Pricey Savvy Senior,
My 75-year-old mom is at the moment taking 16 completely different prescription and OTC medicines and I’m fearful she’s taking approach too many medication. Are you able to recommend any sources that may assist us?
Nervous Daughter
Pricey Nervous,
Sadly, hundreds of thousands of older Individuals are taking approach too many medicines at this time, which raises their threat of harmful unwanted side effects and drug interactions.
Based on the American Society of Marketing consultant Pharmacists, folks aged 65 to 69 take a mean 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 medication, natural treatments, nutritional vitamins and minerals they could take, any of which – alone or together – may trigger extra issues than they treatment.
Even when older sufferers are taking solely crucial and efficient medication, the dosages want a re-assessment. As sufferers age, they have an inclination to metabolize medication extra slowly, which means the dose that was good 5 years in the past could now be too excessive, maybe inflicting dizziness and falls. Doses must be frequently adjusted with age, and more often than not that doesn’t occur.
Get a Drug Evaluate
In case you have issues or questions in regards to the medicines your mom is taking, collect up all her tablet bottles, together with her prescription and over-the-counter medication in addition to nutritional vitamins and dietary supplements, put them in a bag, and take them to her main doctor or pharmacist for a complete drug evaluation.
Medicare gives free drug critiques with a health care provider throughout annual “wellness visits,” and plenty of Medicare Half D prescription-drug beneficiaries can get free critiques from pharmacists, too.
On the drug evaluation, undergo every treatment and discover out if there are any duplicate meds or harmful combos your mother is taking, and if there are any medication she may cease taking or cut back the dosage. Then, make a medicine grasp listing and preserve it up to date so it may be simply be shared each time your mother sees a health care provider.
To assist with this, AARP gives a free “my private treatment document” type that you could obtain and print at AARP-medical-record-form.pdffiller.com. Or, in case your mother makes use of a smartphone, she will use a tablet monitoring app like Medisafe – Tablet & Med Reminder (MyMedisafe.com).
Different Suggestions
If doable, 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 medicines a affected person is taking to make sure that there aren’t any drug interactions that might trigger hurt.
Additionally, the following time your mother’s physician prescribes a brand new treatment, she ought to ask about nondrug remedy choices that is perhaps safer. If the drug is certainly crucial, she must learn the way lengthy she’s imagined to take it and the side-effects it could possibly trigger.
One other good useful resource that may assist preserve your mother protected is the American Geriatrics Society, which has recognized 10 several types of medicines that individuals 65 and older ought to virtually at all times keep away from due to the danger of significant unwanted side effects. They embody the anti-anxiety medication diazepam (Valium) and alprazolam (Xanax), and sleep medication similar to zolpidem (Ambien) and eszopiclone (Lunesta). To see the whole listing, go to HealthInAging.org and search “10 medicines 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 Right now present and creator of “The Savvy Senior” e book.
