The elderly are often affected by medications in adverse ways, esp. in higher doses.  Because of increasing health problems associated with aging, it is often necessary to use multiple medications to treat chronic conditions.  Yet, there are some medications to be aware of.  Below is a list of such meds based on Revised Beers Criteria (Fick DM, Cooper JW, Wade WE, Waller JL, Maclean JR, Beers MH. Updating the Beers criteria for potentially inappropriate medication use in older adults: results of a US consensus panel of experts. Arch Intern Med. 2003;163:2716-2724.).  Click on each drug name for more information.  ALWAYS CONSULT WITH YOUR DOCTOR WHETHER MEDICATIONS ARE RIGHT FOR YOU, EVEN FROM THIS LIST...SOME MAY BE NECESSARY.

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Inflammation and AD

For many years, it’s been believed that brain inflammation contributes to the development of Alzheimer’s disease, and based on that claim,
numerous clinical trials with anti-inflammatory drugs have been conducted. However, they have all been unsuccessful in slowing the
disease.

Now, researchers with the University of Florida, in collaboration with scientists at the University of Frankfurt, Germany, have discovered a
possible explanation for the lack of efficacy seen with anti-inflammatory drugs in AD: inflammation of microglia — an abundant
cell type that plays an important supporting role in the brain — does not appear to be associated with dementia in Alzheimer’s disease.

Glial cells, including microgia, outnumber neurons 10-to-1. Inflammation theories of AD suggest that microglia become “activated” and mount an
immune response to beta-amyloid, and instead of being helpful, actually cause damage to neurons, worsening the disease effects.

However, the researchers used high-resolution imaging techniques to look at microglial activation in AD brains and their observations did not
find evidence that Abeta activates, or inflames, human microglia cells. Nor did they find evidence that inflammation is to blame for neuronal
death.

Thus, it may be that beta amyloid is causing all of the damage, and that microglial cells are simply witnesses to the incident, and not active
participants.