Drug Reactions in Older Adults
Medications help prevent and treat illness and disease, but increasingly among seniors, certain medications are causing adverse drug reactions. Every year in the U.S., approximately 100,000 people over age 65 receive hospital treatment for harmful medication reactions. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that just four blood thinner and diabetes medications lead to two-thirds of hospitalizations among older Americans.
Anyone can encounter dangerous drug reactions or an accidental overdose, but older adults are at higher risk. Seniors typically face multiple health conditions that call for multiple medications. The more medications you take, the more likely it is for these varied drugs to negatively interact. Lean body mass, fluid levels, and kidney and liver function decrease with age and affect how your body absorbs, metabolizes and eliminates drugs. In addition, vision, hearing and memory problems can influence proper medication management.
Certain foods and beverages, such as grapefruit, caffeine and alcohol, can alter how drugs work, particularly in older adults. Over-the-counter medicines, supplements and herbal products also can impact a drug’s effectiveness. Your key to successful and safe medication usage is to take the right dosage for the right medical condition for the right period of time. To safeguard yourself from harmful drug reactions, follow these suggestions:
- Ask questions to understand how medications should be taken. Ask your doctor or pharmacist to provide written instructions.
- Use only one pharmacy so your pharmacists can be more familiar with all your medications.
- Work with your doctor to recognize and report potential side effects of each medication you take.
- Team up with relatives and caregivers to ensure you take appropriate doses.
- At least twice a year, ask your physician to review and adjust the dosage of your medications, and discontinue any unnecessary ones.
How do you manage your loved one’s daily diet and medication regimen?
I have this uncle-in-law who has trouble with his medicines because whenever he takes a medicine for a certain body ache, side effects keep showing in his other body parts as well. Those medicines are recommended by a general physician. What his wife did was ask for help from a specialist and he is feeling fine now. This article is very helpful for those who are seeking help regarding how to avoid drug reactions.
Thank you for your comment! It's great that your uncle-in-law received help and is better now. Thanks for writing!
This is new knowledge to me. Thank you for sharing this information. I never knew that there are certain foods that can alter how drugs works in older adults.
Seeing a DOCTOR first can eliminate many potential problems (as you point out) before taking any medications is one way to avoid any bad reactions from the medicine we take.
Thank you for your comment, Jason. Yes, seeing your doctor first and understanding how to take the medicine is important. It also is critical that the patient informs the doctor of other medications the patient is taking, or whether he or she is allergic to any medications, to avoid reactions. Thanks for reading our blog!