Donepezil side effects

[Nicnack85]

Hi all,
My dad has, fairly recently, been diagnosed with Alzheimers. We had to take him to a private clinic in London, who have also requested a PET scan, but, from his MRI and questions asked, they believe it to be Alzheimers.
He was told to start on donepezil, which he started Saturday night. However, from Sunday morning he was starting to get confused again - questioning if my mum was his wife etc. Which is how he was a couple of months ago, before improving again.

I was just wondering if it's possible for a negative effect to show from donepezil within a day?

He's also been on a steroid spray for his skin, which he's been on for 3 days, not sure if it could be linked?
It may well be nothing, and just another step in this horrible disease, but, I don't know where else to ask/turn to! (I've suggested to my mum that we contact the GP, but, have found them to be useless and happy to palm my dad back into the private system, which we only used out of desperation)

Hi @Nicnack85 Sorry your dad's GP is so unhelpful. Is there a better GP at the surgery that you could somehow wangle an appointment with?

I can't help with the steroid spray question, but would suggest you ask the pharmacist who dispensed it, explaining the dementia and that he's also on donepezil. Ours (at Boots) is enormously helpful.

Re donepezil, a single dose seems unlikely to have had such a dramatic effect. Did they start him on 5mg or 10mg? The local NHS dementia unit starts people on 5mg and up it to 10 after a month, if there are no side effects. So I'd give the private clinic a call. But never underestimate random coincidence.

Thanks for your reply @Gonners ! Typically, the GP they last saw was the best one so far - granted, all they did was read the report from the clinic and also refer to another consultant near to them, who can't see them until December!
It's only a 5mg dose to start with, increasing to 10mg if showing positive signs in 2 months!

I agree with it just being a random coincidence, I think it's just the wishful hope that there could be something causing the sudden change, rather than it being progression!

Ha! The correlation/coincidence thing is always a problem. Sir's increased dose from 5 to 10mg apparently immediately "caused" urinary incontinence. A quiet chat revealed that he was struggling to negotiate peeing standing up. I pointed out that he'd been sitting down to pee for years, except in public urinals, and stuck a "SIT DOWN, FFS!" reminder on the underside of the loo seat. Yes, it's an undignified disease.

I would definitely take up the NHS referral, though. We're in August already, and getting into the NHS system is well worth it for other post-diagnosis support.

Could he be dehydrated? Dehydration can affect dementia patients badly and obviously with the hot weather we've been having it won't help. Following on from that keep an eye out for UTIs as they can account for sudden changes in behaviour.