Chapter 8: Pills and Your Parents
In This Chapter
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Guarding against medication mistakes
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Taking medications is a cooperative effort: teaming up with doctors and pharmacists
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Watch out for drug switching!
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Tips on taking medications
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Buying medicines over the Internet
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How to save money on prescriptions
The right pill in the right amount for the right reason can do wonders for your parents. That little tiny capsule can keep them alive, keep them out of a nursing home, help them get to sleep or make them feel like a million dollars. Or it can land them smack-dab into the emergency room—or even the grave.
With the average older adult getting 18 prescriptions filled every year and spending thousands of dollars out of their own pockets—staying on top of drug safety and costs can be a full-time job. It's my hope that by reading this chapter, you'll save time, money, and a trip to the hospital.
Seniors on Drugs
No, I'm not talking about seniors in high school or college. America's "other drug problem" is among seniors 65 years-plus. These seniors are swallowing one-third of all the prescriptions out there yet they make up only 13 percent of the population. And this doesn't include the over-the-counter (OTC) drugs that the senior crowd takes like aspirin, cold medicines, antacids, vitamins, and laxatives. On that front, they buy 40 percent of all the OTC drugs in the country.
Drugs That Don't Get Along
The most dangerous problem that older adults face when taking drugs is how multiple drugs interact with each other. One quarter of the elderly take at least three drugs a day. The older they are, the more drugs they take. The more drugs they take, the greater the risk in having the combination of drugs kick off a significant health problem.
Geri-Fact - A recent study in the Journal of the American Medical Association reported that drug reactions kill an estimated 100,000 people a year in U.S. hospitals. The researchers also claim that another 2.1 million are injured by adverse reactions. The elderly are especially vulnerable because of the number of drugs they take.
