Tru here.  I have been asked about meds often enough that i thought i should just put it in blog page that i can share, instead of re-writing it every time.  But remember only medical personnel can give recommendations, all the rest of us can only tell our own personal story.

CORRECTION:  Discovered that i incorrectly called my cognitive medication “ambien” (a medication i took 20yrs ago for insomnia).  Now made corrections to show cognitive medication as “aricept”, which is current medication.  Imagine making error of words for person, place, or thing, LOL !!

COGNITIVE symptoms (along with hallucinations and recognition of loved-ones):

Namenda was not helpful to me at all.  Stopped after three months.

Like many meds, aricept can be very helpful for one person — but disaster for another.

For myself, aricept in the MORNING continues to help decrease my hallucinations & increase recognition of who my husband is. But most of us who are successful with aricept take it in MORNING rather than evening. Very small 5mg dosage was almost miraculous first 9 months, then the extra cognitive boost decreased, but beneficial effect on my hallucinations and recognition continued.

When those symptoms further progressed and became more unmanagable about 4yrs later, neurologist increased dosage to the standard “beginning” dosage of 10mg, and that is still my dosage now (2yrs after increase).

Even with reduced dosage, aricept side-effects were very severe for me.  extreme nausia that lasted not just an hour or two but all day.  extreme insomnia, my restless legs were much more active.  … and instead of decreasing, side effects seemed cumulative the first few days.  My niece works in neurology office, and she encouraged me to try to endure a month.  she was certain it would help me.  i was getting desperate when someone suggested taking dosage in morning instead of night, then someone else suggested separating dosage to 1/2 morning, and 1/2 night.  Pharmacist agreed that should not be a problem.

One half dosage in morning, and one-half at night is what got me thru that first month.  And i was so very very glad i persisted.  Within a few months, i switched to taking full dosage in mornings with ease.  Like i said, very small 5mg dosage was almost miraculous first 9 months, then the extra cognitive boost decreased, but beneficial effect on my hallucinations and recognition continued.

INSOMNIA symptoms:

At night i take 500 mcg melatonin (over-the-counter) to fall asleep, and trazodone to stay asleep. (recently increased melatonin from 300mcg to 500 — after about 5yrs at lower dosage).

With trazodone, as with aricept, 1/2 recommended dosage met my needs for several years before needing to increase dosage. 

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Remember the importance of “Best Practices” at https://truthfulkindness.com/2016/03/23/sleep-problems-again/ ;

But this is just my personal story, and remember everyone is different.

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VERTIGO

Also i keep meclizine on hand, because my bouts with vertigo  usually last about 10 days each.  Vertigo is often associated with vascular dementia, but can also be a “parkinsonism” (common with both Lewy-Body and Fronto-Temporal dementias). >> https://www.neurocenternj.com/blog/the-link-between-dementia-and-vertigo/ .

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Many of us use CBD and/or THC for dementia symptoms.  LINKS:

from Medical News Today >> https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/325871#takeaway ;

from HealthLine >> https://www.healthline.com/health/alzheimers/cbd-for-alzheimers ;

2010 study >> https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4033945/ ;

2019 study >> https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34676334/ ;

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