My mum started on Exelon patch a few days ago and has quite bad diarrhea. She has suffered from diarrhea in the last few weeks anyway though not this bad. If this is a side-effect, will it go away or should I take it as an indication that this is not suitable for her? Apart from asking her doctor, does anyone have experience?

Exelon--in any form--can cause nausea and/or diarrhea. My husband has experienced no noticeable adverse effects and has been on it since early 2007. If your mother is still on the low dose patch it may mean it's not be possible for her to transition to the higher dose patch. Her doctor should be notified. They can lose ground in a hurry with severe diarrhea.

We tried switching from the tabs to the 4.6 mg (low dose) exelon patch with my Mom. She didn't have diarrhea or nausea but she reported a burning sensation where the patch was located on her back. Strangely, she said it would come and go every 10 minutes. As it got closer to bedtime she said the burning became more intense. I removed it. There was a pinkish look to the skin underneath but no rash or severe redness.

This is a case where my elderly LO expressed distrust with the concept of absorbing medication through a patch. She was willing to try it, however. This side effect may have really occurred, or it is possible that it was a delusion or sensory hallucination. The result was the same whether it was real in her world or in mine. She is back on the tabs (same dose) and has no problems.

My Husband was on the exelon in pill form, the patch was not on the market yet, he did have some stomach issues but they did subside after a few weeks we stuck with it and after all these yrs I still hear how many give up too soon because of these issues.

Usually GI side effects will go away. It could be that there's another cause for the diarrhea and that the Exelon is making things worse. Hopefully your MD can figure it out! It might be better to start Exelon another time. Or try a different medication (eg, Namenda).

Turns out the diarrhea wasn't related to the patches, but was her regular...

So far no side-effects and my mum normally suffers from any and all available side-effects of drugs. I suppose that now she doesn't read the consumer information sheet she doesn't get the side effects.

This evening she was telling me again about the people in her house. Not that I'm impatient, but how quickly should the Exelon start working if it is going to have an effect?

I guess I'm glad to hear that Exelon isn't causing the diarrhea....though still lousy to have diarrhea.

What did the prescribing MD say as to when Exelon would take effect? Note that AChEIs don't always stop the hallucinations but it's the best place to start.

I don't remember if he said... I was just wondering on the basis of other people's experience.

You might take with you a standard set of questions that you ask the MD about all medications being prescribed, such as:

* possible side effects;
* with which of the side effects should we call you?
* what if we can't reach you?
* do we stop taking the medication if any of the side effects gets severe?
* how long does this medication need to be taken before we can see benefit?
* how many weeks/months later, if we've seen no benefit, do we stop this medication?
* does it come in generic form?
* does it come in any form that doesn't need to be swallowed?

Most people see benefit (or not) from Exelon within a few weeks. Many people see no benefit at all and then the question becomes "should we continue taking it (because maybe there is a benefit that we can't perceive) or try something else?"

We saw results in the first few days of the low dose patch in early 2007. The problem is, years later, how can we know the drug is still effective? The company's own literature describes it as being for 'early to mid-stage dementia'. My husband is in the later stages now but so far his doctors want him to continue using it.

I also questioned the effectiveness in the later stages of my husbands LBD and the Doctor told me they really don't know how much it helps in the latter stages and he did not recommend taking him off it and he stayed on it until about 1 week prior to his passing!