Guest guest Posted June 5, 2011 Report Share Posted June 5, 2011 Hello, all, I am new to this site and vey scared, as I'm sure all of you were in the beginning. I have a rare lung disease myself called primary pulmonary hypertension, and the message board on the Pulmonary Hypertension Association website has been a Godsend to me, so I was excited to find this website for Lewy Body as well. My wonderful father, who will be 85 in two weeks, was just diagnosed last week with LBD. He has been in excellent health up until now, so this has been a huge shock. I started to notice he was getting a little more forgetful sometime this winter, but it seemed manageable. Then he kept talking about these vivid dreams he was having, and how he would get up in the middle of the night to look around the apartment because he had dreamed someone was there (he has lived alone the last three years since my beautiful mother died of heart disease.) Then, about six weeks ago he started telling us he thought he had carpet beetles in his apartment. He said he was seeing " swirls " or " movement " and the " aftermath " of a bug " feeding frenzy. " After determining there were no bugs and that his eyes were fine, we took him to a geriatric specialist, who did memory tests and gave us the LBD diagnosis. They put him on Zoloft and Aricept. Almost immediately, Dad started experiencing extreme fatigue, loss of appetite, trouble sleeping and staying asleep and some muscle cramps. We took him off the Zoloft, and now we are wondering if we should take him off the Aricept, as these symptoms are listed among possible side effects. My dilemma is that if the Aricept will help his memory, is it worth it to wait to see if the side effects will last? The doctor said he was in the early stages of LBD and the progression will likely be slow, but since he got diagnosed and started these new meds, he seems so much worse! Before this, he only took a diuretic for mild high blood pressure and a baby aspirin. Does anyone have any advice about continuing the Aricept based on the side effects it seems to be causing? Thank you for any help anyone can give me. I am so lost right now as I try to process all this, and I know my dad feels the same way. Elise in Illinois Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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