 |
 |
Pam, my father recently went through a bout of something that seemed very close to dementia. He was taking -- we think because he may not have been taking the medication properly -- Amantadine 100 mg per day. He was a basket case so the VA nurse/doctor took him off amantadine for about 5 days in preparation for a course with Sinemet. He was in terrible shape that weekend. Couldn't swallow, couldn't work zippers, couldn't communicate, coughing constantly. So, they put him back on amantadine but at 50 mg (only comes in the liquid form so 1 teaspoon) and Sinemet 3x a day (can't remember exact dosage). You wouldn't believe the difference. We saw the nurse yesterday for follow-up on med change and he was talking, polite, walking fast, could sit and stand without help, no problem with swallowing, and no dementia. I do think he may be slightly on the manic side but he has been living in a frozen silent world for the past two years and what I see as manic may just be pure joy at finding his mind-vocal cords work together again! The nurse blames the amantadine for the dementia but I'm not so sure -- she hasn't realized what terrible shape he's been in over the past two years. But she decided not to alter one thing because his response has been miraculous. She mentioned that many times older people cannot handle amantadiane. Hannah [log in to unmask]