"Water gives life to the ten thousand things and does not strive," Lao Tzu.
It seems there is considerable misinformation about whether or not medications can help dementia. Even in her researched book, Alix Kates Shulman strays from her topic of TBI (traumatic brain injury) into dementia and states that medications do not really help and are limited to six months effectiveness. Not true. I am not a strong advocate of medication. Even in my psychological practice, medications were not my first line of defense. But, to not medicate dementia seems to me equal to not medicating encephalitis or some other serious illness. The medications have given us two years of some stabilization in cognitive functioning. As I look back, Dwane is doing about as well cognitively as he was two years ago. In some respects he is doing better. I see physical decline, which I believe is caused by brain atrophy, but the cognitive decline is not so dramatic. We still have dramatic ups and downs in lucidity, but not a dramatic overall decline. So, I am an advocate of the research that suggests a combination of Aricept and Namenda. It has helped Dwane. And I continue to implement each and every thing that supports the quality of his/our lives and his independence.
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