Inappropriate Benzodiazepine Use in the Elderly and Possible Solutions
The growing elderly population presents medical, mental, and emotional health issues dissimilar in many ways from those of a younger population. Many elderly struggle with problems such as insomnia, post traumatic stress disorder, alzheimers disease, and general anxiety disorders associated with aging. One study indicated that approximately 20% of seniors experience significant anxiety, while even more experience mild symptoms, and approximately 30% of seniors lose quantity or quality of sleep due to insomnia, including both primary and secondary cases. Contemporary medical research yields new treatments and drugs to assist with such conditions. Benzodiazepines are the most …show more content…
GABA is a substance which regulates the transmission of messages between cells. Benzodiazepines have been introduced as a safer alternative to previously popular barbiturates, which are far more addictive and dangerous (RC Psych, 2014). This group of medications includes alprazolam (xanax), Camazepam (Paxor), Clonazepam (Klonopin), Lorazepam (Ativan), and Temazepam (Restoril). Agitation, insomnia and other sleeping problems, anxiety, epileptic seizures and fits, alcohol withdrawal, restlessness, and mania are some of the conditions treated with benzodiazepines, all of which are prevalent in the elderly population. Their frequency of use is high because they are inexpensive compared to other non-benzodiazepine anxiolytics; they are minimally toxic and generally safe if used appropriately; and they are now familiar to prescribing practitioners (Hall, …show more content…
An observational study conducted in San Fransisco linking benzodiazepines to an increased risk of developing Alzheimer's disease convincingly relates the importance of developing a standardized, global approach to moniter adverse affects of drugs named by the American Geriatrics Society in 2012 as inappropriate for the elderly population. Such a system could improve both prescriber and patient knowledge of possible side effects and could push the elderly to seek more therapeutic treatment options (Yaffe & Boustani,
The growing elderly population presents medical, mental, and emotional health issues dissimilar in many ways from those of a younger population. Many elderly struggle with problems such as insomnia, post traumatic stress disorder, alzheimers disease, and general anxiety disorders associated with aging. One study indicated that approximately 20% of seniors experience significant anxiety, while even more experience mild symptoms, and approximately 30% of seniors lose quantity or quality of sleep due to insomnia, including both primary and secondary cases. Contemporary medical research yields new treatments and drugs to assist with such conditions. Benzodiazepines are the most …show more content…
GABA is a substance which regulates the transmission of messages between cells. Benzodiazepines have been introduced as a safer alternative to previously popular barbiturates, which are far more addictive and dangerous (RC Psych, 2014). This group of medications includes alprazolam (xanax), Camazepam (Paxor), Clonazepam (Klonopin), Lorazepam (Ativan), and Temazepam (Restoril). Agitation, insomnia and other sleeping problems, anxiety, epileptic seizures and fits, alcohol withdrawal, restlessness, and mania are some of the conditions treated with benzodiazepines, all of which are prevalent in the elderly population. Their frequency of use is high because they are inexpensive compared to other non-benzodiazepine anxiolytics; they are minimally toxic and generally safe if used appropriately; and they are now familiar to prescribing practitioners (Hall, …show more content…
An observational study conducted in San Fransisco linking benzodiazepines to an increased risk of developing Alzheimer's disease convincingly relates the importance of developing a standardized, global approach to moniter adverse affects of drugs named by the American Geriatrics Society in 2012 as inappropriate for the elderly population. Such a system could improve both prescriber and patient knowledge of possible side effects and could push the elderly to seek more therapeutic treatment options (Yaffe & Boustani,