Comparing Donepezil vs Namenda XR

For Alzheimer's Disease: My wife has taken Donepezil (first 5mg then after a year 10mg) for some three years. Initially her Folstein MMS score was 28/30 and is now 17/30. She has no apparent side effects. I cannot tell what my wife would be like without it - now her forgetfulness is almost instantaneous and she is now incapable of independent living.

For Alzheimer's Disease: My first experience with Donepezil 10mg was nasty, It affected my sleep in a bad way and made my memory, speech and basic cognitive functions worse and I was continuously lethargic. After 2 months on the drug I can honestly say I feel a huge difference (for the better). There is a big improvement in both my memory and speech and it's really made a difference in my day to day life and daily tasks .

For Alzheimer's Disease: My wife began the 4 stage process a couple of months ago, and I stopped it halfway through week 2 because she seemed to be getting more confused. We started again a month ago and are into the 2nd full dose, and I am very concerned that her condition is worse instead of better.

For Alzheimer's Disease: My mother was on this for several years when she lived alone. She had increasing anxiety over time to the point of not being suitable to go to a restaurant. I asked her to go off it for a while. The difference in her anxiety off this medication was astounding. She went back on this medication fearing her dementia was worsening off of it. The family physician prescribed Trazadone to counteract the anxiety. Over a two month period her decline was extremely marked. She did not have anxiety but had a huge decline in memory and personality. She is now off of both meds. and has very low anxiety. However, it looks like the decline in memory is permanent. Her psychiatrist told us long ago that these medications do nothing and have some pretty severe side effects.