Anti-cholinergic drugs may increase cognitive decline.......

tbanner523

tbanner523

Well-known member
I don't understand...do you return to normal if you stop taking the drug? or does it cause permanent damage?
 
fresca

fresca

Member
probably a good idea to wait until the published paper is out.

it says "The study found those people who took anticholinergic drugs saw their rate of cognitive function decline 1.5 times as fast as those people who did not take the drugs."

it doesn't say what other drugs they were taking. some may already be suffering from Alzheimers and are taking drugs to treat it, thus slowing cognitive decline. Anyway, it'll be good to see the final published paper. Media sometimes over generalize things.
 
Jezza

Jezza

Well-known member
Hmmm...

Interesting.

Well, obviously it is never really healthy having to take medication, and I don't suppose they gave anticholinergics to otherwise healthy people to test whether or not they'd get alzheimer's.

Also; most anticholinergics (like glycopyrrolate) don't cross the blood-brain barrier so personally I don't see how it would influence the brain in a significant way. Older anticholinergics like atropine ARE able to cross that barrier (which is why you might get halucinations from those) so maybe in that case I would take more notice. Did the report say which med was used exactly?

AND, although this is just speculation at this point (although I agree that we have to always be cautious before taking meds and I'm terryfied at the thought of Alzheimer's), some studies show that your life expectation is severily threatened by living an unhappy, lonely life, so if the meds increase your quality of life...

I'm not currently on meds nor have I been really, but I'm looking to get glycopyrronium cream ASAP and/or use glycopyrrolate in combination with my ionto device...I'll watch this space in the meantime.

By the way Zoot, from another topic I read you had used glycopyrronium cream...how did that work out for you...?
 
Zoot

Zoot

Member
Hello All,

I thought the article was interesting because I stopped taking oxybutinin as I was convinced it was making me stupid! I didn't mean to cause alarm. But I do believe that as much should be known about something in order to form an objective opinion about it.

Jezza, I've never used the cream but I have used the topical solution at various stregnths. I found that for my palms and the soles of my feet only iontophoresis using glycopyrrolate bromide works.
 
margiehope

margiehope

Well-known member
Meds and Dementia

Thanks Jezza for your comments.

It's certainly worth learning all one can about any meds--but the whole thing about gycopyrrolate NOT crossing the blood/brain barrier is important.

I've been on Avert for a year. I'm about the same amount of stupid as before, and though I'm not 75, I'm not that young either.

I'm also not sweating like the proverbial pig, being mortified in public (even more so since I was a teacher), and just generally hating the whole deal.

So, I'll keep taking the meds--though I'll also look for more info on that study.

Cheers,

Margiehope
 
Zoot

Zoot

Member
No specific anticholinergic was mentioned in the abstract and my concern was with oxybutinin and not glycopyrrolate. Although I must say that if you read page 232 (or pg. 10 if read as pdf file) of this link:

http://www.apa.org/journals/releases/bne1181223.pdf

It states that glycopyrrolate "may produce subtle but measurable negative effects on memory and learning" and "Though glycopyrrolate crosses the blood-brain barrier slowly and less well relative to the tertiary amines scopolamine and atropine, with time, sufficient amounts cross the blood-brain barrier in humans and in animals....... It is also known that glycopyrrolate may cause confusion and delerium in the elderly."

Now I know that these studies are all on elderly subjects and don't get me wrong, I still use glycopyrrolate because it improves my quality of life, but I do worry about its potential negative accumulative effect.
 
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