Are Your Drugs Shrinking Your Brain?

www.catherinecarrigan.com

Recent studies suggest that many common medications may dramatically increase your risk of cognitive impairment.

As a medical intuitive healer, I am not legally allowed to make recommendations about prescription meditations.

However, information about how your drugs affect your mind and body is readily available and I always encourage my clients to be educated consumers.

You can start to understand the side effects of any medication by researching www.rxlist.com.

Because more than half of Americans take at least two prescription drugs, I also recommend a website called www.epocrates.com that describes the side effects caused by your multiple medications.

You may have visited one doctor for one pill and another physician for another drug but do you or your medical team truly understand how the chemical mix you take affects your mind and body?

This is an uncomfortable subject, but I feel my clients and readers need to know.

Do you really want to set yourself up for Alzheimer’s and dementia?

The fact that prescription drugs may increase your risk of Alzheimer’s and dementia is not widely known but it is a huge problem for millions of people.

Alzheimer’s disease and Dementia (AD) affect 44 million people globally and 5.3 million Americans. One in eight people over 65 suffer from AD. In the US alone, the number of patients is expected to grow to 16 million by 2050.

The kind of drugs that are scientifically proven to shrink your brain include anticholinergic drugs.

These drugs block the neurotransmitter acetylcholine, which helps your memory.

The most common anticholinergic drugs that cause problems include tricyclic antidepressants, first-generation antihistamines, and bladder antimuscarinics.

The problems that these drugs treat — depression, seasonal allergies and overactive bladder — are easily addressed by natural healing remedies, including exercise, food healing, proper hydration and other non-drug approaches.

Many people rely on their medical doctors and their pharmacists to prescribe only the drugs that will protect their long-term well-being.

But when you go to the doctor for a prescription, please ask your physician how your drug will affect your chances of developing dementia.

You can download the complete list of problematic medications at this link.

According to a study published in the journal Neurology, each drug known to lower your acetylcholine may increase your risk of cognitive impairment by 46 percent over six years.

Which drugs are the worst offenders, according to evidence from literature, expert opinion, or prescribers information that medication may cause delirium:

Amitriptyline, also known as Elavil

Amoxapine, also known as Asendin

Atropine, also known as Sal-Tropine

Benztropine, also known as Cogentin

Brompheniramine, also known as Dimetapp

Carbinoxamine, also known as Histex or Carbihist

Chlorpheniramine, also known as Chlor-Trimeton

Chlorpromazine, also known as Thorazine

Clemastine, also known as Tavist

Clomipramine, also known as Anafranil

Clozapine, also known as Clozaril

Darifenacin, also known as Enablex

Desipramine, also known as Norpramin

Dicyclomine, also known as Bentyl

Dimenhydrinate, also known as Dramamine

Diphenhydramine, also known as Benadryl

Doxepin, also known as Sinequan

Doxylamine, also known as Unisom

Fesoterodine, also known as Toviaz

Flavoxate, also known as Urispas

Hydroxyzinem, also known as Atarax, Vistaril

Hyoscyamine, also known as Anaspaz, Levsin

Imipramine, also known as Tofranil

Meclizine, also known as Antivert

Methocarbamol, also known as Robaxin

Nortriptyline, also known as Pamelor

Olanzapine, also known as Zyprexa

Orphenadrine, also known as Norflex

Oxybutynin, also known as Ditropan

Paroxetine, also known as Paxil

Perphenazine, also known as Trilafon

Promethazine, also known as Phenergan

Propantheline, also known as Pro-Banthine

Propiverine, also known as Detrunorm

Quetiapine, also known as Seroquel

Scopolamine, also known as Transderm Scop

Solifenacin, also known as Vesicare

Thioridazine, also known as Mellaril

Tolterodine, also known as Detrol

Trifluoperazine, also known as Stelazine

Trihexyphenidyl, also known as Artane

Trimipramine, also known as Surmontil

Trospium, also known as Sanctura

Please be aware that this is not the complete list of prescription anticholinergic drugs.

So what do you do if you realize that you are taking any of these medications:

1. Talk to your doctor.
2. Educate yourself about natural healing, including exercise, food healing, relaxation and non-drug approaches.
3. If you are on more than one anticholinergic drug, work with your medical team to reduce the total number of these particular drugs you are taking.
4. Read the study published by JAMA Internal Medicine at this link. The scientific study reports that your cognitive impairment may be reversed when you stop taking the problem drugs. The authors of this study concluded: “Given the devastating consequences of dementia, informing older adults about this potentially modifiable risk would allow them to choose alternative products and collaborate with their health care professionals to minimize overall anticholinergic use.”

What is healing? Healing happens when you open your eyes to how your prescription drugs are actually affecting your mind and body.