ARICEPT Reviews (DONEPEZIL HYDROCHLORIDE)Average Rating: 1.7 (210 Ratings)Filter ResultsCompare ARICEPT with similar:
Type: Rx Drug
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Results are sorted by Satisfaction lowest to highest. Key to Ratings: 1=LOW (I would not recommend taking this medicine.) |
More on ARICEPT: Reviews Summary | Drug Safety Information
| RATING | REASON | SIDE EFFECTS FOR ARICEPT | COMMENTS | SEX | AGE | DURATION/ DOSAGE | DATE ADDED |
| 1 | Memory problems...no diagnosis | I stopped talking this drug.after a few weeks. | More problems with this drug than benefits. | F | 74 | 1 months 1 tab 1X day | 11/16/2023 | 1 | My husband - mid stage dementia | Became non verbal, dramatically deceased appetite, diarrhea, incontinence, serious overall decline resulting in hospice care | After the drug was discontinued, and it cleared his system, the symptoms resolved as dramatically as they appeared. Seems to me our cultural fear of dying is causing folks to seek false hope. I wouldn't recommend donezipil to anyone. | 90 | 6 weeks 10 1X day | 1/10/2023 | 1 | Alzheimer's/dementia | Horrible Sundowners, Jekyll and Hyde personality. Aggressive behavior with raised fists, increased delusions. Almost all gone a month after terminating medication slowly | M | 86 | 3 years 10 mg | 1/16/2022 | 1 | Mom took it for severe dementia | Extreme nausea dizziness vomiting loss of appetite loopy leg cramping disorientation puffy face | It should be recommended that people take half dose as this drug is strong. After 12 hours she still feels out of it. | F | 78 | 1 days 1X day | 9/6/2020 | 1 | Alzheimer’s | I would recommend Saffron in place of this with GDP-choline. Also look into Dr. Dale Bresdehan’s work. | F | 80 | 2 days | 6/28/2019 | 1 | memory loss | High production value, intensely extravagant colorful dreams/nightmares -- | wake up reliving powerful experiences -- daytime artifacts such as animated figures, semi haucinations -- weakness, loss of ambition, general malaise. Scary drug! Generic Donepezll | M | 78 | 2 days 10 1X day | 3/24/2018 | 1 | DX AD but was just senile dementia | my mom went from having memory problems but still living alone/driving/self care, to becoming withdrawn, out of it, nonverbal, soon after this medication was started. | mom was living alone at home, driving, etc, and because of gradually worsening memory, had been diagnosed with Alzheimers and prescribed Aricept. she soon began losing her cognitive abilities.I didn't think the medication caused it because i thought that this was her illness, rapidly progressive. But it was odd, how much she changed. i prepared to institutionalize her, she was helpless. We went to assisted living places to interview. The owner of one was an RN. She was talking in general about dementia. in passing she said "sometimes the medications they give for dementia can cause the symptoms they are supposed to treat." I thought, "Bingo." if not for the complete fluke of this woman saying this in passing, i would have institutionalized my mom at 85. i called her doctor & said i was stopping the medication. Within 2 or 3 days of stopping the medication, she was becoming her old self again, her functioning returned to previous level. After that, for the next 4 years, she had part time in home help, she enjoyed her normal home life, going out with friends, watching TV, reading the paper, going to church, beauty shop, microwaving dinners at night, no weight loss, until 4 years later at age 89, she began going downhill fast and went into skilled nursing dementia unit for the next 9 years, dying at 98 of old age. she did not die of AD. toxic meds would have shortened her life and ruined the quality. | F | 85 | 3 weeks 1X day | 5/15/2017 | 1 | Dementia | Extreme nausea, dizziness, seizure like feelings, almost ready to pass out, stomach pains. | This is a dreadful medication just speaking from my personal experience. The very first day I took it I was so sick with nausea, stomach pains, dizziness, feeling of ready to pass out and feeling like I was going to have a seizure all day long. I couldn't even think, I was in so much destress. I stopped taking it and it took me three days to get this out of my system. My stomach hurt so badly I thought I had been poisoned. And my kidneys hurt. Please read the side effects before considering taking this drug. | F | 71 | 2 days 5mg 1X day | 4/23/2017 | 1 | Memory problems | Mom was taking this drug for 3 months. This was described by a psychiatrist/md. She got sick and had to take other antibiotics to get to feel well, but dr wanted the AL to cut off aricept till other meds were taken. I noticed that my mom was a little better. Then after antibiotics were finished, they started the aricept back up I came to AL to check on her, found her sitting on toilet with extreme diarrhea and totally dislusonal and confused on how to clean herself up. Needless to say I called dr to have this crap not to be given to her again. | Stay away | F | 89 | 3 months 5 mg | 4/11/2017 | 1 | Mother has dementia | She took it 1 week and it got her more confused and told me her head made her disoriented and did not feel right..she says never again..she is on another one that is going well for her. | F | 86 | 1 weeks | 3/27/2017 | 1 | alzhimers | Extremely disoriented, dizzy, nuaseated, stomach and leg cramps. | F | 73 | 14 days 5 mg 1X day | 3/23/2017 | 1 | Cognitive | My father is taking this thing of horrid pill and he's much worse, I could see a decline within the first few days he went from being able to have a conversation which was more switched on to bring confused & vacant! So it made him much worse but when we complained about it at the memory clinic they were still persistent that he stay on it, now he's having blood pressure probs which can be a fatal syndrome side affect to this drug.. it does not suit everyone so now he's very unwell at the moment feeling fainty so I'm insisting he comes off it as a trial run to see if he's much better within 5 days - hate this drug it turns them into a zombie duscusting what tge medical world are doing to older ppl definately seen a decline in my father nothing positive to say about donopezil and the worse thing about it NO ONE LISTENS !!!!! | Duscusting! | M | 1 days 5 mg | 3/11/2017 | 1 | Started early in mild memory loss- | Length 19 days estimate- from a functional adult to nonfunctional as if a switch was flipped to psychotic, vacant personality, loss of bladder control, speech and movements slowed, not knowing where he was, agitation, fixating on numbers and colors, and that batteries would start fire in house, electrical problems in house, was handling bank account | Unable to change length of time, also aggressive behavior scattered in. Definitely a puzzle Week of onset he repeated " I don't understand what is happening to my brain." Would like to hear from others with similar experience | M | 77 | 1 days 5 mg | 1/29/2017 | 1 | Alzheimers | This was prescribed to my Mother a week ago. Within 24 hours she began horrible delusions, thinking she was 18 or 19 years old. Insisted on calling her Mom who died 15 years ago. No longer knew who I was or where she was. Tonight will be her last dosage. | My Mom is entering the final stages of Alzheimer's. At this point I feel quality of life is more important. | F | 79 | 7 days 10 mg | 12/8/2016 | 1 | Progressive Dementia | confusion, disorientation, appetite loss, weight loss, daytime somnolence, vestibular dysfunction (loss of hearing and balance), daily nightmares, general malaise/sense of not feeling well, could not recognize family members, spikes in blood pressure | Starting my father on this drug was nearly catastrophic. His primary care physician started him on it on 8/3/16 with the intent to slow the progression of dementia. Prior to starting this medication, my dad could carry on conversations in person and by phone, was able to walk unassisted and had a sufficient appetite. Within 3-4 weeks of taking this medication, his life began to completely unravel. He was unable to communicate verbally, he had nightmares every day, he began to sleep all day and not care about life at all. He started to have difficulty walking with balance and was at risk of falling down flights of stairs in his home (which never happened before). He experienced significant weight loss. His Primary Care Doctor who started him on this medication had NO FOLLOW UP APPOINTMENT or LAB EVALUATION planned or scheduled. I am a Pediatrician, and took control of my father's care. I informed his PCP of the side effects, informed him that he did not appropriately follow my dad after starting this medication, and that I was discontinuing it. He saw his new doctor 2 days later who immediately admitted him to our local hospital. Their evaluation showed that he had a blood pressure of 200/90 despite being on several blood pressure medications and that he was completely confused, and disoriented. He has been off Aricept completely now for 5 days and we are starting to see an improvement. This drug has an unusually long half life and requires 70 hours to start being | M | 39 | 2 months 10mg 1X day | 10/3/2016 | 1 | Memory issues | Extreme sweating, heart palpitations, cramping of legs fingers and toes, episodes of complete incontinence. There were no changes in memory, personality or mood. Talked to the doctor and discontinued use. I would rather not even know who I am than take this drug. | F | 70 | 10 days 10 MG | 9/3/2016 | 1 | Mild memory impairment | No change noted related to memory. Decreased appetite, loss of taste, sleeping frequently, itchy over entire body, no energy, weight loss. Dr. checked labs and liver enzymes were in the 300's, worsening of kidney function on labs, slight anemia. All labs were within normal range before taking Aricept. | M | 74 | 3 months 10 mg 1X day | 6/26/2016 | 1 | my husband | when increasing from 5 mg to 10 mg - terrible results - confusion, sleepiness, increased dementia | M | 73 | 10mg 1X day | 6/2/2016 | 1 | The person who made comment number 4 must have close ties to the pharmaceutical companies or is just too out of it to be taking care of anyone. Did you not read that the patients' condition worsened extremely while on the drug and then improved when off the drug? How's that "worth a try"? You know what works for many? Coconut oil Two tablespoons per day and has many other health benefits including maintaining healthy cholesterol levels. You can easily research it and that's worth a try. I know folks who took Aracept and it was a nightmare. | 1 days | 3/13/2016 | 1 | dementia | Extreme confusion, not sleeping at night, sleeping into the afternoon, refusal to get up in the morning, not eating, very repetitive, worsened memory problems. | My mother was prescribed 5 mg of donepezil which is generic aricept 7 or 9 years ago. She was fine on it, driving and functioning normally but forgetful. Last month she was complaining of being dizzy and tired which are both side effects but I thought she should see a doctor. Her doctor did a quick memory test which she failed so he increased her dosage to 10mg After a couple of weeks she began acting strangely and her behavior began to get worse. She wasn't sleeping at night or getting herself up in the morning. She started to forget who I am at times and where she is and how she got here. I had a feeling it might be side effects so I asked the doctor if we can decrease her dosage to 5 mg and he said yes. The following day she got herself up for the first time in weeks. She had some confusion during the day but nothing compared to what she was like on 10 mg. She saw the doctor yesterday and he took her completely off of it. She still experiences some confusion but she recognizes that it is confusion and it passes. I am able to leave her alone in the other room for the first time in weeks. I hope to see more positive changes as her body adjusts to not being on this drug. These past two weeks have been a nightmare. I finally feel like I have my mother back with me. | F | 75 | 1 months 10 mg 1X day | 2/23/2016 |
ARICEPT (DONEPEZIL HYDROCHLORIDE): Donepezil is used to treat confusion (dementia) related to Alzheimer's disease. It does not cure Alzheimer's disease, but it may improve memory, awareness, and the ability to function. This medication is an enzyme blocker that works by restoring the balance of natural substances (neurotransmitters) in the brain. FDA Approval Date: 1996-11-25 (Sources: U.S. Centers for Medicare Services, FDA)