Working Caregiver- Senior Medications
Taken together, some prescription drugs can cause more harm than good
Staying Alive: The Importance of Monitoring Polypharmacy for Seniors
 As working caregivers, we make sure that our loved ones take their prescribed medications day after day. We remind our loved ones to take them on schedule, we manage and organize them, and we make sure that medications are taken with required food and drink. We do all this, because if the doctors have prescribed these medications, then they must be necessary to ensure that our elderly mom, dad, relative or friend preserve their health and live a life that's long. Many of our loved ones consume 5 or more different types of prescription medications everyday, not to mention the over-the-counter ones which are recommended for preventative medicine. The trend of daily drug cocktails are referred to as polypharmacy, and despite the fact that it's supported by medical professionals, it can be extremely dangerous.
Prescription drugs can interact with each other, and the effects can range from inconvenient and uncomfortable to life threatening. While we as caregivers assume that the things our elderly care recipients are being prescribed are safe, sometimes doctors unknowingly prescribe medications that will have a dangerous interaction with others. Individually, these medications might be required for health preservation, but together they can cause more harm than good.
One of the major reasons that this occurs is because seniors might have multiple doctors that they see, and proper communication doesn't always occur among them. If seniors use more than one pharmacy, you might never be notified that they are taking medications that can interact. Some doctors might just be overwhelmed with patients, and when prescribing a medication for a new set of symptoms or illness, they may not look into the polypharmacy that results from past prescriptions; or they may prescribe a medication for symptoms of drug interactions thinking that there's a different cause altogether. Over the counter medications and supplements can also cause a problem, but when pharmacists or doctors ask which medications they're taking, caregivers or seniors might not think to mention things like Asprin or Vitamins, however, these should always be disclosed as they can have negative drug interactions as well.
We have a lot on our plates as caregivers, but with our major goal being to keep our loved ones safe and healthy, monitoring and doing our own research into polypharmacy and the specific prescription and non-prescription drugs taken by our loved ones is crucial. Anytime a new medication is added to the drug cocktail known as polypharmacy, potential interactions against all other medications should be researched, either online, through a phone in service, or simply by asking a pharmacist or doctor. With any new medication, it's also important to ask our seniors how they're feeling, and to be on the look out for side effects of the medications that might be preventable especially if they occur due to negative drug interactions. Carrying a complete list of all medications, including schedule and dosage is also a great idea to check on any issues with polypharmacy.
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