Benefits

• Also available in generic form under the label "donepezil," the drug Aricept has a focused effect on inhibiting an enzyme that is responsible for some of the destruction to the neurotransmitters. Approved in the mid 1990's, this drug does not actively slow the progressive disease, but it serves to alleviate some of the symptoms.
  
  

Effects

• The FDA approved the sale of Aricept in 2006 based on two clinical studies that were conducted by Eisai Inc, a research-based health care company. The first of these two 6-month, placebo-controlled studies involved 248 patients from a number of Swedish nursing homes; the second involved 325 Japanese participants, who were also being treated with Aricept. The final findings of the study were completed in 2005. The most common of these side effects is loose bowels. While this effect is not exceedingly acute once the body adapts to the medication, it remains a common occurrence that lasts for the duration of treatment.
  
  

Types

• Other types of side effects that have been recorded include headache and nausea, which have been reported by approximately 9.5% of the trial group, with dizziness and insomnia affecting 8.5% of the group on the treatment. Generalized pain has also been listed as a side effect by at least 9% of the group. This consisted in bodily aches and pains that were not readily explainable. Fatigue is another complaint, caused by a lack of healthy sleep resulting from the occurrence of abnormal dreams.
  
  

Identification

• Some other less common side effects that patients in the study have also reported, but with less frequency, are skin discoloration, resulting in a lightening or patchy darkening of random areas on the body. Weight loss was a result of a decreased appetite for food, with increased tiredness that sometimes resulted in fainting. Some people have complained of feeling depressed and having to frequently urinate, as well as suffering from arthritic pain which was not normal, considering they did not suffer from arthritis.
  
  

Considerations

• A smaller number of subjects complained of side effects that from their severity were not completely attributed to the taking of Aricept, but were serious enough to record. These conditions were severe dehydration, chest pain, gastrointestinal bleeding, bloating, and delusional behavior.