This post is for those that are just starting to try to learn what Alzheimer’s is all about and also for those of you who are either about to start taking an Alzheimer’s drug or are a caregiver for someone about to start taking a new drug.
I think that most people lucky enough to avoid dealing with Alzheimer’s themselves or with a loved one may not understand that the current commonly prescribed Alzheimer’s drugs (Aricept, Razadyne, Memantine and Exelon) may not work the way they would normally expect.
Before mom started taking one of the drugs, I always thought of drugs as either curing you or at least having a noticeable improvement. If you get a headache, you take an aspirin and the headache goes away. If you have high cholesterol, you take medication and your cholesterol level improves. It was easy to see whether they were working or not.
Alzheimer’s drugs are a little different. The best the current drugs can do is slow down the decline from Alzheimer’s. When the drug works as it’s designed, you won’t see the symptoms go away and the patient return to their old self. You may, depending on the rate of decline, see a slowing of the decline. This is the part that’s hard for a lot of people to get their head around. Even when the drug works, it can be difficult to know that it is working.
Mom was a good example of this. Her rate of decline was very slow. When she started on one of the drugs, I couldn’t really tell if it was helping since her decline was so slow anyway.
If you or a loved one is at the point where the drugs can help, this is just something to be aware of. There is a lot of evidence that these drugs work, it’s just not always obvious when they do.
Yes, we're trying my mom on this huperzine A Chinese moss stuff, and my dad thinks we shouldn't bother continuing because Mom is still declining. I pointed out that maybe it is slowing down the decline. But, how can we really know if it is helping?
Posted by: Karma | August 04, 2006 at 11:03 AM