Because I am a psychiatric nurse practitioner I can tell you that the replies are correct it just slows down the disease. Exelon is good but Aricept is the best along with namenda. Neither of these two will stop the delusions however. You need an antipsychotic for that.
Geodon is an antipsychotic and a mood stabilizer as well as a bit of an antidepressant. With any antipsychotic you run the risk of a stroke in the elderly, so be sure they are also taking a baby aspirin. Since I believe quality is better than quantity of life I believe antipsychotics are beneficial when behavioral problems start happening.
Even with all my knowledge about the issues it is much easier to treat and comment on individuals who are not my spouse.
I have a husband with multi infarct dementia and it is a hard and lonely road at times. Family either chooses to not notice the changes or better yet just let me deal with it and stay away. I am looking forward to having some support with my issues. Thanks for listening.

Thanks Coo1947,
My brother is on Namenda and Exelon, we havn't seen much difference but that might be because it is working I guess.

He recently started delusions, he thought he walked from IL to CA last week and saw his ex-wife. I guess it's time to get him back to the doctor.

Thanks again,
Annie

My Mom started using the Exelon patch 2 weeks ago. She also takes Namenda. The doctor took her off Aricept when she put her on the patches. I'm not sure of the dosage of her patch, but I will be checking on that this weekend. Here are my observations. I saw her on her 3rd day of using the patch, and I noticed some positive results immediately.

- Two weeks in a row she has been dressed and ready to go when I arrive at 1:00 pm. Usually she would be sound asleep when I arrived.
- She seemed to follow conversations better, and would join in with her own comments.
- She is attempting to do more things on her own, even though she isn't able to carry out those functions. At least she is showing an interest now.

This has nothing to do with the patch, but I thought I'd throw it out there since someone in a previous post mentioned "meanness". In my Mom's case, we have noticed a pattern associated with her episodes of meanness. Everytime it happens it turns out that she has a urinary tract infection. As soon as we take her to the doctor, he confirms that she has one, puts her on anti-biotics, and within days her moods have returned to normal.

Hello,
My mother was diagnosed in January and started the Excelon patch. She progressed to the moderate to severe stage so rapidly that the doctor put her on Namenda three weeks ago. So far, she doesn't seem to be getting any worse, and she is sleeping through the night. That is a BIG improvement. I have not seen any side effects as yet. Hang in there!

My dad has been on the Excelon Patch for about a year and a new doctor has also put him on Namenda about 2 weeks ago. My mom thinks his confusion has gotten worse. Also, more dramatic, he has extreme tiredness during the day and sleeplessness at night. He has been having those two problems for some time but the Namenda or the combination of the two drugs seem to be making it worse.

My grandfather has recently been diagnosed with Alzheimers, I am not sure what state he is at but my boyfriend told me about the Exelon patch that his MawMaw was on a few years ago. I was curious if anyone knows any websites where I can see their clinical trials and how well this patch has been from others. I am also curious, I have read some about it and saw that there was a patch and a pill form...? Is this true and which has had better results?