My mother has stage 6 Alz and acts afraid and anxious most of the time. The doctors say that the two prescriptions she takes, Aricept and Namenda, may or may not be keeping the symptoms at bay. It seems almost cruel at times to keep her on these meds to prolong her life when she really has no quality of life anymore. She doesn't know her family. Has anyone had to make the decision to discontinue the meds?
This is a very unfair disease!
How do you know if it's helping or not? I hate to take my mom off the drugs since I don't know if she'll get worse.
God Bless you and hugs for you as a caregiver, it is a really hard job.
I expect that upon the conclusion of the trial you will be advised that since the drug is apparently not working now you can discontinue it. If there are unpleasant side effects you could ask to leave the trial now, but if it seems just neutral -- not helping but not hurting either -- it is probably a good thing to stick with it for research purposes.
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