Are the elderly taking too many drugs?

You are 100% correct.

The public needs to be educated about their Rx's. The majority of drugs have side effects.
Stomach aches, diarrhea, etc...are typical symptoms...most will go away during tx.
BUT try to explain this to someone!!!!

I have seen MAR's 8 pages long. !!!!! It is not only ridiculous, it is deadly.


Plus, don't get me started on OTC and herbal supplements.

Five years ago, my 85 yo mil called me to tell me that she'd taken ALL her digoxin because she was worthless and there was nothing left for her. She would have died, too, except she had a pacemaker. I got her to the hospital and she was treated and then placed in a psych unit for a week or so. They took her off all her medications except digoxin and lasix, and that, with an antidepressant and tincture of time, had her back to her old self. I looked up all her meds and EVERY ONE had as either a major or minor side effect--tada!--depression. Imagine that!

yes, yes, yes,
i have had my clinicals for a while now, first thing i noticed was polypharmacy.
most of my pts were on 20-30 drugs each day. i just cannot imagine how come their body can stand so integration, we all know aging process and its consequences so i just am amzing and scared that mostly this people still are alive because of drugs and its addiction. i know the deseases require treatment but at some piont it is too much ingeration.
i hope i use to it more thru my school and later on,

When I worked at the state psych hospital we had a patient who was very violent. He was taking a lot of different pills to calm him down and he was just getting worse. Finally, the doctor took him off all of his meds. He cleared up once he got off all the drugs and was eventually discharged from the hospital.

I was passing meds and came to one of my patients with her "cupfull" of pills. She poured them out in her hand and looked at them and said, "Do you really think that all these pills know where they are supposed to go?"

Yeah! Don't ya love our "WAR ON DRUGS". We are sending mixed messages= These drugs are BAD- while these drugs are GOOD. Don't make sense to me!

Yes...they are taking too many...Some of you in LTC might be familiar with the Beers List. I think more than 9 meds will trigger on the QI reports. Not only are they taking too many meds, but also the wrong type of meds for the elderly.

I was just reading the thread about using smoking to counter the stress felt during nursing school and there was a comment about a physician who said that taking Xanax was better than smoking a cig. I mentioned other more healthy ways to counter-act normal stress.

But have you seen the tv ads for meds for simply being what amounts to being shy in public? Taking an anti-anxiety drug for shyness?

Our whole society has moved to taking a pill for everything. Did it start with docs or are docs merely responding to the public wants?

steph

I noticed in LTC that many elderly patients were taking upwards of 25 to 30 pills per day. No wonder they c/o being sick.....imagine all the side effects & adverse reactions. My favorite- is multiple stool softeners and laxatives. When I ask- why not prune juice? I hear- "Prune juice is too expensive. Medicare pays for laxatives & enemas."

I think it should be one of the responsibilities of the pharmacies to look at all of the meds given for the very same conditions. For instance, I have some residents who are on 4 different medications for GERD. Because the pharmacy we contract with prints up all of these MARs shouldn't they also review the meds for polypharmacy or overlapping medications?