Dangers of polypharmacy (taking many medications)

About one in five adults is taking five or more prescription drugs. The older the patients, the more likely they’re taking even more than that. Studies have shown that polypharmacy is associated with a faster decline in memory, greater risk of falls, excessive bleeding, dangerously low blood sugar, and other complications. More than 6 percent of all hospital admissions are because of adverse reactions to medications. For people over 65, it’s more like 12 percent. 

Prescriptions pile up for several reasons: people see a variety of providers who may not be communicating with one another; they’re prescribed drugs to counteract the side effects of other drugs; they’re not taken off drugs they no longer need. (In Salman Rushdie’s book, Knife, which describes his horrific stabbings, he says he was given meds to raise his blood pressure. Months later he was alarmed at his high blood pressure, which, he later discovered, was caused by his still being on the BP-raising meds. Duh.)

Speaking of side effects, Scientific American published an article about the increased risk of dementia for those taking Benadryl for a long time. Benadryl is an over-the-counter medication for allergy relief. Its active ingredient, diphenhydramine, is used in many allergy, cold, and anti-itch drugs. This ingredient is an anticholinergic: it blocks the action of acetylcholine—a chemical that carries messages from your brain to your body through nerve cells. As stated in a National Health Service publication, “More than 600 medications possess some level of anticholinergic activity, and except in the case of a few drugs, experts generally consider the anticholinergic properties to be the cause of adverse rather than therapeutic effects.” Ack!

As to medications in general, you can see a list of “potentially inappropriate medications” for older adults on the Cleveland Clinic’s website. The list is called the Beers Criteria. It’s long.

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