Re: 3 Common Drugs Trigger Most ER Visits by Seniors
- From: Jean Smith <gotermite@xxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Thu, 06 Dec 2007 23:49:21 -0600
In article <13ldq1q4cc7vb91@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>,
Jim Higgins <gordian238@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
3 Common Drugs Trigger Most ER Visits by Seniors
http://tinyurl.com/2meq7e
TUESDAY, Dec. 4 (HealthDay News) -- Side effects from just three drugs
are responsible for a full third of all U.S. emergency room visits by
senior citizens who had adverse reactions to medications, a new study found.
In 2004 and 2005, the blood thinner warfarin, the diabetes drug insulin
and the heart drug digoxin caused about 58,000 emergency room visits a
year in those 65 and older, the researchers found.
The major problem is that it's hard to determine the correct dose for
each drug, said study lead author Dr. Daniel Budnitz, a medical officer
with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
"It's challenging," he said, "and it takes work between the patient and
physician to get the dose just right."
Budnitz and his colleagues undertook the study to determine the danger
posed to senor citizens by a long list of drugs that have been deemed
"potentially inappropriate" for use in the elderly.
The researchers looked at several surveys of emergency room visits from
2004 and 2005. The study findings are published in the Dec. 4 issue of
the Annals of Internal Medicine.
Forty-one drugs are on the list -- called the BEERS criteria -- of
medications considered inappropriate for the elderly. But they accounted
for just 3.6 percent of a total of about 177,000 annual emergency room
visits.
Warfarin (also known as Coumadin), insulin and digoxin (which has a
number of trade names) posed many more problems. (Digoxin is also on the
list of potentially inappropriate drugs for the elderly, but it's only
listed as a potential problem if taken in certain situations.)
All three medications are well-known, commonly used drugs and all can
create problems in some cases.
Warfarin, often prescribed to heart patients, prevents blood clots by
thinning the blood, but can cause excessive bleeding if the blood
becomes too thin. Insulin treats diabetes but can sometimes cause blood
sugar levels to drop to dangerous levels. And digoxin, a long-used drug,
can cause a variety of problems from nausea to erratic heartbeats.
In some cases, there aren't good alternatives to these three drugs,
although some doctors consider digoxin to have outlived its usefulness,
the study authors noted.
Doctors can monitor the levels of all three drugs with blood tests,
Budnitz said. Simple finger-prick blood tests allow testing of blood
sugar levels, and similar tests measuring clotting ability are now
available in some clinics for people taking warfarin, he said.
The study results are "a reminder that doctors and patients need to work
on doing the best job we can managing these medicines," Budnitz said.
"The answer isn't to take away medications."
Dr. Knight Steel, head of geriatric medicine at Hackensack University
Medical Center in New Jersey, said the study results aren't really
surprising. Doctors have long known the risks of the three drugs in
question, he said, adding that the research doesn't provide any new
information.
Ow! Levels of insulin are not monitored with blood testing. Glucose in the
blood is monitored because it varies with dietary choices and activity, as
well as insulin. It's sort of a dilemma to maintain close control and save
your sight and appendages while not dropping the blood sugar either too fast
or too low risking confusion, lost consciousness, coma or death, the probable
cause for most ER trips.
If you come across a someone staring into space or having difficulty with
motor skills or confused don't think "demented" straight off. They may may be
hypoglycemic or diabetic and in need of food and emergency (911) attention.
http://firstaid.about.com/od/seizurecoma/qt/06_hypoglycemia.htm
White bread raises blood sugar quickly.
http://www.insulinalert.org/Documents/GIIndexinDepth.htm
Taking one's insulin with the expectation of eating in a few minutes can lead
to trouble, if stuff happens. Getting stuck in traffic with no food could
easily explain a situation, like the guy wandering the freeway lanes on foot
the other day.
--
"A patient pursuit of facts, and cautious combination and comparison of them,
is the drudgery to which man is subjected by his Maker, if he wishes to attain
sure knowledge." --Thomas Jefferson: Notes on Virginia Q.VI, 1782. ME 2:97
http://etext.virginia.edu/jefferson/quotations/jeff0700.htm
.
- References:
- 3 Common Drugs Trigger Most ER Visits by Seniors
- From: Jim Higgins
- 3 Common Drugs Trigger Most ER Visits by Seniors
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