|
Who
gets the drugs in later life?
When my mother-in-law was in her eighties and experiencing
occasional hallucinations, she was prescribed some powerful
anti-psychotic drugs. These left her with a tremor on her lower
lip. In order to counteract this, she was given further drugs and
after some weeks experienced what appeared to be an epileptic fit.
At this point, the residential home where she lived said she
should go to the hospital for a check-up. They assigned a staff
member to accompany her and were somewhat put out when I said I
wanted to be there too.
The consultant duly examined my mother-in-law and was about to
prescribe some anti-epileptic drugs when I intervened. I asked
(having checked my sources carefully), whether they had considered
the effect of the anti-psychotic drugs she was taking. Might they
have caused the convulsions?
The consultant looked a little unsure, then nodded and asked me,
in a helpless fashion, what should be done. Take her off the
lot? I suggested. He agreed and from then until she died, a year or
so later, there were no convulsions, no more hallucinations either.
But the ‘pill rolling’ tremor, as I later discovered it is called,
continued unabaited, a permanent side effect.
I was reminded of this sorry tale by a new study from the
Alzheimer’s Society which showed that 81% of people who were
prescribed dangerous neuroleptic drug treatments a year ago are
still getting them, despite warnings from the Committee on the
Safety of Medicine that they increase risk of death in people with
dementia.
The older the person is, the more drugs he or she is likely to be
given. In the UK, at least one-third of all patients over the
age of 75 are taking four or more prescription drugs. The Journal
of the American Medical Association claims that drug reactions
are the fourth major killer in the USA, and they occur mainly among
the elderly. It is the multi-prescribing of drugs that causes so
many problems – as my story illustrates. Nobody knows – because
nobody tests – the drug combinations.
Multi-prescribing is a common practice in medicine. A report
from the publication What Doctors Don't Tell You says that
doctors are prescribing drugs to the elderly which they know are
likely to cause worrying side effects and are 'inappropriate'
because of their powerful reactions. Around 20% of all prescriptions
for elderly patients are for drugs that are on the danger list.
And yet and yet… There was, quite understandably, outrage
from charities representing older people when government advisers
recently proposed that patients could be refused treatment because
of their age. Here is discrimination at its most blatant. A survey
of GPs by the charity Age Concern found that 80% thought age-based
rationing already happened in the NHS.
Where do we find the right balance? Doctors and drug
manufacturers need to be more aware that drug combinations may be
dangerous and should be tested, not on the elderly but in the
laboratory. Policy advisors and GPs could, perhaps, do with some
consciousness-raising – the kind of thing that women did in the
Sixties and Seventies to gain greater understanding about sexist
discrimination. In this case, age discrimination.
And what we all need is someone to fight our corner, to look
after our personal interests, as I did for my mother-in-law.
Advocacy schemes do exist in some areas, but ideally we need someone
who has done the homework and really really cares. And is really
really outraged.
The Alzheimer's Society helpline is open from 8.30am to
6.30pm Monday to Friday. The number to dial is 0845 300 0336
|
Talkback is a
regular feature in laterlife.com run by
journalist and author Helen Franks. 
