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4 dementia-causing drugs to avoid (slideshow)
Doxepin hydrochloride (Silenor) for insomnia
If you have trouble staying asleep, your physician may prescribe you doxepin hydrochloride. But if you’re a regular user of a dosage around 10 mg per day and continue to do that for three years, your risk of dementia can skyrocket.
For natural alternatives, Dr. Wiley has great recommendations on how to get your best sleep ever.
All of these medications are classed in the category of ‘anticholinergic’ medications and have an average usage between 8 to 37 percent. It’s not unknown that these meds cause immediate cognitive effects such as altered attention, changes to working memory, and slower cognitive speed. But when following your physician’s advice, you probably don’t expect to up your risk of dementia by more than 50 percent.
Unfortunately there are too many drugs to list here… but you can learn about other prescriptions for amnesia and brain robbery that my colleague Margaret Cantwell wrote about, including Xanax and Lipitor to name a few.
Editor’s note: While you’re doing all the right things to protect your brain as you age, make sure you don’t make the mistake 38 million Americans do every day — by taking a drug that robs them of an essential brain nutrient! Click here to discover the truth about the Cholesterol Super-Brain!
Read: 12 natural aids to help you nod off
Sources:
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2017 Alzheimer’s Disease Facts and Figures — Alzheimer’s Association. Retrieved 2 June, 2017
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Gray SL, et al. Cumulative Use of Strong Anticholinergics and Incident Dementia. — JAMA Intern Med. 2015;175(3):401-407.
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Common anticholinergic drugs like Benadryl linked to increased dementia risk — Merz B. (2015). Harvard Health Blog. Retrieved 2 June, 2017
