Net Wellness Tips

Posts Tagged ‘alzheimers’

Four of The Most Commonly Used Alzheimers Disease Medications

One of the main things to remember before taking any of these Alzheimers medications, is to tell your doctor about any other medication that you are currently taking, and any other health problems that you may have.

Namenda
Namenda, this is one of the newest drugs to be given to people who suffer with Alzheimers disease. The way that this drug works, is that it helps to regulate the activity of Glutamate in the brain. What Glutamate does is to help us with our learning and memory skills, but if we have too much Glutamate in our brain, then it can attack our nerve cells. Research has shown that taking Namenda can slow this effect down. The results proved that on some Alzheimer patients there was slight improvement.

Dosage
Namenda comes in tablet or liquid form. dosage starts at 5mg once a day, if you don’t suffer with any side effects within 2 weeks, it will be upped to 10mg a day. It can then be upped every 2 weeks until you are taking 10mg twice a day.

Side Effects
Constipation, headaches, confusion and dizziness.

Cognex
Cognex is a acetylcholinesterase inhibitor. Cognex works by breaking down acetylcholine in the brain. Acetylcholine helps many of our brain functions such as, reason, language, memory and attention. If we don’t make enough ecetylcholine this is when we show signs and symptoms of alzheimers disease. This drug has been proved as being one of the most effective alzheimers disease medications.

Dosage
Cognex comes in a capsule form. Your doctor will start you on 10mg 4 times a day. If no side effects are shown within 4 weeks, the doctor will increase dosage to 40mg 4 times daily.

Side Effects
Dizziness, nausea, high liver enzymes and diarrhea.

Exelon
What exelon does is that it postpones the progression of alzheimers disease symptoms for 6-12months. Acetylcholine is a chemical in our brain, which helps to send messages between brain and cells. People with alzheimers disease have less acetylcholine in their brains, so exelon is given to try and increase this. This in turn will help to slow the rate of decline, or sometimes even improve the person’s level of brain function.

Dosage
Exelon comes in capsule, patch or liquid form. Capsules and liquid starts at 1.5mg twice a day. If no side effects are seen within 2 weeks, it will be increased by 3mg a day, and so on until your taking 6mg twice a day. The patch form is 4.6mg and is worn one a day for 4 weeks. if no side effects are detected, it will be increased to 9.5 patch one a day.

Side Effects
Nausea, diarrhea, increased bowel movement, vomiting, muscle weakness, loss of appetite, weight loss, dizziness, drowsiness and upset stomach.

Aricept
Acetycholine plays a key role in our memory and learning. It is found that a person who suffers with Alzheimers disease, has less acetycholine, which then starts to affect their memory and learning skills. What aricept does is that it postpones the progression of Alzheimers disease symptoms for 6-12 month, in about half the people who take it.Although. this is one of the most used of the Alzheimers disease medications, it will not work for everyone.

Dosage
Aricept comes in a tablet or a oral disintegrating tablet.Dosage will begin at 5mg. If no side effects are seen after 6 weeks, it is increased to 10mg.

Side Effects
Nausea, diarrhea, increased bowel movements, vomiting, bruising, sleep disturbance, muscle cramp, loss of appetite, fatigue and fainting.

At the present time these are some of the most commonly used Alzheimers disease medications. However research is being carried out all the time

if you or someone you know is suffering from alzheimers then visit us for more alzheimers help

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Joanne_Taylor