Take a straw poll of any gathering of older adults or their caregivers and you are likely to find that what they fear most is not their death, but their loss of their mental faculties. Yet, about one in every four persons who begins to manifest that cloudy thinking we all fear is some form of dementia may actually have a reversible condition. And this condition may be brought on by allergy medications or some other prescriptions as well as some over the counter medications.
Researchers from the Alzheimer's Association have reviewed studies from large clinics around the country and report up to 25 percent of people who come to specialists fearing they have dementia really are suffering from bad medicine instead. Most often the culprit is a family of drugs referred to anticholinergics, drugs that are common to a wide range of medications ranging from anti-depressants and pain killers to antihistamines. And the cloud that they create in a person's mind usually is the result of side effects of the medications.
Content Management System
The problem is particularly acute among older adults for a number of reasons. First, older adults are more likely to engage in polypharmacy, the situation in which a person with more than one medical condition may therefore be on more than one medication. Second, older adults have lower water content in their systems and tend to flush medications out of their system a lot more slowly. And third, older adults also may be taking over the counter medications in addition to what may be prescribed by their providers.
Sadly, these medicines may be creating more than a fog for older adults; it may also be killing them. In a study reported in The Journal of the American Geriatrics Society ( The Journal ), researchers gathered clinical data and followed more than 13,000 British men and women 65 years of age and older. Those who were taking more than one of the drugs in this class of medicines tended to score lower on cognitive tests than those who did not take anticholinergics. Alarmingly, they found that the death rate among the heavier users of these drugs was 68 percent higher than the others.
In America, it is estimated that about one in five of the 36 million adults 65 years of age and older are taking one of these medications. And other research shows that taking one of these medications for only 90 days can have a measurable impact on cognitive function.
So, the lesson from all this is to steer clear of this class of medications where possible. But even short of that make sure your older loved one's primary care provider knows about all medications the patient is taking - prescription and non-prescription. There may be no steering clear of anticholinergics totally, but we all can keep from adding more to our load by taking over the counter drugs that contain it.
No comments:
Post a Comment