I am taking this, for moderate memory loss. I have only been on it 3 weeks and I do feel it has helped, and hope it will continue to improve my memory loss. I have not been diagnosed with dementia or early Alzheimer's- just moderate to severe memory loss. No side effects either. MaureenD

My dad went to Dr for checkup on Tuesday; gave him newly prescribed Aricept 5mg on Thursday; then disaster with him on Friday as he could not function, then disoriented totally; lost bladder control; only to end up being hospitalized on Sunday for a bad urinary tract infection!!!! I will not allow him any more Aricept.

Very severe nightmares at night, yelling, screaming out

I wanted to correct something I wrote yesterday. I meant to write Aricept 23mg, not Aricept 5 or 10mg, was dangerous. My Mother has been on Aricept 10 since 2006 and never had any problems with that one, no side effects at all. I didn't see much as far as it slowing the progression really, but it was okay for her to take. Aricept 23 however, had very severe side effects, as I mentioned above. I would not recommend anyone try that one. It was very severe in just 3 days, she was almost like a vegetable and I thought we might lose her soon, which is why the doctor took her off of it immediately and put her back on the Aricept 10, and just overnight she was back to who she was just before taking the Aricept 23, which was a whole lot better. Be cautious before trying Aricept 23. My mother will be 83 on New Years Day. Also, to those people who mentioned vivid dreams and hallucinations, mood swings, yelling, screaming and so on, that is all part of the illness itself, not so much the medication. There are a lot of books out on the subject of Alzheimer's and the different stages and it explains it all in great detail. The book I would reccomend is called: Coach Broyles' Playbook for Alzheimer's Caregivers. You can call The Alzheimer's Association at 800-272-3900 for a copy of it or go to, Playbook on the Web: www.alzheimersplaybook.com. That is the one I have and it is great, it explains everything. Be prepared though, some of it is very unpleasant, but at the same time very helpful in preparing you a head of time. My Mother probably had Alzheimer's for a while before she was diagnosed with Alzheimer's in 2006, which is why the medication isn't that much of a help, like it probably would be to people who are caught in the very early stages, but she didn't start with the dreams and hallucinations until about 2yrs ago. I hope this helps people to understand the disease vs. the medication better. God Bless everyone involved,caregivers and patients.

My mother continuously complained about stomach pain and diarrhrea in addition to eye tearing and terrible edema on her face. I couldn't figure it out until now. I have discontinued giving her Aricept as the tremendous side effects dimenish any slightly improved cognition. I do NOT recommend Aricept.

My 59 year old mother was diagnosed wit frontal temporal lobe dementia 2 years ago and was placed on this medication. While the medication is small and easy to swallow and easy to follow a dosing schedule it does not appear to have had any effect on my mom's mental health. It was only after a couple of weeks on the medication that the hallucinations started and disrupted speech pattern. This medication is expensive and am not sure if it is really doing anything

My father is 80, took Aricept 5mg for 1 month then increased to 10 mg. No good news, he started hallucinating the first week i.e. seeing dirt falling from the ceiling. Sweeping the floor to remove piles that were not there. He became very aggressive and angry when no one else saw it. The doctor asked us to discontine the use of Aricept.

My Mother 83yrs has been on this drug for 3 years. Yes, the first few months was up and down especially for her stomach. Now she is doing well on it but can not take it with her vitamins or it makes her stomach up set. She takes it in the morning which is easier for her to remember to take each day then at night. As for its effectiveness I must state her memory is not getting worse and she is able to function mostly on her own. I wait for a drug out there that will actually reverse the memory loss but for now she will remain on Donepezil HCL the generic of Aricept.