Archive for Март 11th, 2009
GROWING OLD – DRUGS (EXPERT’S ADVICE)
The advice from an expert was to stop most of the drugs -benzhexol, nitrazepam, and pentazocine; to re-evaluate the need for the pain-reliever she was prescribed for arthritis; and to question the need for the steroid (prednisone) she was taking for her asthma.
The lesson is clear. If you are over 65, check up to discover if you need all the drugs you have been prescribed, only take those you really need, and make sure you recheck, each time you visit a doctor. If you do not, you may become mentally and physically disturbed, and you will be diagnosed as being senile.
Senile dementia affects about one old person in every seven, and is severe in one-third of them. It is characterized by loss of initiative, loss of memory, decreased judgement, inability to select/ appropriate words or to perform calculations, disorientation, and personality disturbances. It is less common than depression, which occurs among old people because of the accumulation of stresses due to loss of status, loss of friends, loneliness, and poverty; but the two conditions are often confused by doctors.
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