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These drugs, called anticholinergics, block acetylcholine, a nervous system neurotransmitter, and are widely-used medical therapies. They are sold over the counter under various brand names such as Benadryl®, Dramamine®, Excedrin PM®, Nytol®, Sominex®, Tylenol PM®, and Unisom®. Other anticholinergic drugs, such as Paxil®, Detrol®, Demerol® and Elavil® are available only by prescription. Older adults most commonly use drugs with anticholinergic effects as sleep aids and to relieve bladder leakage problems.
My mother, who just got dx'ed with alzheimer's, has been on Tylenol PM every night for years. When I found out about this, I tried to get her to go off of them, but she said she couldn't sleep without them, but the doctor took her off and put her on melatonin, and she seems to be sleeping just fine, so she didn't need them after all! I took benadryl for years myself but stopped when I read this. If you or someone you know is taking these on a regular basis--please stop!
Well I guess no one is worried about getting alzheimer's LOL. Or no one here has trouble sleeping. Lucky dogs.
So I'm going thru her stuff in preparation for selling her house and she has those sleep aids stashed everywhere! Furthermore, since getting her off of them over a week ago, she already seems a bit better, though this seems to cycle on and off at this point=she just dipped down into moderate alz a few weeks ago with an abrupt bump. The docs usually take them off sleeping pills b/c people with dementia may have balance problems while on them or take them and forget they took them so they take more. If some of her dementia is caused or made worse by the sleep aids, I wonder whether the changes are permanent but I doubt anyone knows for sure just yet.
I know when she was on Lipitor we were noticing some pretty rapid changes in her cognitive ability and we requested her to go off of it, b/c she was also having muscle degeneration in her feet and it was getting to the point where she couldn't walk the dog, but that was several years ago. I always wondered how it was supposed to help your heart if it made it so you couldn't exercise.
The article specifically states the link is not with Alzheimers, but with dementia, unless I am reading it incorrectly. If I didn't take sleep meds, I wouldn't sleep. In my case, I would function poorly due to lack of sleep now, in order to stave off possible dementia later. I think I'll have to take my chances.
The article specifically states the link is not with Alzheimers, but with dementia, unless I am reading it incorrectly. If I didn't take sleep meds, I wouldn't sleep. In my case, I would function poorly due to lack of sleep now, in order to stave off possible dementia later. I think I'll have to take my chances.
Yes, I guess my choice of words was incorrect, but it's really hard for even a doctor to make the dx, because alzheimer's is a type of dementia. They don't know for sure till you're dead, or that was so the last time I heard.
I was taking benadryl for years to sleep and was absolutely convinced that I couldn't sleep without them, but then I read about them causing dementia and stopped right then and there and figured I'd take my chances. I didn't sleep too well the first night, though I took some melatonin, but after that I didn't have any more problems. the melatonin worked well enough, but I found that a half glass of wine just before bed was better for sleeping than the melatonin or the benadryl. Sometimes I think that many of us assume that since we once had problems sleeping that it will always be so, but most of the time it's only temporary.
I know what you mean about functioning poorly with lack of sleep though--I'm awful if I don't get enough and you'd think I had dementia.
It specifically says the anticholinergics do not cause Alzheimer's.
"The fact that we found that taking anticholinergics is linked with mild cognitive impairment, involving memory loss without functional disability, but not with Alzheimer Disease, gives me hope."
I found this information fascinating as I took products like Tylenol PM and Sominex for years. Now I take a prescription sleeping pill that has none of those properties. My mother seems to be in the early stages of Alzheimer's (I don't know for sure because she refuses to be tested) and has never taken sleeping pills. Not that this matters. But I just found it interesting since I did and Alzheimer's can be genetically inherited. But it looks like one has nothing to do with the other. It is just that one gets the symptoms of memory loss. I've taken diphenhydramine in a pinch and I see what they mean. It makes me very groggy.
It specifically says the anticholinergics do not cause Alzheimer's.
"The fact that we found that taking anticholinergics is linked with mild cognitive impairment, involving memory loss without functional disability, but not with Alzheimer Disease, gives me hope."
I found this information fascinating as I took products like Tylenol PM and Sominex for years. Now I take a prescription sleeping pill that has none of those properties. My mother seems to be in the early stages of Alzheimer's (I don't know for sure because she refuses to be tested) and has never taken sleeping pills. Not that this matters. But I just found it interesting since I did and Alzheimer's can be genetically inherited. But it looks like one has nothing to do with the other. It is just that one gets the symptoms of memory loss. I've taken diphenhydramine in a pinch and I see what they mean. It makes me very groggy.
I'm not ignoring this--I'll get back when I have more time as life has gone severely crazy. Dealing with all mom's stuff is a nightmare--she's a hoarder, and guess who's dealing with all of it now? I need to find an article--something about the meds blocking the neurotransmitter, acetylcholine.
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Lucky dogs. 
