Hopefully you all are aware of the potential side effects of anticholinergic medication — particularly important to know about for the elderly and for those with dementia.
There was a good Los Angeles Times article on this topic last week. See:
www.latimes.com/news/health/la-heb0713-cognitive-impairment-20100713,0,5747679.story
Medicines from class of drugs commonly used by the elderly, including Benadryl and Dramamine, can cause impaired thinking, study finds
Los Angeles Times
Thomas H. Maugh II
4:05 PM PDT, July 13, 2010
Mentioned in the article is a resource that I’ve never heard of before but looks like it would be very promising: it’s a list of the “anticholinergic cognitive burden” of anticholinergic medications. You can find it here:
www.indydiscoverynetwork.org/AnticholienrgicCognitiveBurdenScale.html
Anticholinergics block the activity of the neurotransmitter acetylcholine, which is important for cognition. The most commonly used anticholinergics by the elderly are sleep aids (such as Benadryl, Excedrin PM, Tylenol PM) and incontinence drugs (such as Detrol). Quite a few antidepressants (Paxil, Elavil) are also anticholinergic.
Robin