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Show Page l:l J UK HEKAIJJ, Frovo, Utah, Sunday, September 10, 1 America's other drug problem By LEE SIEGEL AP Science Writer LOS ANGELES (AP) They take too many drugs, and sometimes plead for more. They get confused, shaky and sick, and feel like they're going crazy. At least 200,000 end up in hospitals each year. Untold thousands die. junkies? Hard-cor-e crack cocaine smokers? No just folks taking their medicine. "Most older people are taking too many drugs, and are taking doses that are dangerously high," said Dr. Sidney Wolfe, director of the Washington-base- d Public Citizen Health Research Group, founded by consumer advocate Ralph Nader. "The greatest epidemic of drug abuse in American society is among our older people," who suffer 9 million adverse reactions to medicine a year, many unrecognized as says "Worst Pills, Best Pills," Wolfe's 1988 book on overmedication of older people. Side effects include depression, hallucinations, confusion, memory loss, delirium, impaired thinking, - Dope-shooti- drug-relate- d, shaking and twitching, nausea, vomiting, appetite loss, stomach pain and bleeding, constipation, diarrhea, difficulty urinating and controlling urination, dizziness, and falls that result in hip fractures. People 60 and older represent 17 percent of the U.S. population but account for nearly 40 percent of G drug-relate4i-- AP Laserphoto . Sam Benton, 86, poses with his wife Rose, 81, in Portland, Ore. earlier this year. After two decades abusing prescription drugs, Sam kicked the habit on his own. Thousands of elderly Americans die and over 200,000 are hospitalized yearly because they take too many medicines. ;He was hooked on medication: His grandfather's personal story Editor's k -- - ' Note: Thousands Americans are hospitalized and die every year because they take too many medicines and suffer adverse reactions. ' Sam The Elderly & Drugs Benton, after two decades ; abusing prescription drugs, kicked the babit on his v own. AP Science Writer - Lee Siegel is his grandson. . By LEE SIEGEL AP Science Writer Sam PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) Benton doesn't look like a junkie, but for 22 years the unassuming grandfather was hooked on a narcotic painkiller and sleeping pills. "'I've been on so many differ- ent kinds of pills you'd have to . &e a book to tell you how many. ..The more you take the worse off you are. One pill leads to another .pill. And I was drinking liquor on . f Deaths and Hospitalizations of Elderly Due to Adverse Drug Reactions - top Total Population "I Hospitalizations f '.retired clothing factory production manager. "You know what living in hell is? Watching some- horiv co thrnnph this " I ?"For Benton, 86, recovery start ed early last year when he felt '411, sleepless, confused and like "my mind wasn't acting prop- I 39 Deaths erly." He auit cigarettes, most medi-Tines and, finally, the two hefty shots of whiskey he enjoyed "nightly. Last fall he spent two agonizing months withdrawing from his habit of three to seven daily Percodans, a painkiller containing a synthetic narcotic. "He was a Percodan junkie," Portsaid Benton's land lawyer Sol Siegel, but he quit Percodan "at home without any help." A doctor first prescribed Percodan in 1966, when Benton suf- - I hit sGBVA Elderly I 51 fered severe stress headaches. Over the years, he mixed Percodan with Feldene and Indocin, arthritis drugs; Orinase, for diabetes; antacids; decongestants; Motrin, a painkiller; Coumadin, to prevent blood clots that caused leg pains; Elavil, an ic D0FSAG.S s INCLUDES EYI EXAM! REMEMBER . THAT'S 1 MIR fe4 tiN'MMIIN'V' I II . INCLUDES .N EYE EXAMII L)y ... - TA L. s unnecessary because the diagno sis is wrong or the disease should be treated by non-drtherapy such as diet changes. Sleeping pills, tranquilizers and drugs most commonly cause harmful side effects among the elderly, said Dr. T. FranklS A rof ap rJt Va U.i: 17iiliomc Institute on Aging. Drugs for cardiovascular and digestive ailments also are overused, Wolfe said. I Elderly patients often have sever-- , al doctors. To avoid drug misuse-olde- r patients should "get a brown paper bag, put everything they're taking in it, and go review it with, their primary doctor," Williams said. In addition, pharmacists should do a better job monitoring patients' drug use to prevent harmful interactions, Kusserow said. ug . anti-anxie- ty The Boy Scouts were started in Great Britain ll by General in 1908. Baden-Powe- Feel good about yourself rect, such cases still represent much less than 1 percent of pre- Comfortable, written annually for scriptions America's elderly, said spokesman Jeff Trewhitt. The problem "is not totally out of hand as is being implied," he said. Wolfe, however, said U.S. senior citizens fill 613 million prescriptions annually, an average of 15.5 per person, and many "are taking ... as many as 10 different drugs at a secure... time." He contends at least of two-thir- On ALL Of Our