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 Date added. 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 loss | The reason for taking the drug was for memory loss. Started with the 5mg and right away very active dreams started. When the dose was increased to 10Mg the dreams intensified and became very physical. I am afraid that I will hurt my wife during the night therefore I am discontinuing using this drug. | The doctor never discussed with the me the nightmares that could occur. | M | 64 | 14 days 10mg 1X day | 11/21/2010 | 5 | none so far,seem to feel better thinking more carely,memory improved | Hope it keep on working!!!! | F | 74 | 5mg 1X day | 10/14/2010 | 5 | I am now 70 years old, 71 next month. I began taking ARICEPT 3 years ago when I felt my memory was beginning to suffer. I have never been happier and more alert and remember everything. I am devastated by the negative reports on this wonderful drug. If I live to 86 and then the "side effects" will show up, I have no problem with that. My memory and functioning now is equivalent to what it was at least 25 years ago, and I am hopeful it will continue. | F | 70 | 3 years 1X day | 9/25/2010 | 4 | following a TIA | none reported | My father was prescibed Aricept by his GP several years ago when my mother complained to his doctor that he had become too "forgetful". He complained of diarrhea and nausea and refused to take the drug after only a few doses. During a follow-up appointment with a neurologist, he was told that his forgetfulness was consistent with his age at the time. About nine months ago, he rather suddenly became withdrawn, very forgetful, spoke very quietly and hesitantly, and had trouble walking. When his condition did not improve, he went through a battery of tests and was eventually diagnosed as having suffered another TIA (years earlier, he was told that MRIs and CT scans showed signs that he'd suffered a TIA...most likely during a triple bypass surgery). He was prescribed a generic for Aricept, and it helped him very quickly. He still suffers from some forgetfulness and, after playing in pinochle and bridge groups for most of his life, decided he could no longer play cards very well and quit these groups. He still has some balance problems and walks with a pronounced shuffle. However, he is more engaged, responsive and talkative on the generic for Aricept. He did not remember having tried Araicept several years earlier, and has not complained of any side effects this time. | M | 84 | 6 months 1X day | 9/15/2010 | 1 | memory loss/dementia | My 86 yr. old mom was given aricept for memory loss. Two days after starting the drug, she started having incredible fears, horendous nightmares, extreme paranoia, and total confusion. She had trouble sleeping at all and had no appetite. She didn't know me (her daughter) most of the time and lost most of her grasp of reality. We discontinued the drug after 2 weeks of hell and since then she has done so much better. She still has some of the same problems, but the fears, nightmare, paranoia have totally disappeared since 3 days after discontinuing the drug. After reading, seeing,hearing many "horror" stories, I would think the drug should be taken off the market!! | BE CAREFUL | F | 62 | 14 days 10 1X day | 9/13/2010 | 1 | Vascular Dementia | Eye pain and visual problems within 12 hours of taking the drug. Diagnosed with a stroke in my eye (Central retinal vein occlusion). Am still undergoing monthly treatment 2.5 years later to save my vision. CRVO is listed as a possible side effect. | Do not know if it would have helped with dementia. | M | 62 | 3 weeks 1X day | 9/3/2010 | 1 | Alzheimers | My mum aged 94 was diagnosed with alzheimers in 2007 and was given aricept even though both she and I were not happy about the drug as we had watched a tv programme about its negative effects on patients she took it for approximately five weeks and her personality changed for the worse she became aggressive and afraid to leave the house and got very upset at the day centre which was completely out of character for her. | Mum stopped taking the aricept after 5 weeks and returned to the way she was before taking it.I am very concerned about the side effects of this drug but some of my relations want Mum to go back to taking it so I am immensely grateful to the contributers of this site for highlighting so many of the negative effects of aricept. Mum is now 97 and seems no worse than when she was first diagnosed back in 2007 and I feel sure is alive and well today thanks to stopping taking aricept before it did lasting damage. She has been taking a homeopathic remedy (lycopodium)for the past two years which seems to have stopped her condition from getting any worse. | F | 97 | 35 days 5mg 1X day | 8/13/2010 | 3 | Memory loss from mild TBI with PCS | Apathy, depression, and severe post-op anxiety following surgery with general anesthesia while on aricept. | Aricept helped with some head injury symptoms such as light sensitivity. It helped me stay on task and not 'zone out' as much, and improved my ability to remember conversations. Aricept was helpful in some ways, but due to how horrible the post-op anxiety was, I decided to discontinue it because if I ever needed emergency surgery again, I would not chance being on aricept at the same time. | F | 24 | 2 years 5 1X day | 8/3/2010 | 1 | Alzheimer's | nausea, diarrhea, headache, agitation,confusion, loss of appetite, fatigue | My mother started on Aricept 5mg in March of 2010. She is 81 and just recently diagnosed with advance Alzheimer's. There didn't seem to be any side effects. It was increased to 10mg in April of 2010 and within a few days she started not feeling well. We thought it was the flu and