Common Medication Side Effects and How to Manage Them
Seniors can process medications differently for several reasons, including normal wear and tear of the body, expected health changes, and various medical conditions that often occur as a result of aging. Some side effects seniors can experience after taking certain medications include dizziness, headaches, confusion, memory loss, and weight fluctuations. Smoking, poor diet, and excessive alcohol or caffeine intake can worsen these effects. To reduce risks, long-term care communities can partner with closed-door pharmacies that offer medical chart reviews, prescription consultations, and compliance packaging to ensure proper medication management.
Why Do Older Adults Experience More Side Effects From Their Medications?
A huge culprit of the side effects that seniors often experience from their medications is simply “the aging body.” The changes that occur to the body as it gets older can make it harder for the system to break down or flush out certain medications, causing them to linger in the body for longer than intended. Plus, older people often have more conditions to treat, and sometimes, prescribed medications can have adverse effects when combined with another type of medication, causing the patient to suffer from the effects.
As a result, it’s crucial to ensure patients are receiving medications that:
- Treat legitimate conditions that ail the patient
- Are approved for the patient’s age and physical condition
- Are prescribed and administered at the proper dosage
- Do not cause other prescription medications to have adverse effects
Common Medication Side Effect #1: Dizziness and Loss of Balance
It’s not uncommon for your residents to experience dizziness, which in turn affects their ability to balance, all because they are taking a medication or a combination of medications.
Dizziness and imbalance can increase anyone’s risk of experiencing a bad fall. However, older people are especially at risk of falling and suffering moderate to severe injuries.
Common Medication Side Effect #2: Headaches
Headaches are not a unique side effect of medication—anyone of any age is prone to suffering from headaches once they begin taking a new medication. However, older people are highly susceptible to headaches caused by medications that either linger in the body for too long or mix adversely with other medications.
Seniors who frequently suffer from medication-induced headaches are likely also to become a bit irritable as the pain lessens their overall well-being and general comfort.
Common Medication Side Effect #3: Confusion or Memory Loss
Generally speaking, seniors are more inclined to experience bouts of confusion or memory issues, whether they take side-effect-causing medications or not. However, certain medications can increase an older patient’s likelihood of suffering from cognitive problems that hinder their ability to remember things accurately or think clearly.
Common Medication Side Effect #4: Weight Fluctuations
It’s not unheard of to experience weight gain or weight loss caused by a particular medication or a combination of medications. This side effect can be prevalent among senior patients and can actually occur as a result of a series of side effects that the medication(s) cause, such as:
- Dry mouth
- Nausea and vomiting
- Changes in taste or smell
Additionally, the physical changes seniors typically experience–including a slowed metabolism, fluid retention, decline in organ function, and more– mixed with weight-increasing medication or series of medications can cause these patients to gain more weight than desired.
What Can Make a Senior’s Reaction to Medication Worse?
As mentioned, seniors are naturally at risk of experiencing adverse side effects to certain medications because of the way their bodies have changed. Certain functions are on the decline, making it harder to process, use, and flush some medications out of the system.
There are other factors as well that can increase the risk of adverse medication side effects in an older patient. These include:
- Smoking tobacco
- Consuming caffeine or excessive amounts of caffeine
- Consuming too much alcohol
- Eating a poor diet
- Developing new conditions or experiencing worsening conditions
How Can I Help My Residents Decrease Their Risk of Experiencing Negative Medication Side Effects?
There are a few ways you can help your patients lower their risk of developing negative side effects from their medication. The most effective one is to partner with a closed-door pharmacy dedicated to providing the best care and service to your residents.
A long-term care pharmacy like Angus Lake Healthcare offers numerous patient-centered services, including:
Medical Chart Reviews
A medical chart review allows your partnering pharmacist to evaluate a patient’s prescriptions, identify any potential issues, and recommend steps for reducing adverse reactions and side effects.
Prescription Consultations
Whenever a patient is prescribed a new medication, your partnering pharmacist will discuss it with them, explaining what it is for, how and when it should be taken, and any other details the patient should know about the medication. These conversations can help decrease the probability of experiencing adverse and possibly unnecessary medication side effects.
Compliance Packaging
Taking several different medications at various times of day or in various dosages can become confusing, and patients are bound to take the wrong thing or the wrong amount of something from time to time. Compliance packaging provides patients with their medications divided out according to schedule, so that each drug is taken correctly at the right time and in the right amount.
Compliance packaging can come in the form of:
- Blister packs (also called bubble packs)
- Pill packs
The Prescription Delivery Services at Angus Lake Healthcare Benefits Residents, Communities, and Facilities in Georgia, Florida, and South Carolina.
The team at Angus Lake Healthcare strives to serve all of our partnering facilities, communities, and group homes with the pharmacy services you need to keep your operations moving and your residents well cared for. From filling prescriptions to ensuring compliance packaging, patient education, medication inspections, reviews, vaccinations, and prescription deliveries, we take care of your pharmaceutical needs so you can focus on your residents’ health.
To learn more about the capabilities and services that our long-term care pharmacy can provide your facility or group home, schedule a consultation with Angus Lake Healthcare today: 478-233-1828.
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