My husband is diagnosed with vascular Dementia and has been taking Donepezil for almost 4years. Donepezil was the first medication he was prescribed. At first he had lost of his appetite, but I adjusted from after breakfast to after dinner and it helped. He's had a great appetite since and i do believe it has prolonged his dementia. A year after he started Donepezil, the Dr., prescribed Memantine which also seems to he helping and he's never had any issues.
Like others have stated, everyone is different and as long as the Dr., is open to trying different medications depending on the situation, I think we should try. I do believe that after a certain stage, medications can become pointless though. My 85year old Mother has been off her medication for nearly 3 years. There has been little change with her short term memory.

Everyone is different

I’m grateful for all the information that is shared. My husband has been on both for the past year. However I’ve noticed an increase in irritability and confusion when he takes Donepezil. I’ve stopped it for a while, but now that I started giving it to him again, I think that those symptoms has gotten worse. I will follow up with the doctor to see where I go from here.

Yes I think it does

I think it’s really hard to know whether they help. They don’t generally make things better, they are supposed to help slow regression. My wife had been on Namenda (or Memantine) and I think we did see some regression after she came off but she was in the later stages, and I believe these medication’s tend to be better early on. I have been told that they can cause increased confusion in later stages