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I am worried about my cocktail of drugs causing cognitive decline

Posted , 3 users are following.

JB230
JB230

I am a 77yo male who does not drink, smoke and exercises regularly.

Lately, I have been experiencing some memory issues where I forget things or don't know how to describe them, and I am wondering if the cocktail of drugs I am taking is contributing to my cognitive decline.

I survived two brain aneurysms which led to deep vein thrombosis and a pulmonary embolism so I take apixaban (Eliquis) as a standard anticoagulation drug.

For hyperlipidemia I take Rosuvastatin (Crestor).

I also suffer gastroesophageal reflux and take Esomeprazole (Nexium), and for seasonal allergies I take Fluticasone/azelastine (Dymista) + fexofenadine (Allegra).

The prescription medications are common but not without side effects and the two over-the-counter medications are also common and probably don't have any real side affects, however I wonder if they may be reacting with the prescription medication to the detriment of my cognitive functions.

0 likes, 4 replies

4 Replies

  • lee12629
    lee12629 JB230

    Edited

    I ask a pharmacist they know more about drugs than doctors. good luck.

    • JB230
      JB230 lee12629

      Edited

      Lol -- terrific comment! Cheers for your input Lee.

    • TrishaT
      TrishaT lee12629

      Edited

      I'm 6 years older than you, don't drink, don't smoke and get plenty of exercise, my memory is absolutely dreadful but I have put that down to my age and not drugs. I had a stroke three years ago and was put on statins but only took them for a couple of weeks because of the side effects, now I am just on Clopidgrel. I have no experience of the drugs you are on but I don't think that statins help anyone, quite the contrary. So your memory loss might be the cocktail of drugs but equally might be your age. It might be as well, as the above reply advised, to check with your pharmacist as doctors tend to prescribe drugs without much thought regardless of what you are already taking.

    • JB230
      JB230 TrishaT

      Edited

      Cheers for your reply Trisha. I have some friends in their 80s and 90s who remain as sharp cognitively as they were in their 60s. So whilst undeniably advanced age is a factor of cognitive decline, it doesn't need to be and because it doesn't need to be there are other factors which must be contributing.

      The information on statins is somewhat contradictory, but I tend to think that by themselves they are problematic of cognitive decline when observing the dose dependant factor.

      I accept that seeking out the opinion of a pharmacist is pragmatic, but it seems like a careless approach for doctors to be prescribing a list of drugs without alerting the patient to the potential side-effects or the body's inability to contain the load.

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