After a specific age, the medications or drugs that affect the bodies are different. Some may be strong for your body or some less. Maybe some medications start affecting your body after age-related changes like metabolism slow down. In the older age, many people face long-term health problems whose treatment needs multiple medications, increasing their bodies’ side effects. No doubt, having several medications at one time affects all types of ages, but in seniors, the effects are more because of multiple chronic conditions. Following are the medications that you need to avoid or use with caution after the age of 65.

Non-Steroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drugs Or Painkillers

NSAIDs such as indomethacin and piroxicam mainly reduce inflammation and pain. But in the older age, high consumption of this medication increases the risk of bleeding in the stomach, ulcers, indigestion, blood pressure, and worse, heart failure. 

If you need NSAIDs, the better choices are salsalate and ibuprofen. To reduce the risk of bleeding, do not use NSAIDs together with clopidogrel, dipyridamole, aspirin, prasugrel, warfarin, dabigatran, and ticlopidine. Suppose you are 70 years old and regularly taking NSAIDs, and have a history of ulcers. In that case, you need to protect your stomach from bleeding with prescribed medications. 

Warfarin

Warfarin is a blood thinner or anticoagulant that prevents the formation of stroke, blood clots, and heart attack. It is also called Jantoven and Coumadin. Warfarin medication has a small therapeutic range, which leads to over-thinning of the blood because it contains higher amounts in the bloodstream. Warfarin increases the risk of bleeding in people of any age but especially in older ones. This is because older people are already weak from the inside, so the risk of bleeding is high in them. Therefore, if any person needs to take warfarin, they must check to monitor the level of anticoagulation in their bloodstream to know if it is an inappropriate range. 

Benzodiazepines

This drug is for the treatment of anxiety or insomnia. Some common drugs are diazepam, lorazepam, and temazepam. In the older age, the consumption of these drugs increases. Their effects decrease the metabolism of long-acting agents. High consumption of this drug also increases the risk of hip fractures due to motor vehicle accidents and falls. 

Anticholinergic Drugs

This drug is also not suitable for older people because it causes constipation, low blood pressure, confusion, urination problems, and blurry vision. Be aware of the medications that include the anti-Parkinson’s drug trihexyphenidyl, the overactive bladder drug diphenhydramine and oxybutynin, the irritable bowel syndrome drug dicyclomine, the antidepressants imipramine and amitriptyline, and an antihistamine drug which mainly includes an over the counter sleep medicines like Tylenol PM.

Sleeping Pills

High consumption of sleeping pills is not a good thing for people of any age, and never try to take sleeping pills prescribed by a doctor to someone else. Sleeping pills have side effects on older people like drowsiness, memory loss, light-headedness, and poor concentration. Having sleeping pills is very easy for everyone to take some time to sleep, but it increases the unpleasant sleep problems. Some people feel a hangover when they get up after using sleeping pills.

Having sleeping pills with alcohol increases the risk of side effects. If you are facing a problem of insomnia and unpleasant sleep. Take the sleeping pills but after the doctor’s prescription and take them until the doctor says to you not more than that. 

Antacids

Older people take this medicine to get relief from indigestion and heartburn. Some of them face side effects like diarrhea because of magnesium present in antacids, inhibited bone mineralization because of the high amount of aluminum present in antacids, constipation because of calcium and aluminum present in antacids. In addition, there are many cases of severe stomach bleeding who are above the age of 60 and take antacids, and have a history of ulcers and bleeding problems. 

Insulin

Insulin is a hormone produced by beta or special cells in the pancreas to regulate blood sugar levels. Insulin is a complex, ample protein, and it is like other drugs and metabolized at a high rate among older people. Therefore, older people need to monitor their blood sugar levels from time to time. Doctors said that people need to avoid rapid-acting insulin because they fall, faint, and become hypoglycemic (shaking, sweating, and heart-pounding) with high insulin. Always choose the insulin medication you need to take one time a day. 

Antipsychotic Drugs

In older people, antipsychotic drugs increase the risk of death, tremors, falls, and stroke. You can take antipsychotic drugs to treat bipolar disorder, depression, or schizophrenia. Make sure you stay away from the antipsychotics like quetiapine, haloperidol, and risperidone.

Top Ways For Aged People To Prevent Usage

Always Ask Your Doctor

To save yourself from deadly drugs and medications, never take medicine yourself. Firstly, always ask or talk with your doctor about your medical conditions, problems you face, and any medicine to overcome your problem. 

Research About Your Medicine By Yourself

There are many consumer-friendly and reliable websites on the internet to check drug interaction. Do some research online about your health symptoms and learn about medications. Also, check the drug interaction even when you buy over-the-counter medications, supplements, herbals, or vitamins. The drug interaction checker describes the procedure of each drug interaction, explains the importance, and tells how to manage the interaction.

Learn About Medicines

Before consuming any medicine, read the medicine label correctly, read the package inserts, and follow directions carefully. If you have any queries related to prescribed medicine, ask your doctor and clear out everything. 

Go To The Doctor With Someone

Older people need to go to a doctor if they need help understanding and remembering what the doctor says to them during diagnosis and treatment.

Do Not Take Medication Prescribed To Someone Else

Never take any other prescribed medications because you might get the wrong medication interaction and side effects if you do this. 

 Conclusion

In old age, most people face side effects of most of the drugs and medications. So older people need to know about the effects of drugs on their bodies. We mentioned some drugs or medications above that you need to avoid or use with caution if you are above 65. And also use ways to prevent harmful drug interactions.