I've taken care of my mom for several years in her home and then she moved in with me. I finally had to put her in a nursing home in June and she is actually doing pretty good. Mom has been on Namenda - 10mg twice a day and Galantamine Hydrobromide 24mg for her memory for several years. She was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease and has been taking these meds for several years and has done pretty well with them. The doctor from the home said that studies show that Namenda doesn't really do anything for the patient so he is taking all residents off of it. Can I insist that my mom be left on it? Is there anything I can do about this order the doctor is doing? My mom's doctor that she had for several years before going into the home believed in Namenda and said that it kept the disease from progressing quickly. Please, can anyone give me some advice.
Anybody know for sure?
Neither is shown to change the progression of Alzheimer's. However I have read stories on this site about what occurs when stopping these medications. And they run the gamut. Everything from definite improvement to a very rapid decline. It largely depends on the physiology of the one taking the medication. Once you have met a person with Alzheimer's you have met a person with Alzheimer's.
At the top of this page, there's often an ad for Namenda XR. Right in the orange banner, it says the following:
"There is no evidence that NAMENDA XR prevents or slows the underlying disease process in patients with Alzheimer's disease."
Why are doctors prescribing it like popcorn?
http://www.fda.gov/downloads/Drugs/DrugSafety/DrugShortages/UCM386064.pdf
Namenda did not help my mom, so I'm not saying that it actually does work, I'm just saying that she didn't have a problem. As with all medications, some people have side effects, others don't.
Also, there are so many studies around, until there's one that truly conclusive, if you think this helps, I'd just start by talking to the doctor at the nursing home about this, first, to see if he'll just leave her on it. If he won't, then find another doctor outside the nursing home, maybe her old doctor, to talk to him.
If it's not hurting her and if you think it's helping her, put this to him nicely and ask if this study is so conclusive and he's so sure about this and, sometimes, a doctor will go along with something that "does no harm." I'd do this in-person, though.
That is what my husband's neurologist always said about his drugs. "I can't say for sure if this drug is still effective, but he is doing so well I am afraid to rock the boat."
If that is how you feel about it, then advocate for continuing the drug.
Some drugs are probably not worth prescribing on the very small chance that they might help. But if you happen to be one of the patients in the "very small chance" group it would be a shame to stop now (in my opinion).
I give this doctor credit for keeping up with research and not just putting someone on a popular drug and never reconsidering. He is not a villain. But I think I would have opposed him for my husband.
Me? I say good riddance.
Why not take a wait-and-see approach? The nursing home put mom on Namenda ten days before she left rehab. She had awful sleep disturbances. Vivid dreams...not pleasant ones...and, I'll be darned, if she didn't sound like Linda Blair some of the time as she talked in her sleep. Stopped the Namenda after I did some research on it, and three days later, she was normal. No middle-of-the-night wake-ups...no vivid and vocal dreaming.
Dr. Peter Rabins, Johns Hopkins, says:
"However, colleagues whose opinions I value feel that a drug such as Namenda offers false hope and the benefit is so minimal that it should not be used unless family members feel strongly that they want to try it with their loved one."
johnshopkinshealthalerts/alerts/memory/Namenda-effectiveness-Alzheimers_5958-1.html