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The Beers Criteria for Potentially Inappropriate Medication Use in Older Adults, commonly called the Beers List, [1] are guidelines published by the American Geriatrics Society (AGS) for healthcare professionals to help improve the safety of prescribing medications for adults 65 years and older in all except palliative settings.
Meclizine is effective in inhibiting nausea, vomiting, and dizziness caused by motion sickness. [10] The drug is safe for treating nausea in pregnancy and is a first-line therapy for this use. [11] [12] Meclizine may not be strong enough for especially sickening motion stimuli, and second-line defenses should be tried in those cases. [13]
In the elderly, long-term benzodiazepine therapy is a risk factor for amplifying cognitive decline, [29] although gradual withdrawal is associated with improved cognitive status. [30] A study of alprazolam found that 8 weeks administration of alprazolam resulted in deficits that were detectable after several weeks but not after 3.5 years.
Dosages of 50 mg to 75 mg daily are usually satisfactory as maintenance therapy for elderly patients who do not tolerate higher amounts. [ 21 ] [ 22 ] In any case, 225 m.g./d. is the absolute-maximum highest recommended dose for this drug, as any more can predispose more significantly to seizures. 150 m.g. is the average optimal daily dose for ...
Benzodiazepine withdrawal syndrome (BZD withdrawal) is the cluster of signs and symptoms that may emerge when a person who has been taking benzodiazepines as prescribed develops a physical dependence on them and then reduces the dose or stops taking them without a safe taper schedule.
Benzodiazepine abuse is mostly limited to individuals who abuse other drugs, i.e. poly-drug abusers. Most prescribed users do not abuse their medication, however, some high dose prescribed users do become involved with the illicit drug scene. Abuse of benzodiazepines occurs in a wide age range of people and includes teenagers and the old.
The most common symptoms of overdose include central nervous system (CNS) depression, impaired balance, ataxia, and slurred speech. Severe symptoms include coma and respiratory depression. Supportive care is the mainstay of treatment of benzodiazepine overdose. There is an antidote, flumazenil, but its use is controversial. [2]
Antipsychotic abuse refers to the non-medical or inappropriate use of antipsychotic medications for purposes other than their intended therapeutic use. Antipsychotics, also known as neuroleptics, are a class of medications primarily used in treating psychiatric disorders such as schizophrenia , bipolar disorder , and certain types of depression .