A recent Newsletter Geriatrician Dr. Elizabeth Landsverk warns us that, in keeping with recent studies, nearly one in eight adults within the United States is prescribed a tranquilizer (benzodiazepine). Is your aging loved one taking Valium (diazepam), Ativan (lorazepam), Xanax (alprazolam), or Klonopin (clonazepam)? All of those drugs are addictive. Because they lose their effectiveness over time, the prescribing doctor often increases the dose. This results in an increased risk of uncomfortable side effects corresponding to falls, confusion, irritability, poor sleep, and an increased risk of dementia. If your aging parent also consumes alcohol together with the medication, it may well cause respiratory arrest.
Dr. Landsverk reports that the American Geriatrics Society has actually included benzodiazepines in an inventory of medication that needs to be avoided in patients over 65.
Some medications needs to be questioned for older people
I actually have personally seen the uncomfortable side effects of such drugs wreak havoc on an 80-year-old client I represented. She had been within the hospital for a medical procedure that had already been accomplished. After surgery, a physician prescribed Ativan before she was discharged. There was no apparent reason to offer her this anti-anxiety medication since she was not feeling particularly anxious. She was looking forward to being discharged from the hospital. But on her last night before discharge, the consequences of Ativan made her feel unsafe. She got up from her hospital bed at night to go to the lavatory and fell, breaking her hip. Surgery and an extended recovery followed. The fall was most certainly brought on by the uncomfortable side effects of Ativan, which could be very commonly used. Dizziness and confusion occurred and led to her fall. It mustn’t have been used on her. The case was settled.
Why you need to have a look at your entire aging parents’ medications
All too often, adult children, spouses, and partners of seniors don’t review their prescribed medications or never query what doctors prescribe them. They trust doctors. Perhaps sometimes that trust shouldn’t be well founded. In the past, all the knowledge doctors used to make their medication decisions was not available to most people. Today, anyone can search for a medicine on the Internet and skim the “contraindications,” which suggests when it mustn’t be given, and the “side effects,” which lists all the things that may go mistaken, the uncomfortable side effects, and problems the medication could cause. If you should prevent things from going mistaken unnecessarily, have a look at the medication list and skim all the knowledge about it.
It will be uncomfortable
Asking a physician why they prescribe a specific medication, especially a sedative like those listed by Dr. Landsverk, can seem intimidating. Doctors may speak “medical,” a foreign language to most people. They use abbreviations normally known only to medical personnel. They speak quickly. They often appear to be in a rush. And some with the most important egos do not like anyone questioning them. But don’t be concerned. You have a right to know, and if you happen to’re the one acting to guard an aging loved one, you’ve every right to query any medication. Ask your questions after doing all your own basic research on each medication. With that knowledge in mind, you may raise your legitimate concerns.
The findings
Our health care system is stuffed with drug prescriptions. My own mother-in-law, Alice, who took excellent care of herself and lived to be 96, was taking 14 pills a day toward the tip of her life. When she was prescribed something latest, we asked questions. Eventually, a wise geriatrician took her off much more of the drugs she had been prescribed, and he or she actually felt higher without them.
- If you already know that your elderly patient is taking sedatives, ask the prescribing physician why.
- Discuss together with your doctor the risks and advantages of any medications you are taking. You and your family members have the fitting to know.
- If you’ve particular concerns about sedatives (based on the American Geriatrics Society’s statement that older adults should avoid them), you might need to discontinue them on the recommendation of a responsible healthcare provider who will monitor your aging parent when this or another medication is discontinued.
