Facts about Drug Misuse and Abuse by Seniors and Anthem Senior Living in AZ

  0 Comments

Share this

As per experts, as many as 15 percent of older adults are misusing a prescribed medication which is equal to nearly one million seniors increasing their health risk. It is important to take timely measures, or the number will most likely climb to 2.7 million by 2020. Statistics show that there has been a rise in drug misuse among older adults. Prior to talking about drug abuse and misuse, read to know more about the benefits of assisted living facilities.

Belonging to the Phoenix region in AZ, if you are looking for a private home is a quiet and renowned community, wishing for large and private spacious room, looking for a reputable home alongside comprising a friendly compassionate staff- don’t look beyond the award-winning Anthem Senior Living in the region. ASL has a long history in serving seniors with our senior residents receiving our complete attention every day. Going for senior housing communities or assisted facilities is the best option if you have senior family members suffering from memory or mobility issues.

Drug abuse and drug misuse are completely different from each other although both can have deadly consequences especially for senior people who might have chronic health conditions necessitating medications.

1. Drug abuse is when one takes a prescribed medication, solely for recreation where the prescription no longer is necessary. A senior taking a medication prescribed for a spouse or other member of the household, taking a medication left over from an illness, etc.- all fall in the realm of drug abuse.
2. Drug misuse, on the other hand occurs when a senior person uses a medication inappropriately. For example, a senior person might take more pain medication than is prescribed to try to cope with a pain in a certain part of the body- this is drug misuse as it is taken differently than prescribed.

For family members, it can be challenging to recognize when their loved one is misusing prescription medications. Some warning signs of drug misuse in senior people to look out for include:

1. Quick loss of temper and difficulty in managing anger
2. Fatigue and drowsiness in the daytime
3. Change in behavior
4. Falls due to problems with balance
5. Withdrawal from social activities and family members

Reviewing your loved one’s prescription bottles will tell you whether they are misusing prescription medications or not. Find out by comparing the date on each bottle with the number of pills that should be left. A bottle off by more than a few doses is indicative of inappropriate medication consumption. You can talk it out as well with your loved one. They may get angry, but you need to keep calm to know about their concerns. It can also happen that just because of memory loss issues, they might not be misusing the medications deliberately. Forgetting to take medications or taking too much or too little of it is a common issue for adults with memory problems.

Of the many services provided at Anthem Senior Living in Phoenix, medication coordination is one of the major services. Our teams help with everything from providing medication reminders to reordering prescriptions as needed which ensures well-being of the senior residents. Learn more by scheduling a visit at our facility.