Are Your Prescriptions Killing You?

Deane Alban, Contributor
Waking Times

Prescription drugs cause over 100,000 deaths per year and cause another 1.5 million people to experience side effects so severe they must be hospitalized. Shockingly, adverse drugreactions are now thefourth leading cause of deathin the US. (1)

This is in part due to the problem of “polypharmacy” — the taking of several drugs at once that interact in negative and sometimes unexpected ways.

Every medication carries the risk of side effects. When more than one drug at a time is taken, the risks increase exponentially. When you consider that the average 65-year-old takes 5 medications (2), you can imagine how widespread the problem of polypharmacy is.

Medications and Your Brain

Armon Neel is a board-certified geriatric pharmacist who has devoted his career to guiding health professionals and older adults in the appropriate use of medication. He writes AARP’s Ask the Pharmacist column.

In his book,Are Your Prescriptions Killing You?, he contends that as many as3 out of 4 Alzheimer’s cases could be caused by drug interactions. This is a stunning indictment!

He points out that polypharmacy becomes a greater concern as you grow older. Not only are seniors taking more medications, but the ones they take aren’t handled by the body as well as when they were young.

Livers and kidneys no longer work as efficiently and have a harder time breaking down and eliminating drugs from the system. This is why some people who have been on a drug for years might suddenly find it causes side effects as they age.

Many medications can lead to a false-positive diagnosis for dementia or Alzheimer’s. One way common mechanism for this is the reduction in the brain’s level ofacetylcholine, the primary neurotransmitter involved with memory and learning. This can lead to symptoms that resemble dementia including mental confusion, delirium, blurred vision, memory loss, and hallucinations.

Avoid the “Anti-” Drugs

Here are three of the worst-offending categories of drugs to watch out for:

• If you take a drug that starts with “anti”, such as antihistamines, antidepressants, antipsychotics, antibiotics, antispasmodics, or antihypertensives, it’s likely that it will affect your acetylcholine levels, and your brain function.

• Sleeping pills are notorious for causing memory loss. Ambien so commonly induces memory loss that some have coined it “the amnesia drug”. There are better ways to get to sleep!

• Probably the single worst group of drugs for your brain would bethe statin drugs, which are used to lower cholesterol levels. These drugs cause memory loss so frequently that they are now required to state they can cause memory loss on the label.

Another frightening side effect of statins is that they can lead to diabetes. Dr. Stephen Sinatra, founder of Heart MD Institute, cites the alarming statistic that 48% of women who take these medications become diabetic.

A New Point of View

We’ve been brainwashed to believe thatlow cholesterol is an important marker of good health,but this is now known to not be true.

Dr. David Perlmutter, author of the best seller Grain Brain, recommends we start thinking of cholesterol as our brain’s best friend. Low cholesterol levels increase the risk of suicide, depression, and dementia. The risk of dementia is reduced by 70% in those withhigh cholesterol. You read that right –high cholesterol reduces risk of dementia!

Dr. Duane Graveline, a medical doctor and NASA astronaut, wrote an eye-opening account of the dangers of one popular statin drug inLipitor Thief of Memory. He experienced two bouts of serious memory loss diagnosed as transient global amnesia (TGA). Ultimately, this was traced to his taking Lipitor.

He is now on a different kind of mission — to warn of the perils of cholesterol lowering drugs. You can find over 250 articles on cholesterol, statin drugs, and their side effects on his websiteSpaceDoc.com.

Steps to Take If You’re on Multiple Meds

Fortunately, drug-induced dementia can often be reversed simply by stopping the offending medication. So if you take medications and suspect they might be causing cognitive problems, here are the steps Armon Neel recommends you take:

• Take inventory of what you are taking. Write down every medication, dosage, and when you started taking it.
• Talk to your doctor about what you are taking, how much you are taking, and why you are taking it. If you have more than one physician, have this conversation with each.
• Ask if there are any non-drug approaches you can take instead. Find out the consequences of stopping any medication. If there are any medications that can be eliminated, discuss a plan for getting off them and follow the plan.
• You should always get all your medications filled by the same pharmacy. Talk to your pharmacist about your regime to make sure there are no known interactions.
• ReadAre Your Prescriptions Killing You?Reviewers on Amazon call it “a life saver”.

If you aren’t sure if your medications are causing cognitive problems, here is a list of the top20 medications that can cause memory loss. Keep in mind that drugs don’t have to be prescription medications to cause problems. Sometimes adding an over-the-counter treatment to the mix can be dangerous as well.

Taking prescriptions medications is just one of the many ways the modern lifestyle takes a toll on your brain.If you suffer from stress, memory loss, brain fog, anxiety, depression, insomnia, indecision, or are easily overwhelmed… these are all signs that your brain isn’t working as well as it should.

About the Author

Deane Alban has taught and written on a wide variety of natural health topics for over 20 years. She is co-founder ofBeBrainFit.comwhere she teaches how to keep your brain young, healthy, and fully-functioning for life. She hosts a weekly podcast and is the author ofBrain Gold: The Anti-Aging Guide for your Brain. Sign up for her newsletter and get a free special report – “Beat Brain Aging: 5 Major Causes, 1 Simple Solution“.

Disclaimer:This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of WakingTimes or its staff.

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