It is very important to assess disease states prior to adding new medications. A 73 year old male has terribly dry skin. The dry skin is leading to some itching. His past medication history includes A-Fib, hypothyroidism, BPH, constipation and osteoarthritis. His...
Why are anticholinergics on the naughty list of medications in the elderly (Beer’s criteria)? Side effects. Side effects of anticholinergics can be very troubling. Here’s a list of 6 big ones to remember including an example of the prescribing cascade...
Constipation is often a chronic problem in the elderly and there are many diseases and obviously many medications that can cause constipation. There are ways to try to minimize pill burden in this patient population when reducing the actual number may not be...
This is often one of the most challenging questions in geriatrics: When should we discontinue statins in the elderly? I’ve been asked this question several times, and there are a lot of factors that go into my assessment as to whether a statin should be...
A 77 year old male had recently been having troublesome hallucinations. He was envisioning spiders and snakes in his room that were incredibly distressing and a major cause of his severe anxiety. Other causes such as medication and medical conditions were ruled out,...
I often struggle with the question, “When can we discontinue a PPI?” It is rarely a black and white issue in the (mostly) geriatric population I work with. Here’s a scenario that might make things a little more black and white. Patient 1: She is 81...
