medication Archives - Better Health While Aging

Today we’re covering a touchstone resource for geriatricians: the “Beers List” of medications that older adults should avoid or use with caution.

(Technically, it’s called “The AGS Beers Criteria® for Potentially Inappropriate Medication Use in Older Adults.” I personally think of it as the list of “risky medications” for older adults.)

If you want to know which medications older adults should be careful about, this is the list!

This list gets updated every few years, so the Beers Criteria published in May 2023 is about as up-to-date as you can get for this type of guideline document.

You should know that experts in geriatrics and in medication safety go through a very careful process of reviewing the research on medications, and of updating this list of medications that older adults should avoid or use with caution.

So in this article, here’s what I’ll be sharing with you:

[Read more…]

One of the greatest challenges, when it comes to Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias, is coping with sundowning and with difficult behaviors.

These are symptoms beyond the chronic memory/thinking problems that are the hallmark of dementia. They include problems like:

Delusions, false accusations, paranoid behaviors, or irrational beliefs
Agitation (getting “amped up” or “revved up”) and/or aggressive behavior
Restless pacing or wandering
Disinhibited behaviors, which means saying or doing socially inappropriate things
Sleep disturbances

These are technically called “neuropsychiatric” symptoms, but regular people might refer to them as “acting crazy” symptoms. Or even “crazy-making” symptoms, as they do tend to drive family caregivers a bit nuts.

And when these behaviors happen in the late afternoon or early evening, it’s usually called “sundowning“. (In most cases, sundowning is triggered by fatigue; anticholinergic medications may cause sundowning symptoms as well.)

Because these behaviors are difficult and stressful for caregivers — and often for the person with dementia — people often ask if any medications can help.

The short answer is “Maybe.”

[Read more…]

Medications Older Adults Should Avoid or Use with Caution:
The American Geriatrics Society Beers Criteria (2023 Update)

5 Types of Medication Used to Treat Sundowning & Difficult Dementia Behaviors

Disclaimer