Aricept
Started by mjl1717
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Are you saying that inhibiting the enzyme acetylcholinesterase is not helpful to the elderly?
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I'm saying that the drug is slightly superior to placebo in particular cognitive tests, but is basically a placebo in actual patient-relevant outcomes such as self-reported and caregiver-reported performance and quality of life. The idea that you are going to significantly affect a disease that causes widespread neurodegeneration by tweaking synaptic acetylcholine is also pretty dumbfounding.
People give it because a) drug companies tell them to, and b) doctors often don't deal well with the conversation that "no, this disease really is incurable and there really isn't anything you can do to slow it down".
Interestingly enough I always caught flack during residency for not placing a lot of these patients on any meds. They cause a lot of side effects and they don't really help all that much if at all like you say. A lot of docs put people on it just to feel like they're doing something, I guess. Worse is when they start combining dementia drugs/treatments.
Thanks guys!! The entire topic decreased cognition and dementia. And how corona virus typically and atypically effects the elderly is morbid and sad.
I have not yet seen a patient or family reporting any improvement with donepezil, memantine or rivastigmine short or long term, low or high doses. But my sample size may be small.
