My mother is 87 yo, female has been on aricept for approx. 2 yrs she is hallucinated seeing people?

25 May 2010

Hallucinations have been reported as a side-effect of Aricept.
See: http://www.drugs.com/sfx/aricept-side-effects.html

It's difficult to know if your mothers hallucinations are because of dementia or the Aricept.

27 Aug 2010

My 49 year-old sister has Downs syndrome and was diagnosed with Alzheimers about 18 months ago. She has been relatively functional despite both conditions. Her doctor added 5mg Aricept to her meds about 2 weeks ago. About 10 days after taking the drug she began to behave very strangely. She slept almost non-stop for 2 days, then could not go to sleep for the next day or so. She has suddenly started having hallucinations, talking to people who are not there, showing signs of mild aggression and could not recognize people. None of these behaviors are normal for her. After contacting the doctor we ceased the medication and we are waiting for the effects to diminish and return her to her prior state. We are seeing signs of improvement but the hallucinations are not gone. We are now past the half-life of the medication and expect continued improvement based on the experiences of others who stopped the medication.