Your clinician will need to know your family and personal medical and psychiatric histories, other medications you are taking and your current activities. Medication interactions are an important consideration, so be sure to inform your clinician of every medication you take, including over-the-counter medications and herbal remedies. Your activities are important because certain medications may make it harder for you to carry them out safely.

with most medications, your clinician will need to know about your family and personal medical history, other medications you are on and your occupation and hobbies. A thorough family history is important in helping select the best medication and dosage level. Medication interactions are an important consideration, so be sure to inform your clinician of every medication you take, including over-the-counter and herbal remedies.

The choice of a specific medication is something for you and your clinician to decide, based on a number of factors. In general, FDA-approved cholinesterase inhibitors are tried first, and more than one of them may be tried before moving to other classes of medications. How much you benefit and how well you tolerate a medication are important in deciding whether to continue that medication or switch to another medication.

Keeping a current week's supply in a plastic container divided into daily compartments can help you remember to take your medication on schedule. The rest should be stored in the original prescription containers, away from sources of heat or moisture and out of contact with direct sunlight. Do not store Alzheimer's disease medication in the bathroom medicine cabinet where heat and moisture may cause it to break down.

If cholinesterase inhibitors have a beneficial effect, they should usually be continued long-term. Unfortunately, when effective cholinesterase inhibitors have been discontinued, the underlying Alzheimer's disease appears to have been smoldering along under the cover of the effective medication. Without that effective medication, rapid deterioration often occurs. Benefits of continued cholinesterase inhibitor treatment have been observed for as long as several years in some patients.

Elderly individuals often have medical problems and this is true for most patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD). Commonly, other medications are being taken and some medication combinations may be dangerous. It is best to ask your doctor for a specific recommendation. Most medications can be taken safely with AD medications. Some, however, may interact with AD medicines in such a way as to cause serious side effects.

It is important to make sure the dose is adequate and that expectations are realistic. A drug may "work" by stabilizing your condition without any visible improvement. So at least a several month trial at a therapeutic dose is necessary. It is possible that a person who does not respond to one Alzheimer's disease medication may respond to a different medication.

Alzheimer's disease is a progressive, neurological disorder characterized by a decline in cognitive function that results in dementia (impaired memory, thinking, and reasoning). Alzheimer's disease is the most common cause of memory loss (dementia), affecting approximately 4 million people in the United States. Unless a cure is found the number of persons affected in the US alone could reach 14 million by the year 2050.

There is no medical treatment currently available to cure or stop the progression of Alzheimer's disease. Four FDA-approved drugs - tacrine (Cognex?), donepezil (Aricept?), and rivastigmine (Exelon?), and galantamine (Reminyl? or Razadyne?), memantine (Namenda?) - may temporarily relieve some symptoms of the disease and potentially stabilize its progression.

There is a psychiatrist available at the Los Angeles clinic who can prescribe medication to patients who are pursuing that treatment option. Though the therapists at the other clinics do have doctorates in psychology, they are not medical doctors and cannot prescribe medication to you. However, the therapists at each clinic have close ties to psychiatrists and internal medicine specialists in the area and can refer you to those professionals should you wish.

Many studies indicate that people with a relative (parent, brother or sister) with Alzheimer's disease have a greater chance of developing the disease than those with no family history. The more common form of Alzheimer's disease is called Sporadic Alzheimer's disease and accounts for 90 to 95 per cent of all cases. The role of heredity in Sporadic Alzheimer's disease is unclear and continues to be the subject of intense research.

In its mild or early stage, Alzheimer's disease (AD) may be overlooked both by individuals developing AD and by those around them. Lack of awareness may be an early AD symptom, although some are keenly aware of diminished memory and thinking abilities. Family and friends may ignore early symptoms hoping they will not progress or because they think nothing can be done to treat AD.

Middle stage or moderate Alzheimer's disease (AD) involves a worsening of the symptoms of early AD, the appearance of new symptoms or both. Obvious impairment of comprehension and judgment often emerge. Dangerous behaviors (e.g., auto accidents if the person is still driving, physical aggressiveness, forgetting to turn off appliances or take medications) make it clear that something is seriously wrong.

The late stage or severe Alzheimer's disease (AD) involves further progression of the signs and symptoms of early and middle stage AD. It is important to search for correctable conditions, especially when a change is sudden. As severity increases, the person with AD can no longer provide self-care, often requiring help with personal activities of daily living such as dressing, eating and going to the bathroom. Memory is very poor or gone altogether.

Cholinesterase inhibitors slow the breakdown of acetylcholine, an important neurotransmitter involved in thinking and memory. Alzheimer's disease causes several brain abnormalities. One of them is a progressive decrease in the acetylcholine neurotransmitter (brain messenger) system functioning. It's as though an engine — in this case the brain - is being starved of fuel and not firing all cylinders. Cholinesterase inhibitors increase acetylcholine and permit more neurotransmission.

There are a few very rare cases where Alzheimer's disease does run in families. In these cases there is a direct link between an inherited mutation in one gene and the onset of the disease. These tend to be cases of 'early onset' Alzheimer's disease, which affects those under the age of 65. In these cases, the probability that close family members (brothers, sisters and children) will develop Alzheimer's disease is one in two.

Although there are no drugs that can cure Alzheimer's disease, there are a number of drug treatments that can help some people with Alzheimer's disease. The currently available treatments can slow down the progression of the disease in some cases for periods between 6 and 18 months. The main class of such compounds is the cholinesterase inhibitors. Other kinds of drugs are sometimes useful for controlling some of the symptoms of Alzheimer's disease, such as sleeplessness and agitation.