The drugs are often taken by older people, as Professor Shelly Gray, the study's first author, explained:
"Older adults should be aware that many medications - including some available without a prescription, such as over-the-counter sleep aids - have strong anticholinergic effects.Four commonly used drugs which have strong anticholinergic effects are:
And they should tell their health care providers about all their over-the-counter use.
But of course, no one should stop taking any therapy without consulting their health care provider.
Health care providers should regularly review their older patients' drug regimens - including over-the-counter medications - to look for chances to use fewer anticholinergic medications at lower doses."
- Doxepin (Sinequan) - an older antidepressant.
- Chlorpheniramine (Chlor-Trimeton) - an antihistamine used to treat hay fever.
- Diphenhydramine (Benadryl) - another antihistamine often used to treat hay fever and sometimes used to aid sleep.
- Oxybutynin (Ditropan) - for bladder control.
- 10 mg/day of doxepin,
- 4 mg/day of chlorpheniramine,
- or 5 mg/day of oxybutynin.
"If providers need to prescribe a medication with anticholinergic effects because it is the best therapy for their patient, they should use the lowest effective dose, monitor the therapy regularly to ensure it's working, and stop the therapy if it's ineffective."
When I search the warnings for taking Benadryl there is nothing about it causing long term harm , only a warning to consult a doctor if you are breast feeding [Link]
However, when I search the warnings for Diphenhydramine, [Link] which is the active ingredient in Benadryl I find a warning that the chemical will pass to breast feeding infants and to unborn children where "Possible associations with individual malformation were found. One study reported a statistical relationship between diphenhydramine use in the first trimester and cleft palate" [Link]
I think the war on drugs has got it all wrong and we should be arresting those who make and sell/give pharmaceuticles, not investing our retirement funds in them [Link]