If you’re helping an older person with health and healthcare, chances are that person is taking at least a few prescription medications, if not several.
Do you ever wonder if he or she is on the right medications? Do you worry about side-effects and interactions?
These are sensible concerns to have. Many older adults end up experiencing “polypharmacy,” which means taking more than 5 medications concurrently.
And although medications do often help maintain health and wellbeing, studies have repeatedly shown that lots of older adults end up suffering from problems related to medication.
Polypharmacy, predictably, increases the risk of problems. But even older adults taking 1-3 medications can encounter problems.
So I want to share a list of common ways that medications affect the health and wellbeing of aging adults. I’ll then explain what you can do, to minimize these problems.
Six Common Medication-Related Problems in Aging Adults
Here are the most common problems that I see: [Read more…]