Galantamine, rivastigmine, and donepezil
Donepezil (Aricept®): approved to treat all stages of Alzheimer's disease. Rivastigmine (Exelon®): approved for mild-to-moderate Alzheimer's as well as mild-to-moderate dementia associated with Parkinson's disease. Galantamine (Razadyne®): approved for mild-to-moderate stages of Alzheimer's disease.
Cholinesterase inhibitors
Cholinisterase Inhibitors are the most commonly prescribed medications for dementia. There are 3 cholinisterase inhibitors, which include, Donepezil, Galantamine and Rivastigmine.
According to the Alzheimer's Research and Prevention Foundation, regular physical exercise can reduce your risk of developing Alzheimer's disease by up to 50 percent. What's more, exercise can also slow further deterioration in those who have already started to develop cognitive problems.
Current medications can't cure Alzheimer's disease or other dementias, but they might be able to slow it down and make it easier to live with. They may relieve symptoms related to memory, thinking, language and other thought processes. In addition, they may also help with mood, agitation and other behavioral issues.
The number of Australians diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease – the most common form of dementia – is on the rise and little progress has been made in treatment development over decades. But clinical trial data for a new drug, called donanemab, has brought hope for people with early symptomatic disease.
On June 30 Australia's Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) started work to consider approving lecanemab in Australia. This drug has shown similar results to donanemab in patients with early Alzheimer's but also comes with risks of brain swelling and bleeding in a small subset of patients.
Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease causes a type of dementia that gets worse unusually fast. More common causes of dementia, such as Alzheimer's, dementia with Lewy bodies and frontotemporal dementia, typically progress more slowly. Through a process scientists don't yet understand, misfolded prion protein destroys brain cells.
Engaging in mental or social activities may help to build up your brain's ability to cope with disease, relieve stress and improve your mood. This means doing these activities may help to delay, or even prevent, dementia from developing. Find activities you enjoy that challenge your brain, and do them regularly.
Introduction: The five-word test (5WT) is a serial verbal memory test with semantic cuing. It is proposed to rapidly evaluate memory of aging people and has previously shown its sensitivity and its specificity in identifying patients with AD.
The first results showed that donanemab successfully leads to the removal of amyloid from the brain and can slow down quickly memory and thinking skills get worse. In July, the full results of the trial were released at the Alzheimer's Association International Conference 2023, in Amsterdam.
Updated: July 24, 2023.] The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently granted full approval to a new Alzheimer's treatment called lecanemab, which has been shown to moderately slow cognitive and functional decline in early-stage cases of the disease.
The Food and Drug Administration on Thursday fully approved the Alzheimer's drug Leqembi, amid concerns about its safety, cost and accessibility. The move marks the first time that a drug meant to slow the progression of the disease has been granted full regulatory approval.
Lilly's Donanemab Significantly Slowed Cognitive and Functional Decline in Phase 3 Study of Early Alzheimer's Disease.
Two classes of drugs are approved for specific use in the treatment of dementia: Cholinesterase inhibitors (ChEIs). Three of this class of drug (donepezil, rivastigmine and galantamine) are approved for use in mild to moderate dementia in AD.
Drugs to treat the cognitive symptoms of dementia
A number of drugs are currently available in Australia for use by people with dementia. These drugs fall into two categories, cholinergic treatments and Memantine.
People with dementia often rely on their routines as a source of comfort. A daily routine helps a person know what to expect. This means that a sudden disruption in routine may cause dementia symptoms to get worse. This is especially true if a person experiences stress.
The Mini-Cog test.
A third test, known as the Mini-Cog, takes 2 to 4 minutes to administer and involves asking patients to recall three words after drawing a picture of a clock. If a patient shows no difficulties recalling the words, it is inferred that he or she does not have dementia.
We all inherit a copy of some form of APOE from each parent. Those who inherit one copy of APOE-e4 from their mother or father have an increased risk of developing Alzheimer's. Those who inherit two copies from their mother and father have an even higher risk, but not a certainty.
Cholinesterase inhibitors are the first choice of treatment for memory loss. The doctor may also prescribe the single-dose drug combination Namzeric to treat moderate to severe memory loss.