Last year, we discovered a highly disturbing article on the website HealthDay that put an ominous spin on the recent chorus of headlines about the nation’s opioid crisis. According to two government reports released in 2018, a growing number of seniors are falling prey to this insidious category of highly addictive painkillers. Because this problem…
We’ve written about the problem of what hospitals and doctors call “observation care” multiple times before here on the AgingOptions blog. When most people hear about this Medicare rule, they respond with angry disbelief – but in spite of new regs designed to curb the practice, the problems associated with what amounts to a giant…
Alzheimer’s disease is the thing most aging men and women fear most. As the disease progresses and mental impairment grows worse, sufferers often retreat into resigned depression. So, imagine how you would feel if, after enduring eight years of worsening symptoms you feared were due to Alzheimer’s disease, you discovered that the condition actually causing…
It may have happened to a senior loved one, or even to you. In a fairly short period of time, a person changes from being lucid and aware to being confused and agitated. They can’t think clearly or remember where they are or what they’re doing, and they have difficulty recalling even recent events. The…
With all the attention given in the press in recent years to the devastation caused by the opioid epidemic, one might think that these pain-killers are the only drug crisis in America. But there’s another one, even more deadly and more costly to U.S. seniors: older patients are taking far too many prescription medications. One…
When any patient undergoes surgery, everyone involved hopes for a successful outcome. But senior patients face special risks if things go wrong on the operating table – risks that all too often are never thoroughly discussed with the patient and family ahead of time. In the event of complications, patients and loved ones are caught…
With all the startling advances in digital technology, many experts seem to believe that the tech industry is on the verge of solving all our problems – especially in the realm of health care. But this article we discovered earlier this year from CNBC asks a nagging question: with all the billions being spent on…
A class of drugs that is taken by as many as one in four older adults has recently been shown to cause symptoms that mimic dementia. Now doctors are wondering whether long-term exposure to these medications can trigger symptoms of cognitive impairment that may prove irreversible. Medications that Mimic Dementia are Widely Prescribed We read…
If you have a loved one in your family who is at risk of falling, you’ve probably given them all the usual advice concerning fall prevention. Unfortunately, a recent medical report reveals that the message isn’t getting through: a growing number of seniors are dying as a result of falling, and it seems that doctors,…
Here at AgingOptions, we run across articles from time to time that make us want to shout “Amen!” in heartfelt agreement. That was our reaction when we read this Judith Graham article on the Kaiser Health News website. Her premise: the American medical system, Graham asserts, provides poor service to seniors, because it is rife…