Are our senior citizens hooked on drugs?

Do you know what the fastest growing US population is? Here’s a hint. This population is expected to double in the next twenty years. If your answer was adults over 65 years old you were correct. What age group do you think uses more psychoactive medications than any other group? That’s right, our seniors, and that’s possibly your Grandma or Grandpa or even your Mom or Dad who take prescription medication on a daily basis.
According to a recent report by the National Institute on Drug Abuse, as many as 1,800,000 Americans over the age of 65 may be dependent on Medicare-provided prescription drugs.
Which Drugs are being abused?
Our senior citizens currently are at risk of addiction from regularly using benzodiazepines or a group of central nervous system depressants such as tranquilizers Xanax, Klonipian, Valium, Ativan, and Librum; along with sleeping medications like Ambien, Holician, Calmane, and Restoril; muscle relaxants such as Soma, Flexeril, and Robaxsin; and alcohol. In addition, opiates and analgesics for pain relief such as Vicadin, Codiene, Oxicotin, Ultram, Morphine, and duragesics are put our seniors at risk.
What is the treatment?
Senior drug addiction is something most seniors thought they would not have to overcome. Withdrawal symptoms are devastating and a safe and slow withdrawal is protocol with a board certified physician trained in addiction medicine who has specific experience with senior addiction issues and medical needs.
Recognizing senior drug addiction is complicated. If you or someone you love is dealing with addiction, know detoxification is better than senility or death. It can be amazing to witness the cognitive improvement a patient will experience once you can assist him through the 3-5 hard days it takes to detoxify your grandmother or grandfather to get off this medication.
A Board Certified Addiction Medicine Specialist, ABAM, can treat these patients in an ambulatory setting and in the comfort of their own homes.
For referral to an addiction medicine specialist in your area call 1-800-813-4345 or go to www.askforadoctor.com