Medications Contribute to Seniors’ Falls
November 24, 2009 by Marijke Durning, RN
Filed under Diseases & Conditions
If this wasn’t such a serious topic, I’d say “what’s new?” but it is serious. Seniors who take sleeping pills and/or antidepressants are at a higher risk of falling and sustaining a serious injury than those who don’t take those drugs.
Other medications that can increase the fall risk include blood pressure pills (they can make blood pressure go too low sometimes), so-called water pills (these diuretics can make so the senior rushes to the bathroom before having an accident and then falls or they have to get up in the middle of the night, which is a dangerous time for …read more
New Treatment Combats Cocaine Induced Symptoms
August 13, 2007 by Kendra James, RN
Filed under Diseases & Conditions
All righty then. I found research out of UT Southwestern Medical Center that is a bit taboo. They have found a drug that can counteract the symptoms associated with a cocaine overdose. That handy little drug is most often seen in the operating room or ICU’s and is used as a anesthetic. And it’s name… dexmedetomidine.
They found that the drug was effective in reversing the actions of cocaine on heart rate, blood pressure and vascular resistance in the skin by interfering with the ability of cocaine to increase nerve activity. “Typically, patients with cocaine overdoses in …read more




