When it comes to caring for an elderly adult, there are many things you should know about prescription medications, especially those that are used for pain. With elderly patients, there is much harm that can come from prescription medications. While some medications are necessary for their survival, there might be others prescribed that may not be needed.
Fixing Health Complaints
One of the main reasons why doctors will prescribe medications to the elderly is to fix their health complaints. For instance, if an elderly adult complains of back spasms or back pain, they might be prescribed muscle relaxers or prescription pain medications. While doctors generally only prescribe medications if they absolutely feel it is necessary, if the medications aren’t reviewed regularly, this could become a problem. There may be additional side effects that are going untreated, as well.
Expected Treatment
Most elderly adults that go to the doctor’s office for a health issue expect to get medication. This is often true whether the medication is needed or not. While this might not be a problem for some medications, with others, the list of harm the medication can do to your loved one could go on and on.
Many Doctors
If your elderly loved one isn’t going to the doctor with you or a senior care provider, they may be attending many different doctors. Since elderly adults often forget all the medications they are already on, this can be a big problem. One doctor might prescribe them medications, while another may prescribe them another medication that may interact with the ones they are already on. In addition, your elderly loved one might be seeing specialist doctors that don’t keep in touch with one another. They may be prescribing treatments that don’t fit with one another. It is important that you or senior care providers take your elderly loved one to their appointments.
Increased Side Effects
As previously mentioned, the more medications that your loved one takes, the more side effects they might experience. The increased side effects can include confusion, low blood pressure, excessive bleeding, respiratory issues, falling, and more. It is important that you help to keep your loved one’s medications to a minimum. If you can’t, at least do your best to keep track of their side effects and let the doctors know about the side effects, too.
These are some of the problems that could come with prescription medications in elderly adults. If you are concerned about the medications that your elderly loved one is taking, be sure to talk to their doctor about it right away.
Sources
Nia.nih.gov
Ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