called the neuro and he suggested to wait 2 more weeks to see if this was due to another issue. She has gotten progressively worse and now after reading a lot of these reponses, I know for sure she needs to get off of this drug or at least go back to 5mg. | F | 57 | 2 months 10 mg 1X day | 6/1/2010 | 1 | some memory loss | depression, nausea, loss of appetite, fuzzy head | My mother was prescribed aricept because she was experiencing some memory loss. Her whole personality changed and she spoke of wanting to die. She had no appetite and lost her enjoyment of life. After several months on aricept she was struck with macular degeneration and has lost her eyesight except for peripherally. I haven't found any links between aricept and macular degeneration but I am wondering if anyone else has experienced that. My sisters and I finally demanded that she be taken off of aricept and she became her old self again except for her vision loss, which remains. | F | 90 | 4 months 5-10mg 1X day | 5/23/2010 | 1 | Alleged Memory Loss | Headache every day, nausea every day, listlessness every day, depression every day, confusion every day -- acting and speaking bizarrely according to my family. | Since I stopped taking Aricept one month ago, all the symptoms mention have gone away completely. My family says I am no long acting or speaking strangely. I wouldn't recommend this medication! | F | 70 | 4 months 30 mg 1X day | 5/19/2010 | 1 | for dementia | Nausea, confusion, can't walk, anger, frustration | M | 65 | 60 days 10mg 1X day | 5/12/2010 | 5 | short term memory loss | none noticed | my husband was started on Aricept when he began asking me the same questions within 5 minutes. We were frequently having the same conversation. I think it has done wonders for him as he immediately showed improvement and has only shown slight decline since then. He is still very active, stays mentallly alert by studying and teaching. He will get confused if we are in a new location and has some perceptual/problem solving difficulties | M | 79 | 7 years 10 mg 1X day | 4/9/2010 | 1 | Memory loss | I'm writing this for my 90 year old mother. She has suffered severe anxiety (sense of "doom"), loss of appetite, very weak, shortness of breath, dizziness, sleeping a lot, muscle ache, stomach soreness. | My mother was given Aricept while in a rehab center after a fall and leg fracture. Mom always has these episodes when in hospitals, etc., of not knowing where she is, getting upset, etc. but always recovers when back home. Don't know why dr. felt she needed this. Was "ok" on 5 mg in rehab ctr but when she got home 3 weeks ago dr. upped it to 10 mg. She started with MAJOR anxiety (woke up during middle of night with fear and shaking). I took it in my own hands and cut her down to 5 mg. 3 days ago. Anxiety stopped immediately! BUT...she is still very weak and short of breath and fills up after eating practically nothing! After reading here how others are also suffering same things, I think she needs to be OFF it NOW! Starting tomorrow we'll be stopping it and getting Mom back to herself! I hope it's not too late. This is a NASTY drug!!! | F | 90 | 45 days 10 mg 1X day | 4/7/2010 | 1 | Alzheimers | Nausea, dizziness, exhaustion, weakness especially in legs. | My mom is pretty healthy for her age, really a vibrant person. I have never seen her look the way she did after she had been on Aricept for a week. She was sickly, pale, droopy, depressed, tired, and dispirited. She was nauseated and dizzy. Her incontinence worsened. Her legs got so weak after a week that she required assistance walking and we wondered if she'd had a mini-stroke. (Testing the same day showed that she had not.) Aricept is POISON and I feel extremely guilty that I did not research this medication before allowing her to go through this ordeal. Now I'm suspecting that Aricept may be one of the reasons that my dad got so much worse so quickly after he started taking it 10 years ago for Alzheimers. It makes the life just drain out of a person. | F | 85 | 8 days 5 mg 1X day | 4/1/2010 | 1 | Possible Alzheimers | lethargy, confrontational, seeing things that were not there, hiding things, child-like behavior, skyrocketing blood pressure, unstable blood sugar, terrible anxiety | Took my 82 yr old Mom off Aricept. As half-life of drug is 70 hours, true enough, all her values improved steadily. Skyrocketing blood pressure of 162/104 was considerably better within 3 days! Tonight, just one day shy of a week, she walked into the kitchen and asked her husband how she could help with dinner! She had previously been zombie-like! | F | 82 | 2 days 5mg-10mg 1X day | 2/24/2010 | 1 | mild forgetfulness ? | Really MADE me feel crazy and my head felt big-- | Would want a situation where I did not know I was taking it to repeat this experience! Terrible feeling. | F | 69 | 12 days 10mg 1X day | 2/5/2010 | 2 | some memory loss | insomnia and nightmares, | I do have parkinson and hypertion | M | 65 | | 2/3/2010 | 1 | F | 79 | 3 years | 1/22/2010 | 3 | Memory Loss due to Head Injuries | -Very- vivid dreams. No nausea or vomiting. | Greetings. I'm a 33 yr old man, in great shape, but have suffered a number of head injuries in the past due to my occupation, military background and sports. I am suffering from memory loss, which seems to get progressively worse every year. My neurologist gave me some Aricept, and I took my first dose last night. I did not suffer any nausea or vomiting, although I did have -very- vivid dreams. This was not mentioned in the side effects; they were not nightmares, and I was aware that I was dreaming, but they were usually vivid, and seemed to last the entire night. Hope that this helps. Regards, - J | M | 33 | 1 days | 12/30/2009 |