Medication Fog Can Mimic or Worsen Dementia in Seniors

Seniors taking multiple medications can potentially exhibit dementia-like symptoms or experience a worsening of symptoms if they have dementia, reports the Associated Press . Approximately 91 percent of people over 65 take at least one prescription medicine and 41 percent use five or more, and the risk of side effects is compounded the more medications taken. "It's very easy to miss medication side effects because they masquerade as all these other symptoms," said University of California, San Francisco geriatrician Michael Steinman. Medicines suspected of causing such problems include certain types of muscle relaxants, antihistamines, allergy medicines, stomach acid remedies, antidepressants, anti-anxiety medicines, pain relievers, and sleep aids. Many drugs have anticholinergic effects that reduce or disrupt a chemical messenger that plays an essential role in healthy nerve function — resulting in drowsiness, confusion, blurred vision, dizziness, and other symptoms that impair thinking skills. "Once someone is having even the tiniest difficulty with thinking and memory, then the effects of these drugs are just huge," noted Andrew Budson with Boston University's Alzheimer's disease center. Doctors suggest such problems could be avoided if people know all the drugs someone is taking; maintain a running list with the date each drug is started and discontinued, and any notable symptoms; review the full medication list with a doctor, geriatrics specialist, or pharmacist; and raise any perceived issues once suspected.