My husband used to get explosive diarrhoea about 4 hours after taking 10mg of Aricept but a friend suggested I give him 1/2 a tablet in the morning and 1/2 at night and that has worked out well.

My husband is only on Aricept 10mg, the higher dose would give him worse diarrhea, cuz he has irritable bowel syndrome anyway and that is a side effect of Aricept. I am also a Nurse, and I believe the lowest dose that does the most good is the best solution. I have heard that Namenda doesn't really do much. You might look for a drug study in your area. My husband is in one and it seems to keep him fairly stable/sam

My mother took the Aricept 23mg with no problems. I understand the Namenda doesn't give improvement but slows the decline. Be insistent with doctors! My mother was very good at hiding how bad she really was in front of the doctor. I made notes prior to every visit about her activity, memory, etc. Such as, in an hour ride to the dr. she would every 5 minutes. "Now where are we going?" "Why" "Those doctors don't know me" Mom takes both Namenda and Aricept but now there is a combination drug called Namzaric. Try to learn all you can about this disease!

We have used a combo of aricept 23mg and namenda xr for a couple years.....same issue at first....now we give the aricept at bedbedtime. Problem solved! Check with her doctor first . Hope it works!

I know everyone is different regarding how they respond to the mess. My Mom does well with Namenda 10mg twice a day and Exelon patch 9.5 vs Aricept orally. The Aricept orally caused her GI issues, but my Mom has GI issues prior to her AD.