Johns Hopkins Health Alerts | Memory | Memory Loss Caused by Medication Interactions

• In geriatric clinics, the most common cause of reversible dementia including memory loss is an adverse reaction to medications.

Although older adults make up only 12% of the population, they receive about 30% of all prescriptions written in the United States. Unfortunately, as people age, natural changes within the body make adverse effects, such as memory loss, more likely from medication: The kidneys may not remove drugs from the bloodstream as quickly as in younger adults, drug metabolism in the liver may be slowed, and a greater ratio of fat to muscle increases the time it takes to eliminate some drugs from the body.

More important, however, is the fact that older adults take an average of more than five prescription drugs and three over-the-counter drugs at the same time. In geriatric clinics, the most common cause of reversible dementia including and memory loss is an adverse reaction to medications.

Some of the medications that may cause memory loss include the anti-inflammatory drug prednisone (Deltasone, for example); heartburn drugs such as Tagamet (cimetidine), Pepcid (famotidine), and Zantac (ranitidine); antianxiety/sedative drugs such as Halcion (triazolam), Xanax (alprazolam), or Valium (diazepam); or even insulin—too high a dose can cause low blood sugar (hypoglycemia), leading to abnormal mental function.

Other drugs that may cause memory loss are certain medications for cancer, heart disease, high blood pressure, pain, nausea, Parkinson’s disease, allergies, and colds.

When medications cause memory loss, the problem can often be reversed or minimized by changing drugs or lowering the dose (which should be done only under a doctor’s supervision). Other strategies to prevent adverse memory effects from drugs are to avoid the use of multiple drugs, verify that each drug is carefully monitored (preferably by a single primary care physician), and use drug-free periods as a way to determine whether adverse memory effects are a side effect of medication.

The best way to monitor drug use with a doctor is the “brown bag” review—you place all your prescription and nonprescription medications in a bag and bring it to the doctor’s office. In this way, you eliminate the chance of forgetting to mention any of the drugs or of confusing drug names and doses.

Johns Hopkins Health Alerts | Memory | Memory Loss Caused by Medication Interactions