May 4, 2006

Aging Connection

Safe medicine disposal event to be held May 15

By Vivian I. Silva, Gerontologist
Special to the Times

“Any symptom in an elderly patient should be considered a drug side effect until proved otherwise.”
–Brown University, 1995, Long-term Care Quality Letter

San Jose will make history on Monday, May 15, 2006 by hosting the city’s first free, safe medicine disposal event. Drop off your medicine from 1 p.m.-4 p.m. at Cypress Senior Center (403 S. Cypress Avenue, San Jose) at the event, which is sponsored by District 1 Councilmember Linda J. LeZotte.

District 9 Councilmember Judy Chirco and EPA Region 9 Director Alexis Strauss will join LeZotte at 1 p.m. to speak about the passage of Senate Bill 798 and the anticipated environmental and social impacts on California and Santa Clara County.

Why does it matter? Years of flushing old medications down the toilet and into garbage heaps have created waterway contamination that may not fully be understood for many years. However, some studies have linked this contamination to disturbing rates of sterility in fish and even humans. In response to this problem, state and local officials are working to find ways for Californians to properly dispose of their expired or unused drugs.

The recent passage of Senate Bill 798 provides California residents with the means to correctly dispose of unwanted medicines by granting counties the power to develop and operate drug-recycling programs.

Refreshments will be available at this free event. The invitation is open to anyone who wants to dispose of prescription or over-the-counter pharmaceuticals. Both expired and unused medications will be accepted. Participants are being asked to bring their waste medications in their original containers, if possible.

Medications may certainly help to improve one’s health and functioning, but research finds older adults at risk (Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, 2005) Older adults are the largest group of legal-drug users.

One in seven hospital admissions of the elderly is drug-related. And, at least 20 percent of seniors currently take six or more medications. Because medications can have devastating consequences, older adults and their caregivers need to take precautions.

The following questions to ask your doctor and pharmacist could save your life or the life of a loved one.

Questions for the doctor:

- What is the medicine for?

- How will it make me feel?

- Could there be side effects? If there are side effects, what should I do?

- How long should I take this medicine?

- Should I have the prescriptions refilled?

- Should I take my other medications with this new prescription?

- When should I see you again?

Additional medications may be added upon discharge from an emergency hospital visit. Make sure to tell the patient’s primary physician about any new prescriptions because often patients don’t think to tell their doctor they are still taking medications from a hospital visit. Take a complete list of the current medications to your physician.

Questions for the pharmacist:

- At what time should I take this medicine?

- Should I take this medication with food?

- Are there foods or beverages that I should NOT take with this medicine?

- Can I DRINK alcohol after I take this medication?

- What do I do if I forget to take a dose?

- How should I store this medicine?

- Can a GENERIC medication be used as a safe substitute?

The pharmacist may provide most of this information in their consults but make sure you don’t leave without knowing all the answers. Present an updated list to the pharmacist including non-prescription medicine such as aspirin, eye drops, and stomach medicine.

Aids such as pillboxes can make it easier for elders with memory impairment to take their medication in the appropriate dose on a daily basis. For example, one client uses a calendar to check off when he’s taken his medications; but as the dementia progresses, he might not remember to mark it off. Thus, he could take a double dose or miss the dose entirely putting his health at risk.

We can help our loved ones and ourselves by taking part in this first time effort to dispose of medications. My hope is that future events like this will keep my clients safe by allowing them to get rid of their shoe boxes full of old medications.

Vivian I. Silva, Gerontologist/ MSW is the director of Geriatric Advisory Program at Almaden Valley Counseling Service. The service educates and advises adult children and elders on aging issues and provides individual and family consultation. For more information call (408) 975-2988 or e-mail vivsilva@aol.com.