Common Medications May Cause Dementia
Written By: Jan McBarron, MD
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Published - May 13, 2009
A commonly prescribed class of medications can cause elderly patients to decline both physically and mentally according to research from Wake Forest University School of Medicine. Drugs used to treat a variety of conditions including acid reflux, high blood pressure, Parkinson’s disease, and urinary incontinence often prevent an important neurotransmitter in the brain called acetylcholine. These drugs are called anticholingeric drugs.
A separate category of drugs is known as cholinesterase inhibitors, otherwise known to stimulate acetylcholine in the brain. Such drugs in this category include dementia drugs.
Researchers noted that patients taking dementia medications in the presence of anticholingeric medications lost mental functions 50% faster than patients only taking dementia drugs. Of alarm is that many physicians who treated patients for dementia also put their patients on the anticholingeric drugs such as medications for blood pressure like Adalat or Procardia and a reflux medication like Zantac. It is alarming to think that doctors fail to recognize the harm they are creating. One drug is designed to stimulate acetylcholine; the other drugs are designed to slow down acetylcholine. It should not have taken a Wake Forest University study to demonstrate that these combinations of drugs are incompatible. It’s sad to think that doctors have caused an already demented patient to experience further dementia and decline.
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