Aricept and did well. When they tried Namenda, he lost balance and couldn't walk straight. I took him off.

Same thing happened with my husband. I took him off the Namenda for a week, and he improved. Then I put him back on it, and within the week, again, he became more confused. So I took it away from him forever! We need to remember that all these medications the pharmaceutical fat cats keep pushing on us are always to be questioned.

I urge you to read "The Myth of Alzheimer's" by an American neurologist (his name escapes me now, but you can google the title of the book). In "the good old days," it was called "hardening of the arteries." Then along came a German doctor who slapped a label to it. His name was Dr. Alzheimer. The "cure," which will never come to be is a huge money-making venture for the pharmaceuticals and the doctors who are in bed with them.

Of course more and more of the elderly have Alzheimer's ("hardening of the arteries"). We are all living much, much longer so "hardening of the arteries" is on the "increase."

I hope you will read this book. And if you are already contributing your hard-earned dollars to the pharmaceutical industry to find a "cure" for Alzheimer's, take a deep breath and stop doing it.

The only negative thing that happened when my mother was on Namenda and I don’t know if she was on the XR you speak of, but it gave her low blood pressure, as is a side effect of it, and she fell twice. We took her off of it and it seems like her real cognitive impairment is really that she is always having uti’s. Because when she takes the antibiotic for it, she has absolutely NO COGNITIVE IMPAIRMENT, until UTI starts up again. So I believe my mother is really misdiagnosed with dementia anyway.

Quailmom....that's exactly why I chose not to put my Mom on anything further after the Aricept stopped working. Being aware of those losses has caused my mom a lot of anxiety and sadness and that, in turn, has reduced the quality of her life. I'd rather see her severely decline quickly into a state that she is unaware of those losses than to stay longer in the anxiety & tears that her loss awareness has caused.

My husband was very confused when we got his dose up to 10 mg twice a day. The Doctor thinks it helps support cognition and really wanted to keep him on the drug [I wanted to quit]. We are now doing 5 mg. twice per day. It seems to me that it makes the poor guy more aware of his losses but no more capable in daily functioning. At least the generic is much cheaper and it doesn't seem to cause any physical issues. I am still very skeptical of it's efficacy in this case.

For us it was dosage. 10 mg twice a day was disastrous. 10 mg once a day was still not good. 5 mg. once a day with the evening meal has worked well. No agitation or hallucinations. Sleeping through the nightwithout calling out for help. Good! That said, confusion, memory loss, and depth perception challenges are ongoing, but manageable when the agitation and hallucinations are removed from the picture. Ask your doctor about trying lower doses rather than higher if you have not tried that yet.

My husband had hallucinations when on Namenda - saw strangers in the corner or cats on the book shelves. This made him quite agitated so I took him off the medication.

Oops, I wasn't finished posting...as for the Aricept it affected his intestinal track. The doctor took him off both medications.
My husband has FTD and Parkinson's. He is currently using Excelon patches which has shown slowed down confusion. Senimet was prescribed in addition to the patch which turned out to be a nightmare. He slept all day and night. Due to the inability to ambulate he contacted pneumonia and was hospitalized. Sometimes, no medication is best in our situation. I wish you the best! ~Puglover 2~

I've heard so many negative experiences that, once my mom got to the point that the Aricept was no longer working on its own, I made the decision to remove her from the now-useless Aricept without even trying the Namenda. Unfortunately, Alzheimer's is as terminal an illness as cancer. Even if the afflicted person has no other deadly medical issues, the degeneration of the brain *will* eventually kill them. I watched how distressed my mother is/was during those moments when she realizes she's not quite "right", but doesn't know what "right" is. I've lived through her soul-crushing anxiety & the genuine tears she has shed for either a life that never really existed (only in her head) or for friends, neighbors & family who my "real" mom knew had passed but this "new" mom thinks are still alive. I do what I can to keep her physically comfortable & cared for & I give whatever meds that I can to reduce her symptoms (anxiety, tearfulness, etc), but I refuse to give meds like Aricept & Namenda that CANNOT cure the dementia but CAN prolong the amount of time that she is suffering. Totally my opinion & I'm sure there are others here who would disagree. My philosophy, though, is that quality of her life needs to take precedence over the quantity of her life.

Yes, my husband walked around as if under the influence of a narcotic. It was

While Namenda helps my mom, Aricept made her agitated, angry and she slept poorly.

Hi tallpetsitter;
My one thought would be that everyone seems to react differently to these meds. We put my mom on Aricept (early stages of dementia) and she was more confused, worse gait/balance, fell, to the ER, found her sodium to be 118 (normal 135-145) and she spent several weeks in rehab. My point, you know her better than anyone. Can you get her in to see her MD? Could it be a UTI? Those things always seem to set our seniors into a tailspin. What about her sodium level or other metabolic issues? It is like being a medical detective. Good luck and God bless. ntsujimura

Absolutely. My mom only took 1 month and we noticed her decline. As well she is taking Aricept and the memory clinic thought she is now ready to go tandem. She started out with the 7, 14, 21 and finally 28mg dose and that's when all hell broke loose. Mom became more withdrawn, less engaging, balance became progressively worse and her incontinence was out of control. She no longer had the "feeling" to go. We have since taken her off and I am glad to say she is back to her "Normal." Good luck.

My mom has LBD, and she seemed to be getting better on it but now she is declining. Maybe they need to change her dose