Many people worry about giving medication to their elderly loved ones because there are sometimes adverse side effects associated with them. If you have a loved one already suffering from dementia, the mental and cognitive side effects can often be very noticeable, and quite unpleasant. For a long time, most medical professionals were under the assumption that these issues were not able to be fixed. With the current state of medicine, doctors and other professionals are beginning to rethink this stance.
This is an important issue within the senior community. Many elderly folk take two, three, or even more medications that have some sort of impact upon their cognitive functioning. The issue is that many medications block acetyl choline in some way, and it has a bigger impact on the elderly than it does upon younger people taking similar medications. Drugs for depression, incontinence, anxiety, and even allergies all have this trait, and these are all commonly taken medications. By finding a way to reverse this, some hope that it will be possible to help reduce dementia symptoms. In fact, it has long been known that low levels of acetyl choline are also apparent in dementia patients, and hopefully this knowledge will come in useful while helping reduce instances of dementia.
If you have a loved one with dementia or Alzheimer’s disease, senior care is a good way to help provide supervision and make sure that your elderly loved one stays healthy and safe during the day while you are at work or away. In-home care gives your family just the amount of help you want, and it can be completely customizable. If your loved one needs assistance just a few hours a week, then you can do that, or you can do more or less depending upon the situation. It is a great way to make sure that a loved one with dementia is able to get through the day problem free while you are able to go out and do the things that you need to do–regardless of what that might be.
Right now, the emphasis on cognitive impairment from meds is looking at whether the side effects are truly permanent or not. A lot more research in this field is needed, and hopefully, the appropriate steps will be taken. If these things are non-reversible, then hopefully doctors will find ways to treat the other health issues without impairing cognitive functioning. Hopefully, this will enable the medical community to prevent some cases of dementia in the future, something that needs to be done before the growing cases of Alzheimer’s and other dementia skyrocket beyond a point that caregivers can keep up with. Right now, over 5 million people in the U.S. suffer from dementia, and it costs over $214 billion to treat each year. These are huge numbers, and the senior community is still growing. If these numbers can be slowed in their growth, our elderly community will benefit, and fewer dollars will be spent on senior care, as well.
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