. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2009 May 14.

Published in final edited form as: Neurol Clin. 2007 Aug;25(3):577–v. doi: 10.1016/j.ncl.2007.03.008

TABLE 4.

SYMPTOMATIC MEDICATIONS FOR ALZHEIMER’S DISEASE

Drug	Mechanism	Initial Dose	Target Dose	Titration Interval	Side Effects
Donepezil (Aricept)	AChI	5 mg QD	10 mg QD	4–6 wks	Nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, muscle cramps, anorexia, vivid dreaming
Rivastigmine (Exelon)	AChI	1.5 mg BID	6 mg BID	2–4 wks	Nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, weight loss, dizziness
Galantamine (Reminyl)	AChI	4 mg BID	12 mg BID	4 wks	Nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, anorexia, dizziness
Tacrine (Cognex)	AChI	10 mg QID	40 mg QID	4 wks	Liver function test evaluations, diarrhea, anorexia, nausea, vomiting, myalgia
Memantine (Namenda)	NMDA-A	5 mg QD	10 mg BID	1–2 wks	dizziness, confusion, headache, constipation, nausea, agitation, hallucination, seizure

AChI – Acetylcholinesterase inhibitor, NMDA-A –NMDA antagonist