|
Home About the Report Previous Newsletters Sign up for the Report Suggested Products Comments |
 |
||
| ||
| ||
 | ||
 | ||
 | ||
 | ||
 | ||
 | ||
 | ||
| ||
| These statements have not been evaluated by the FDA. These products are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease. | ||
|
One in Five Seniors Prescribed Wrong Drugs 
A new study found that one in five seniors was prescribed risky, inappropriate drugs by his or her doctor. Because individuals over 65 have weaker kidneys and do not metabolize drugs as well as when they were younger, they are not allowed to take any prescription drugs listed on the "Beers List," but are instead to use safer, alternative drugs. For about 20 percent of seniors, this doesn't happen. The study also found that 4 percent of these seniors received prescriptions for three or more risky drugs. Considering that individuals over 65 consume one-third of all prescription drugs, this study, published in the August 2004 Annals of Medicine, exposes a huge oversight in the medical industry. The senior researcher suggests that when your doctor fills out a prescription, you ask these three questions:
The most common incorrectly prescribed drugs were muscle relaxants and antidepressants, particularly the following:
These drugs strain the kidneys past what many elders can bear. For many years I worked in an Emergency Room where we saw large numbers of senior citizens, many of them from nursing homes. Most of these poor folks were on separate medications for: 1. high blood pressure (often two)2. cholesterol 3. diabetes 4. arthritis 5. sleeping 6. anxiety or depression (sometimes both) 7. water retention 8. allergies 9. angina 10. heart failure 11. sticky platelets 12. heart rhythm medication 13. anti-blood clots Thirteen different drugs! This is common. If the pharmacist puts these various drugs into the computer to check for compatibility of all of them, the hard drive will crash. It's an impossible task. Too many variables. The body too will crash from this mix. Seniors should be kept off drugs. For nearly every situation (except in severe emergencies where temporary life saving measures may be needed) drugs are not the solution to the problem. Proper nutrition, repletion of deficiencies, and detoxification will improve their health. If you have a senior citizen in your circle of family or friends, you would do well to look over their medication list, and work with your alternative medicine practitioner to find better solutions for them. In my experience, getting them off drugs will result in these individuals becoming brighter, more alert, more cooperative, and more interested again in life. It's a joy to see.
"Many Older Patients on Risky Drugs" 
|