Medicines and Products for Dementia

There is no medicine that cures dementia - but there ARE medicines that help, and being honest about what they can and cannot do is the kindest thing a family can hear.

The dementia medicines (modest but real)

• Donepezil, rivastigmine, galantamine: for Alzheimer's and some other types - modestly improve or stabilise memory and daily function for a time, typically months to a couple of years
• Memantine: for moderate-to-severe stages - helps with daily function and behaviour
• What they do NOT do: stop the underlying disease or bring back lost ability - they buy quality time, and for many families that time is precious
• They need a proper diagnosis first - these are prescription medicines with real side effects

Treating what can be treated

• Depression, anxiety, sleep problems and agitation: each has targeted medicines a doctor can use carefully (some common sedatives and antipsychotics are risky in dementia - especially Lewy body type - specialist guidance matters)
• Blood pressure, diabetes, cholesterol medicines: protecting the brain's blood supply - genuinely disease-modifying in vascular dementia
• B12 and thyroid treatment when deficient: can reverse a dementia-like picture entirely

The review habit

• Every medicine an elderly person takes - including sleeping pills, allergy pills, painkillers and herbal products - should be reviewed: many common drugs cloud thinking (anticholinergics especially)
• Bring the FULL medicine box to appointments, including the Ayurvedic and homeopathic bottles

Products to be wary of

• "Memory booster" supplements with dramatic claims - the evidence does not support them
• High-dose single-nutrient pills (unless a proven deficiency)
• Anything promising to reverse Alzheimer's - no such product exists anywhere in the world

One-line summary

Dementia medicines (donepezil, memantine) buy real but modest quality time; the bigger wins are treating depression, blood pressure, B12 and thyroid problems, and cleaning up the medicine box - while every dramatic "memory cure" claim deserves a cold eye.