My name is Bob DeMarco, I am an Alzheimer’s caregiver. My mother Dorothy, now 93 years old, suffers from Alzheimer’s disease. A year ago, my mother’s Alzheimer’s disease started to worsen. As a result, I was both concerned and worried. At the same time, I read a new research study about the combination of Aricept and Namenda as a treatment for Alzheimer’s disease. “The results of this study should change the way we treat patients with Alzheimer’s disease. Cholinesterase inhibitors are approved for use in mild to moderate dementia, while memantine has been approved for advanced dementia. But it looks like there is an advantage in prescribing both drugs as initial treatment.”–> John Growdon The results of the research study indicated that the combination of Aricept and Namenda helped slow the rate of decline in Alzheimer’s patients. I immediately scheduled an appointment with our doctor to discuss this information. Our doctor was familiar with the research, and he agree to put my mother on Namenda in a combination with Aricept. One year later, it is my belief that the combination Aricept and Namenda has slowed the progression of Alzheimer’s. We were fortunate, and my mother did not suffer any side effects as the result of the addition of Namenda in her drug regimen. Subscribe to The Alzheimer’s Reading Room–via email Information extracted from the journal article, my notes, and various outside sources. Finding something that could actually modify the course of the disease is the Holy Grail of Alzheimer’s treatment, but we really don’t know if that is happening or what the mechanism behind these effects might be,” Alireza Atri explains. “What we can say now is that providers should help patients understand that the benefits of these drugs are long term and may not be apparent in the first months of treatment. Even if a patient’s symptoms get worse, that doesn’t mean the drug isn’t working, since the decline probably would have been much greater without therapy.” Researchers at the Massachusetts General Hospital Memory Disorders Unit report in the journal Alzheimer Disease and Associated Disorders that combining two types of Alzheimer’s drugs works better than giving none or one of the drugs alone to slow cognitive and functional decline

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