Don’t let your meds monopolize your quality of life and health…

Instead, optimize your medications!

Remember the game “Monopoly” by Hasbro and all the color-coded banner cards? You always tried for the blue “Park Avenue” cards?  I recently provided a talk to a group of older adults that are a part of WISE – Worcester Institute for Senior Education. Some of my slides in the session “Is it Age or medication?” were color-coded as to the ailment we love to blame on age. The slides reminded me of the game “Monopoly”.

Then I got to thinking about the word monopolize. When I looked up the meaning it seemed pretty harmless. Then I looked at the synonyms, there were words such as “corner”, “control”, “take over”, and “dominate”. This is what some meds can do over time and by doing so take away the quality of your day.

Below are the slides that I had presented, showing types of meds that can cause a particular side effect that can contribute to falls. Before blaming age, check your meds with your health care providers to optimize your meds. Be certain that your meds are not monopolizing your health and the quality of your days.

Continue to check each week to learn more about deprescribing and optimizing your medications. Click on the templates option in the above menu to get started on the Medication Optimization Plan (MOP). And as always, Stay WISE and Well!