There’s been plenty of news and media coverage of the addiction of teens and young adults to drugs or alcohol. After all, these are the years of greatest drug abuse, on average. But now, USA Today brings a different drug situation to light: the problem of our older adults becoming addicted to prescription drugs.
After an analysis of government figures on drug abuse, USA Today realized that doctors were prescribing addictive prescription drugs for American’s seniors are a rapidly increasing rate. Painkillers, anti-anxiety medication – the prescription pad is an easy – if unthinking – solution to complaints by seniors. But there are some significant problems resulting from this practice:
• Rising overdose deaths
• A jump up in emergency room visits due to these drugs
• More admissions to addiction treatment programs.
Here’s the numbers connected with those problems: Between 2002 and 2012, the number of seniors who were misusing or dependent on their painkillers increased from 132,000 to 336,000. Between 2007 and 2011, the number of people who were 55 and older seeking drug rehab increased 46%. And in eleven years, the number of seniors dying of overdoses nearly tripled.
As seniors decline in health and energy, it’s easy to understand that they could suffer more pain or anxiety. But opiates (painkillers) or benzodiazepines (anti-anxiety drugs like Valium or Xanax) should not be the only solution offered.
There are very specific drawbacks to seniors being dependent on these drugs, even more so than younger people. For example, seniors who feel groggy because of the painkillers they are taking or even because they are taking a “cocktail” of drugs are more prone to accidents and injuries. They may already suffer from illnesses that weaken them, and these drugs that depress respiration (opiates, benzodiazepines, and alcohol, among others) could further weaken them enough to contract pneumonia. And because an older body may deal with drugs in a more sluggish fashion than a young person, a senior could accumulate too much of a drug in his or her body and unknowingly overdose.
It’s good that this problem has come to light. It’s a good idea to keep track of the drugs that are prescribed for your parents if they are seniors. Know which ones have the potential to be abused. If your parent seems confused, you might want to do pill counts each time you visit to make sure that the pills are not disappearing too fast.
A very sad thing that can occur with a senior who is prescribed these pills is that if there is anyone in the family who’s using drugs to get high, the senior may be targeted for theft. You might want to keep track of visitors to the home. A young person who is addicted to opiates, for example, could stop by and pilfer pills or just take them openly and threaten the senior to keep them quiet about the theft.
It’s good to see USA Today helping to make us aware of the specifics of this problem.
