dementia meds

I am hoping to get anyone's personal opinion of the initiation of dementia meds, i.e. Aricept for a pt that already has considerable dementia. My mother-in-law is 87 and is barely able to live alone, has a strong family history of Alzheimer's, and had a major brain injury at 40. Her children are pushing for this drug and I recall from clinicals at LTC the nurses hated the drug, but I didn't get the chance to ask why. I am her only caregiver and worry about possible side effects. Other than the brain thing, she is in good health, she only takes small doses of synthroid. Admittedly, I haven't had time to research this drug very much, my pharm books don't really indicate a lot of side effects. But I would rather get some feedback from this extra-excellent forum! Thanks in advance.