Alzheimers

Memory drugs mean good care is forgotten

Drugs like Aricept and Reminyl are supposed to slow the mental decline of patients with dementia. They rarely work, not in the real world outside of carefully controlled clinical trial settings. They do not give anyone a reprieve from the ravages of Alzheimer's disease. They can not halt the inexorable progress of this cruel loss of mental faculties, and even trials show they certainly don't help those with the disease to maintain independence. People with dementia are just as likely to need nursing home care whether they take the drugs or not. And lets not even start on the side effects.