HEALTH: Seniors and Prescription Drugs

[Guest guest]

Seniors and Prescription Drugs

by Jim Lynn

Editor Essential Oils Online

 

Elsie, a senior citizen was prescribed propranolol to treat

her high blood pressure. Unfortunately, her doctor didn't know

that the dosage must be reduced in older adults. So Elsie

ended up in the emergency room, very weak with a dangerously

low heart rate.

 

Elsie isn't alone having such a terrifying experience. Today

thousands of seniors are being injured, even killed by dangerous

drugs and drug interactions.

 

Why are seniors more likely at risk?

 

Seniors are much more likely to have adverse reactions to

medications because:

 

* Drugs may remain in the body longer. The body of older people

 

contains a larger amount of fat, where some drugs accumulate.

Also, the ability of the liver and kidneys to process drugs and

clear them out of the body decreases with age.

 

* Older people often take multiple prescription drugs, sometimes

prescribed by a number of different physicians, so the chance of

drug interaction is greatly increased.

 

* Seniors have an increased sensitivity to the effects of drugs,

especially those that act on the central nervous system, like

painkillers, tranquilizers and antihistamines.

 

The situation of adverse drug reaction in the medical community

is literally out of control, inspite of what any medical professional

may tell you. Consider:

 

Every five minutes and 15 seconds there's a death due to drug

induced illness (about 100,000 a year).

 

Every minute two people are hospitalized for adverse drug

reactions (about 1,500,000 a year).

 

Every 16 minutes an older adult suffers a hip fracture, often

fatal, due to a fall caused by adverse drug reactions.

 

To make matters worse, many doctors are not aware of these

facts and or do not apparently care. Studies have found that:

 

* 70% of doctors treating Medicare patients flunked an exam

on their knowledge of prescribing drugs to older adults.

 

* The majority of physicians who were asked to take the exam

refused, often citing as their reason that they had a " lack of

interest in the subject. "

 

* 40% of patients taking three or more drugs were given drugs

with one or more harmful interactions with other drugs.

 

This is a frightening situation, and by any other civilized measure

or standard would simply not be tolerated. The problem is exasperated

further by the blind trust many patients place in their physicians.

This holds true even for younger patients.

 

Louise was just 30 years old when she died.

 

She had been prescribed the antihistamine Seldane for her

allergies by one doctor, then was given the antibiotic erythromycin

for an infection by another doctor.

 

Neither Louise nor the two doctors knew that these two drugs

could, in combination, cause the abnormal heart rhythm that

caused her death.

 

Seldane was removed from the market in 1998, but not before

many people were killed or maimed by its use.

 

There are thousands of drugs and many more thousands of drug

combinations being used today that kill. Below is a list of ten

pairs of drugs that can injure and kill when prescribed together.

Age is no barrier to their devastating power to destroy.

 

Lanoxin - Calan Sr

Insulin - Inderal

Warfarin (coumadin) - Tagament

Prozac - Desyrel

Tagament - Dilantin

Demerol - Nardil

Mevacor - Lopid

Tegretol - Erythromycin

Calan Sr - Quinidine

Theophylline - Tagament

 

All of these drugs can have lethal consequences.

Always check with a physician before deciding to

stop use of any prescribed drug.

 

Man-made, petro-chemical drugs are lethal, toxic failures

not fit for human consumption. But to insure their use,

Pharmaceutical companies spend billions of dollars

courting doctors with free trips. They offer incentives to

medical students, and submit drug research papers to

medical journals that are biased and at times contain

outright lies.

 

The medical system in America functions through peer

pressure and associations like the American Medical

Association. Doctors who question accepted treatment

or object to standard protocol, are often ostracized and/or

pressured out of medical practice.

 

In short, modern medicine as it stands in the USA is a sham

by any honest measure. To insure our safety when we visit

our doctor, it is important to understand that we are responsible

for our own health...not the doctor. We are in charge of our

body and what we put in it, not the doctor. The proper

role of the doctor is to advise. Physicians are not gods.

They are mortal humans who make mistakes.

 

In conclusion, be aware that prescribed drugs are dangerous

at best, and often lethal at their worst. The net effect of consuming

them is like playing Russian roulette.

 

Jim Lynn is editor of Essential Oils Online and for The Power of Healing Workshop.

EOOhealth-

http://www.lynngroup.com/workshop.html

Email: Jim

 

References:

JAMA, Journal of American Medical Association

Worst Pills, Best Pills, Washington D.C.