People beg for drugs. It is not unusual for older people to be
taking upwards of 10-14 medications every day, and still, every time they go to
the doctor they come home with another prescription. Even scarier is that they keep taking them
year after year.
Some of these drugs have
anticholinergic effects; effects that can scramble thinking, dim memory, and
eventually erode the ability to do basic activities of daily living. The scary part is that it is found in
different categories of medication. It
isn’t just the antidepressants or the mood elevators that you have to worry
about. Medications for your stomach
acids, high blood pressure, over active bladders, antihistamines or even
medications given for dizziness can also be culprits.
Several studies suggest that many seniors regularly take at least
one drug with anticholinergic properties.
Even if you read your information packet carefully you may not fully
appreciate that hundreds of prescription as well as over-the-counter
medications have anticholinergic affects, and that the effects can accumulate.
Part of the reason that
people end up taking too many drugs with these side effects is that their drug
history information is scattered and disorganized. Pharmacies are working toward computerized
health records that could provide warnings when anticholingertic quantities get
too high, but we are not there yet.
It is up to you to keep complete records of what medications you are
taking. If a new prescription is
recommended be sure to ask if it is safe to take in conjunction with the
medications that you are already on. Ask
what side effects you should be watching for and ask that your medications be
reviewed often to see if you stop taking some of them.
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