People who are diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease may require different types of medication to treat the various symptoms of the disease. Some medications are designed to treat the cognitive symptoms (e.g., memory loss, language loss) and others are designed to treat psychiatric symptoms (e.g., behavioral problems, hallucinations).

Medications used to treat cognitive symptoms include:

• Cholinesterase inhibitors. These work by maintaining the levels of acetylcholine, a neurotransmitter in the brain. Like all medications for treatment of Alzheimer's disease, cholinesterase inhibitors cannot stop the progression of the disease and, eventually, the damage to the brain will be too severe for cholinesterase inhibitors to be effective. The three most commonly prescribed cholinesterase inhibitors are:
  
  
• • Donepezil (Aricept)
    
    
  • Rivastigmine (Exelon)
    
    
  • Galantamine (Reminyl, Razadyne)
    
    
• NMDA receptor antagonists. This type of medication works by regulating the amount of another neurotransmitter called glutamate. Currently, the only NMDA receptor antagonist approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is memantine (Namenda).

The psychiatric symptoms of Alzheimer's disease are often treated with medication aimed to reduce depression, anxiety, hallucinations or delusions. However, these medications may produce more severe side effects in patients with dementia, which includes most Alzheimer's patients. Additionally, some psychiatric medications have not been tested for their effectiveness in patients with Alzheimer's disease. Medications that may be prescribed for patients with behavioral or psychiatric symptoms include:

• Antidepressant medications. Antidepressants are medications used to treat major depression and many other conditions (e.g., personality disorders, anxiety disorders). They appear to work by increasing the levels of one or more neurotransmitters serotonin, norepinephrine and dopamine in the brain. Commonly prescribed antidepressants include sertraline, fluoxetine, escitalopram and trazodone.
  
  
• Anti-anxiety medications. Anti-anxiety medications are drugs most often used to relieve symptoms of fear and anxiety experienced by some people. They are highly effective in treating most types of anxiety disorders, regardless of the underlying cause, and some may begin to work in as little as 30 to 90 minutes. Commonly prescribed anti-anxiety medications include diazepam, chlordiazepoxide, flurazepam and estazolam.
  
  
• Antipsychotic medication. Antipsychotics are medications used mainly to treat psychosis, a severe mental condition in which a patient loses touch with reality. They do not cure the condition, but help control symptoms such as hallucinations and delusions. Commonly prescribed antipsychotic medications for the symptoms of Alzheimer's disease include risperidone, quetiapine, olanzapine and clozapine.