It is additionally challenging being the person responsible for the medication of someone with memory loss. Any number of problems can come up including the person with memory loss not understanding that the medications need to be taken, physical ailments such as swallowing difficulties, making medication consumption part of a daily schedule, finding time for doctors visits and picking up refills and getting information from the individual about whether or not they are experiencing side effects. The side effects can sometimes make already problematic situations even more difficult, such as insomnia or increased urinary incontinence for someone who already experiences these as part of their memory loss disease.
As the caregiver, you become both the advocate and the detective. The goal is to make sure that the person with memory loss has the medicine they need to keep them comfortable and healthy (this could include pain management) and constantly weigh positive benefits with negative side effects to determine if your loved one has a balanced medical regimen.
Some typical medication challenges include:
Too Much Medication: Having multiple medications to treat multiple chronic conditions, and in some cases, additional medication to treat the side effects caused by the original medication.
Not Enough Medication: including a lack of diagnosis for severe depression or pain. Because people with memory loss have difficulty explaining how much pain they are in, they often receive less treatment than the person who can adequately describe their pain, and so are often left untreated for pain.
Unnecessary Medication: Without regular checkups with the doctor, your loved one could be taking medication they no longer need, either because the condition no longer exists (for example, high cholesterol) or because another medication now covers the same condition.
Wrong Medication: If your loved one is not responding in the way it was anticipated the drug should work, they may have been diagnosed incorrectly or that particular medication does not work for them (this could include medication for anxiety, depression and insomnia).
Wrong Dose: You may be offering the wrong dose, or the doctor prescribed it wrong or the dose that was prescribed is not working for the patient. Check the label to make sure you understand the dosage and how often the medication should be taken. Some drugs require the person to take it for a certain length of time and then to adjust it depending on the side effects the person is experiencing (for instance, high blood pressure medication is often adjusted when the person experiences extreme lightheadedness, which usually manifests as falls or unsteady posture in people with memory loss).
Always find out from the doctor if any new medication that is prescribed for your loved one is going to interact with other medications already being taken, what side effects you should expect from the new medication, how long the doctor thinks the patient will need to be on the medication, if there are alternatives to taking the medication and when you should call the doctor if you think the new medication is adversely affecting your loved ones health.
For more information about the Triple-R Adult Day Program, please visit our website at: www.tripler.org
