Common Medications Can Masquerade as Dementia in Seniors

An estimated 25 percent of older adults take anticholinergic drugs and are highly susceptible to negative responses to these medications, reports Kaiser Health News . Since 2012, anticholinergics — a wide-ranging class of medications used to treat allergies, insomnia, diarrhea, dizziness, motion sickness, asthma, Parkinson's disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and various psychiatric disorders — have been featured prominently on the American Geriatrics Society Beers Criteria list of medications that are potentially inappropriate for seniors. "The drugs that I'm most worried about in my clinic, when I need to think about what might be contributing to older adults' memory loss or cognitive changes, are the anticholinergics," said Dr. Rosemary Laird, medical director of the Maturing Minds Clinic at AdventHealth in Winter Park, Fla. In addition to prescription medications, many common over-the-counter drugs have anticholinergic properties, including antihistamines and sleep aids. Common adverse events include disorientation and agitation. Older adults are more susceptible to adverse effects from these medications for several reasons. Chiefly, their brains process acetylcholine less efficiently and their bodies take longer to break down these drugs.