Tours! jorjiupnouo Fall Foliage in DUnAG0r.1ESA VEDDE 1 v II (ft LITTLE SWITZERLAND And 4 WITH The perfect mastectomy bra and breastform. Now available in a wide range of sizes. For your own personal fitting, VISIT US! n SI S0 U thru 6 Ask us about SEWRS' RATES tor: Rose Paratle Hawaii mico not mm RenoTaiioe m lots mm mm mm tour DCTCDCCMC MEDICAL 3776088 SUPPLY 1275 No.thUmv 373 1010 KIMO'S ESCORTED TOURS OPEN 9 pm 0 Mon-F- Provo Continental Plaza 250 W. Center ri . A PROVO UTAH PMS Since 1972 cms I i SB fcf OA iU 1 ? U fcrtr. U U WtmiTI! Wc mm pmhfH mlf 4M a j XT mm mm I 'r-- I'M', t Ciit idrj i . i. DAILY WEAR SOFT CONTACTS YIMTGE) contacts m. of one-quart- er THAT'S UTINMD MMJtlll WtAI AMD IWQUOtS THt VII UUU BIFOCALS AND EVE EXAM! Prariwn aNm fall into one three categories: the dose is exce civoa- safer altwnaM t snoiun have been used; or the prescription-i- drug-relate- II INCLUDES: DurangoSilverton train, Mesa Verde, hotel, motorcoach, sightseeing and SENIORS' DISCOUNT S229 Regular lots of fun! GHTGHEfCl UJGAR INCLUDING FRAMES, PLASTIC LENSES those prescriptions drug-induce- APH. Yarrington son-in-la- pim J Source: Senate Special Committee on Aging ar p C JJfpy.iSvA Elderly drug-relate- SPECIAL TflAUEL RATES E0E1 SENIORS October Benton's daughter, Julie Siegel, said his latest doctor kept urging him to quit Percodan, but was compassionate enough not to cut off his supply. "Gramp was desperately, profoundly dependent on his various doctors to keep him in Percodan. He lived in fear of someone cutting him off. It would be easy to condemn all the doctors involved, but I can see their position too." "I don't want to blame my doctor. I was the one who coaxed him," said Benton, who finally decided to quit most medications and then Percodan because of d sleeplessness, weakness, hives and mental confusion. As Benton tapered off Percodan, "I was weak, sweaty, nauseous, had an inner craving. My mind wouldn't relax. I was hot and cold all the time." He also suffered severe insomnia. He now takes only coated aspirin for arthritis and, occasionalof a sleeping pill. ly, to- day," said Rose Benton, 81, married for nearly 60 years to the - t..ri younger people. And age can slow the body's ability to process and excrete drugs, making it more likely they will interact or accumulate to toxic levels. Yet the elderly, their relatives it." that." of "It's a wonder he's alive they have more maladies than antidepressant; and Xanax, Ativan, Librium and Serax to fight sleeplessness, anxiety and nervousness. The situation worsened several years ago when a car rear-ende-d him, injuring his neck and prompting another doctor to pre scribe more Percodan. "Doctors keep giving you the stuff. You just tell them, 'My head bothers me, my neck bothers me, I can't sleep.' They'll give you pills.' " If any doctor objected, Benton would say, "Doc, if you take me off it, you'll hurt me more than if you leave me on it. "The minute it wears off you get a terrible urge. Everything begins to disturb you. You crave it. I couldn't go to sleep without it. I couldn't do anything without of elderly hospitalizations and d more than, half the deaths from drug reactions, said Richard Kusse-roinspector general of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Experts say the elderly are prone to harmful reactions or interactions between drugs because they take so many medicines, largely because d and doctors often blame symptoms on old age, said Kath-ry- n Watterson, author of "The Safe Medicine Book." "There isn't any reason people shouldn't expect to feel very good when they get older. If they don't, there's a reason: either a disease or the medicine they're on." Thousands of elderly Americans die each year from adverse reactions to medications, although the exact toll is unknown, Wolfe and Kusserow said. In a series of reports last year, the Arizona Republic estimated drug reactions kill 73,000 U.S. senior citizens annually, said reporter Chuck Cook, now editor of the Newhall (Calif.) Signal. That calculation was based on American Hospital Association and Food and Drug Administration statistics and other research. "That could very well be in the right ball park," said Kusserow, who calls overmedication of the elderly "America's other drug problem." In a report this year, Kusserow estimated that at least 200,000 elderly Americans are hospitalized each year by adverse drug reactions. "We suspect the number is considerably larger" because many hospitalizations are wrongly blamed on patients' diseases rather than their medicines, he said. The Republic estimated 1.9 million such hospitalizations yearly. The Pharmaceutical Manufacturd ers Association lacks data on deaths and hospitalization. If the Republic's estimates are cor- IffM EYE GUAM REMEMBER AMAZING!!! ... THAT INCLUDES EYE EXAM! Armors .. j OUa NAME IS O ii 'it - us) .It . : AMERICA'S DEST CONTACTS AND EYEGLASSES MVMI 26 561-13- Wt 7100 South 00 ttVt 1151 South Stoft St. 225-850- 0 OCIEX 171J Wall Ave. 627-442- 4 ) r |
