My 75-year-old mom is at the moment taking 16 completely different prescription and OTC drugs and I’m apprehensive she’s taking method too many medicine. Are you able to recommend any assets that may assist us?
Sadly, thousands and thousands of older People are taking method too many drugs as we speak, which raises their threat of harmful unwanted side effects and drug interactions.
In response to the American Society of Marketing consultant Pharmacists, folks aged 65 to 69 take a median of 15 prescriptions a 12 months, and people aged 80 to 84 take 18 prescriptions a 12 months. And that’s along with the myriad of over-the-counter medicine, natural treatments, nutritional vitamins and minerals they might take, any of which — alone or together — may trigger extra issues than they remedy.
Even when older sufferers are taking solely crucial and efficient medicine, the dosages want a re-evaluation. As sufferers age, they have an inclination to metabolize medicine extra slowly, which means the dose that was excellent 5 years in the past could now be too excessive, maybe inflicting dizziness and falls. Doses must be regularly adjusted with age, and more often than not that doesn’t occur.
When you have considerations or questions concerning the drugs your mom is taking, collect up all her capsule bottles, together with her prescription and over-the-counter medicine in addition to nutritional vitamins and dietary supplements, put them in a bag, and take them to her major doctor or pharmacist for a complete drug evaluate.
Medicare gives free drug opinions with a physician throughout annual “wellness visits,” and plenty of Medicare Half D prescription-drug beneficiaries can get free opinions from pharmacists, too.
On the drug evaluate, undergo every medicine and discover out if there are any duplicate meds or harmful combos your mother is taking, and if there are any medicine she may cease taking or scale back the dosage. Then, make a medicine grasp listing and hold it up to date so it may be simply be shared each time your mother sees a physician.
To assist with this, AARP presents a free “my private medicine report” type which you can obtain and print at AARP-medical-record-form.pdffiller.com. Or, in case your mother makes use of a smartphone, she will be able to use a capsule monitoring app like Medisafe — Tablet & Med Reminder (MyMedisafe.com).
If attainable, your mother must also use a single pharmacy to fill all her prescriptions. The software program that pharmacies use to handle affected person prescriptions is designed to cross reference all drugs a affected person is taking to make sure that there aren’t any drug interactions that would trigger hurt.
Additionally, the following time your mother’s physician prescribes a brand new medicine, she ought to ask about nondrug therapy choices that could be safer. If the drug is certainly crucial, she must learn the way lengthy she’s purported to take it and the side-effects it might trigger.
One other good useful resource that may assist hold your mother secure is the American Geriatrics Society, which has recognized 10 various kinds of drugs that individuals 65 and older ought to nearly at all times keep away from due to the chance of significant unwanted side effects. They embody the anti-anxiety medicine diazepam (Valium) and alprazolam (Xanax), and sleep medicine reminiscent of zolpidem (Ambien) and eszopiclone (Lunesta). To see the entire listing, go to HealthInAging.org and search “10 drugs older adults ought to keep away from.”
Ship your senior inquiries to: Savvy Senior, P.O. Field 5443, Norman OK 73070, or go to SavvySenior.org. Jim Miller is a contributor to the NBC At present present and creator of “The Savvy Senior” guide.