My family has visited some senior living facilities for my mother-in-law who is in mid stage Alzheimer's. She has been seeing a neurologist who specializes in memory and has been prescribed Seroquel and Aricept. It has been suggested to us that we consult with a psychiatrist and request DNA testing to help facilitate the best match for medication. Does anybody have any experience with this? Is this really a thing?
As for drugs, I think Aricept and Memantine can help. They have helped for us. They are the only drugs currently approved for use in Alzheimer’s and dementia. There will be more on the market over time as lots of treatments are going through trials. I would not ignore pharmaceuticals as a potential treatment for these diseases. Others are right in that there is no cure but currently, but it is worth trying because like I said they can help.
Seroquel is more for anxiety and may or may not be needed for your loved one. I would not consider that unless there are other problems which indicate it could help. I might consider an SSRI before that but consult with your doctor.
I think that geriatric psychiatry and neuropsychology are greatly overlooked ways to deal with this disease. It causes a lot of anxiety and depression and having someone available to listen to and reassure your loved one is helpful. It also gives you another ally in dealing with this monster of a disease.
My loved one became really mean just a few days after starting meds. I stopped the meds and said, “no way”. A visit to the neurologist asked me to try again to slow down memory loss…same results. I printed meds information and it said “doesn’t slow down progression”, so was wondering what was going on, because that’s the reason the neurologist told me LO would take it. PCP also confirmed the meds sometimes don’t help much and put extra work on organs, etc. I told the neurologist, “there’s no cure for this, so I’m sticking with care, not meds”. He ended up telling me to feed blueberries, greens, fish often and to check in him every few months since this as medicare allows. We have caregiver companions at home 6 days a week, keeping my LO feeling happy, busy, and feeling worth something. Doing great. Please note this is my experience, but sometimes those meds turn people worse. Good luck.
Pills have fillers that are used to make the pill large enough to handle. Pills have binders that help keep the pill in one piece. Pills have coatings that help one swallow the pills. So it could be a number of things, including the main medicine that we couldn't tolerate.
The company used for the medical DNA was Alpha Genomix. I had also used in 2009 either that company or one similar to see what were my chances of getting breast cancer again.
I doubt that medical DNA and family DNA [Ancestry, 23 and Me, etc.] are intertwine. The meds list I got was for all groups of meds, and the lab had no idea what meds I was taking, nor my medical history.
Plus, DNA has helped those who were sentenced to prison for a crime they didn't commit to be released, some were behind bars for decades.
My family DNA is in the database, and it doesn't bother me at all. It has been very helpful for when I do family trees. Ancestry has a database for DNA which tells me who I am DNA related to, of course it is only for those more current, since DNA is relatively young.
As for a national database, to me there shouldn't be a reason to have a national database similar to regular DNA testing. All this is, is just finding what meds would work, what meds to use with care, and what meds to avoid. One's medical history is never used for the test.
It would be interesting to know if one's nationality is more prone to not being able to use a certain med. I know my Mom and I had similar issues, so maybe being unable to take certain meds might possibly be inherited.
Seroquel, too many side effects for me. My step-sister was on it, made her crazier than she already was.
The only drugs that my step-mother takes is something to calm her for Sundowners events. That is it.
Good Luck!
I personally have no faith in neurologists when it comes to dementia, they have no answers. Everything I've learned comes from watching and absorbing dementia in action.
Example, I have acid reflux. The doctor tried many different prescription meds and the meds gave me zero help. Sure enough, there was a list on my DNA chart that showed what meds to avoid, and it was those. Thus, good old fashion Tums does the trick :)
Recently my primary doctor was having me try different statins drugs. Oops, was causing me to have short term memory loss. I forgot about the DNA chart, yep I cannot handle statins. Thus I need to control my cholesterol via diet.
I had my drug DNA test via my primary doctor. I highly recommend that it be done.
Sure wish you luck.