What Are The Medications That Are Used To Treat Alzheimer's Disease?

Dr. Mohana Karlekar answers: 'What Meds are Used to Treat Alzheimer's?'

ByABC News
November 19, 2008, 12:19 PM

May 4, 2009 -- Question: What are the medications that are used to treat Alzheimer's disease?

Answer: The medications to treat Alzheimer's disease have developed over the years. The essential way that they work is that they try to build up the chemical in your body that is lower in patients who have Alzheimer's disease. And the class of medications, which is not so important, are a big class called the cholinesterase inhibitors. They range from once a day to twice a day. And the goal of those medications are to slow down the progression of disease, and in some cases when you start those medications early on, they can actually show some small improvements where they will make an impact in someone's life, where people do notice these things.