Vol 38 • No. 4
Senior Opiate Addicts
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By Marlo Sollitto ActiveCare News Susan was noticing changes in her 71-year-old mother, Florence. She seemed withdrawn and sometimes anxious. Susan often ran errands for Florence, and after a few trips to the pharmacy; she noticed her mother had prescriptions for Percocet from several different doctors. When asked about it, Florence's answers were vague, even secretive. Further probing caused her to become confrontational. Eventually, the full story came out. Florence had built up a tolerance to the medication and started increasing
www.theactiveage.com Kansas’ Kansas’Award-winning Award-winningTop Top55+ 55+News NewsSource Source how much she was taking. Fearing that her doctor would stop prescribing the medication if she told him that she had increased the dosage, she kept it a secret. She did not believe that she would be able to function without the pills. She began visiting several different doctors, requesting the same medication, and using different pharmacies to fill the prescriptions. She began to change the numbers on the prescriptions so that she could get more pills with more refills. Florence had become addicted to Percocet. When you think of drug addiction, seniors are not the first age group that comes to mind. However, 40 percent of the prescription drugs sold in the United States are used by the elderly, often for problems such as chronic pain, insomnia and anxiety. According to the National Clear-
32 CCC camps in Kansas
By Tom Emery Few federal government programs today are viewed as efficient and popular, with long-lasting effects, as the Civilian Conservation Corps. This enormously successful Depression-era program of Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal, was all that and more. The CCC put unemployed, impoverished young men to work in forestry, soil conservation, drainage and public parkland. Known for its quality of work, the imprint of the CCC remains in parks, forests and farmlands today. Some 32 Kansas counties were
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inghouse for Alcohol and Drug Information, as many as 17 percent of adults age 60 and older abuse prescription drugs. Narcotic painkillers, sleeping pills and tranquillizers are common medications of abuse. When drugs come from a doctor's prescription pad, misuse is harder to identify. We assume pharmaceutical drugs are only used for treating medical conditions. But many older adults take mood-altering medications for non-medical reasons. Over time, they develop a tolerance to the drug. Achieving the same effect requires See Drugs, page 10
March 2017
Symptoms of abuse problem
By Mayo Clinic Staff Signs and symptoms of prescription drug abuse depend on the specific drug. Because of their mind-altering properties, the most commonly abused prescription drugs are: • Opioids such as oxycodone (Oxycontin, Roxicodone) and those containing hydrocodone (Vicodin, Lortab, Norco), used to treat pain • Anti-anxiety medications and sedatives such as alprazolam (Xanax) and diazepam (Valium) and hypnotics such as zolpidem (Ambien), used to treat anxiety and sleep disorders • Stimulants such as methylphenidate (Ritalin, Concerta, others), dextroamphetamine and amphetamine (Adderall XR) and dextroamphetamine (Dexedrine), used to treat attention-deficit/ hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and See Abuse, page 10
home to CCC camps during its nine-year run from 1933-42. Much of the work focused on soil conservation, the result of the devastation of the Dust Bowl. “The impact of the CCC on parks across the nation cannot be understated,” said James Denny, a retired historian with the Missouri Department Courtesy photo of Natural Resources who Men relax in the barracks of a Civilian Conhas extensively studied the servation Corps camp near Carlinville, Ill. CCC. “The CCC put people shambles, Roosevelt spent his first back to work and helped send money days in office in March 1933 creating home to families that needed it. It a multitude of programs to create jobs, also got people into the great outdoors including the CCC, whose official and into better surroundings, and gave name was “Emergency Conservation them something productive to do.” Work.” With the nation’s economy in See CCC, page 7
Central Plains Area Agency on Aging or call your county Department on Aging: 1-855-200-2372
Butler County: (316) 775-0500 or 1-800- 279-3655 Harvey County: (316) 284-6880 or 1-800-279-3655