Prescription Drugs Side Effects: Could Prescription Drugs Be Making You Ill?
There's no other way to put it: Far too many doctors are letting elderly people down.
A new study from Duke University in the US reveals disturbing evidence that more than 20 per cent of all elderly people who are prescribed drugs are receiving medications that are known to be harmful to older patients.
This lapse in 'care-giving' is nothing less than shameful. But it serves as a stark warning: No one should meekly accept what a doctor prescribes. Ask questions. Research. Take control of your health care.
Slipping through the cracks
In the early 90s, Dr Mark Beers, and several other specialists in geriatric drug therapy, developed a list of medications that were inappropriate for nursing home residents. The list - now known as the Beers List - was amended in 1997, and updated in 2003, and has become a well known tool for guiding doctors away from prescribing medications that may be harmful when taken by older patients.
In an interview with HealthDayNews, Dr Kevin Schulman, a professor of internal medicine at Duke University and one of the authors of the study, said that even though someone over the age of 65 may be in good health, their kidneys don't function as well as they did when they were younger. This is one of the primary reasons that some medications can be harmful. Antidepressants and muscle relaxants can put particular stress on the kidneys.
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