Drugs to avoid

I came across a link to this site online. I think everyone who cares for someone living with dementia and every person living with dementia who is still able to take responsibility for their own medication should know about this. It's a list of drugs which which are best avoided by the elderly and, particularly, people living with dementia:

http://www.healthcare.uiowa.edu/minimedicalschool/documents/BeersCriteriaPublicHandout041012.pdf

Maybe it wasn't a fit after all

Some weeks ago I was trying to get information from the Parkinson's Disease consultant about the possibility of the fit being caused by the medication (fits are a possible side-effect of the Sinemet S takes). I was eventually put through to Parkinson's nurse who was thorough and very helpful. After I'd described the 'fit' and answered a lot of questions she said she would put money on it not being a fit but being the result of low blood pressure causing loss of consciousness. It's apparently something that's common in Parkinson's Disease and often happens 'on the loo'. S had actually finished on the loo but was sitting there and may have been straining very shortly before the incident. The rigidity that I witnessed (as opposed to any real shaking) was a big clue for her. The fact that S then slid down into a very uncomfortable position where her breathing was somewhat restricted wouldn't have helped. But her quick recovery, in terms of her vital signs, would also suggest that her explanation is at least a strong possibility.

Two additional factors that may support the theory: S has always had low blood pressure and another side-effect of the medication is  -  you've guessed it  -  low blood pressure. Whether this theory helps us at all in the long run remains to be seen, but it does seem that this loss of consciousness is less serious than any kind of fit.

A convincing case against statins?

The link below will take you to a very interesting website. Scroll down and then download the 'fact sheet 1'. The other resources will also give you food for thought:

Statin Nation

Are statins being overprescribed?

I was shocked to be told by a pharmacist that there's an 'unwritten principle' that everyone over 60 should be put on statins.  I know that statins have a number of possible side-effects, including memory loss (as I've mentioned previously).

A few days after my conversation with the pharmacist, I read this article:

http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2013/oct/22/butter-cheese-saturated-fat-heart-specialist

For those who may not have time to read the article, this extract will give you a flavour:

"In the UK eight million people take statins regularly, up from five million 10 years ago," he writes. "With 60 million statin prescriptions a year, it is difficult to demonstrate any additional effect of statins on reduced cardiovascular mortality over the effects of the decline in smoking and primary angioplasty [a technique used by doctors to widen the arteries].

In the original trials carried out by drug firms, only one in 10,000 patients given statins suffered a minor side-effect. But among 150,000 patients in a "real world" study – people who had been routinely given statins by their GP – 20% had side-effects that were so unacceptable to them that they stopped taking the pills, including muscle pains, stomach upsets, sleep and memory disturbance, and erectile dysfunction."

Naturally the medical and pharmaceutical establishment disagree, but it's possible that the tide is starting to turn in favour of a more cautious approach to the prescription of 'statins for all'.

Oct 28th:  I'm adding to this post because I have learned that the British Medical Journal has come out against 'statins for all' (in this case, all over 50).  This article seems to me to explain the debate very clearly:

http://www.bmj.com/content/347/bmj.f6412

Medication frustration

There's a post today from the Alzheimer's Society: http://forum.alzheimers.org.uk/showthread.php?63405-Statin-found-to-prevent-memory-problems-caused-by-surgery

Apparently, the commonly prescribed statin, atorvastatin, has been found to reduce inflammation in the brain that occurs after surgery in mice, which can lead to post-operative decline and Alzheimer’s disease.

This could be good news.

But if you google 'statins' you'll find that these drugs, which are prescribed on a massive scale, are possibly implicated in the development of 'memory problems' and everyone knows that memory problems are often the first sign of the onset of dementia. It's a bit like the way in which some drugs which are presribed for a particular condition, include that very condition (as well as many other unpleasant symptoms) amongst their possible side-effects.

 What are we to think?