Elderly Beware
Saturday 4 May 2013:
Anticholinergics, a commonly prescribed group of drugs, may cause elderly people to "slow down" in their daily physical activities, said Padma Shri & Dr. BC Roy National Awardee, Dr. KK Aggarwal, President Heart Care Foundation of India & National Vice President Elect IMA. It has been reported that anti-cholinergic drugs – used to treat acid reflux, Parkinson's disease and urinary incontinence -- may cause older people to lose their thinking skills more quickly than those who do not take the medicines. Anti-cholinergic drugs act by blocking acetylcholine, a chemical that enhances communication between nerve cells in the brain, from binding to its receptors in nerve cells. Older adults taking anticholinergics become more likely to walk more slowly and to need help in other daily activities. These results are true even in older adults who have normal memory and thinking abilities. For older adults taking a moderately anticholinergic medication, or two or more mildly anticholinergic medications, their function is similar to that of someone three to four years older. Common anticholinergic medicines include blood pressure medication, nifedipine; the stomach antacid, ranitidine and the incontinence medication, tolterodine. Cholinesterase inhibitors, a family of drugs used to treat dementia by increasing levels of acetylcholine include donepezil, galantamine, rivastigmine and tacrine. About 10 percent of patients may be taking tolterodine and donepezil together. The two drugs are pharmacological opposites, which led to the hypothesis that the simultaneous treatment of dementia and incontinence could lead to reduced effectiveness of one or both drug. About HCFI: The only National Not for profit NGO, on whose mega community health education events, Govt. of India has released two National commemorative stamps and one cancellation stamp, and who has conducted one to one training on” Hands only CPR” of 47982 people since 1st November 2012. The CPR 10 Mantra is – “within 10 minutes of death, earlier the better; at least for the next 10minutes, longer the better; compress the centre of the chest of the dead person continuously and effectively with a speed of 10x10 i.e. 100 per minute.”