There are 5 legal documents every elder should have in place:
1- Medical Directive: Also known as an Advanced Directive. This document sets out the level and extent of care your loved one wants to receive when they become ill or incapacitated.
2- Power of Attorney for Healthcare: A power of attorney for healthcare allows you to make healthcare decisions for your loved one.
3- Power of Attorney for Finances: A power of attorney for finances allows you to manage your loved one’s financial affairs, pay bills, sell property, contract for services, rent property, pick living arrangements, and so on.
4- Revocable Trust: It allows your loved ones to retain control over their estate while making transfers of assets to beneficiaries.
5- Will: A will is a legal document that lets your loved one tell the world who should receive which of his or her assets after death.
Faith in Action of Marathon County Volunteers provide transportation for seniors to go grocery shopping. They will take you to and from the store and even assist you inside. Rather not leave the comfort of your home? Place a pick-up order, and a Volunteer can pick up and deliver your groceries straight to your home.
Qualifications: 60 years or older residing in Marathon County.
All services are provided FREE of charge, regardless of income, race, religious belief, or ethnic background.
Click on the “Receive Services” tab on our website or call our office for an application, 715-848-8783.
Already a FIAMC Care Receiver in need of groceries? Give our office a call to schedule transportation.
Why they are prescribed: Benzodiazepines are used to treat a variety of anxiety disorders, agitation, seizures, and delirium and muscle spasms. Because benzodiazepines have a sedative effect, they are sometimes used to treat insomnia and the anxiety that can accompany depression.
How they can affect memory: Benzodiazepines dampen activity in key parts of the brain, including those involved in the transfer of events from short-term to long-term memory. In fact, they’re used in anesthesia for this very reason.
Alternatives: Benzodiazepines should be prescribed only rarely in older adults, and then only for short periods of time. It takes older people much longer than younger people to flush these drugs out of their bodies, and the ensuing buildup puts older adults at higher risk for not just memory loss but delirium, falls, fractures and motor vehicle accidents. Another drawback: They’re addicting, says D.P. Devanand, M.D., professor of psychiatry and neurology at Columbia University Medical Center.
2. Antiseizure drugs
Why they are prescribed: Long used to treat seizures, these medications can also be prescribed for nerve pain, bipolar disorder, mood disorders and mania.
Howthey can affect memory: Anticonvulsants are believed to limit seizures by dampening the flow of signals within the central nervous system (CNS). Drugs that depress signaling in the CNS can cause memory loss. One thing to note: These medications can be sedating, “and sometimes it’s hard to separate what is a true cognitive decline from simple sedation,” Devanand says.
Alternatives: Many patients with seizures do well on phenytoin (Dilantin), which, at lower doses, has less of an impact on memory. Patients with chronic nerve pain find that venlafaxine (Effexor) – which also spares memory – alleviates their pain.
3. Tricyclic antidepressants
Why they are prescribed: This older class of antidepressant drugs is prescribed less often these days, but some people still use tricyclics for depression, anxiety disorders, obsessive-compulsive disorder and nerve-related pain.
How they can affect memory: Tricyclic antidepressants block the action of serotonin, norepinephrine and other chemical messengers in the brain, which can lead to a number of side effects, including lapses in memory.
Alternatives: Newer antidepressants like fluoxetine (Prozac), sertraline (Zoloft) and other selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) don’t have the same anticholinergic effects as tricyclic antidepressants and therefore don’t interfere with cognition, Devanand explains. You can also talk with your health care provider about whether nondrug therapies might work just as well or better for you than a drug.
4. Narcotic painkillers (opioids)
Why they are prescribed: These medications are sometimes used to relieve moderate to severe pain from surgery or injuries. In some instances, they can also be used to treat chronic pain.
Examples: Fentanyl (available as a patch), hydrocodone (Vicodin), hydromorphone (Dilaudid, Exalgo), morphine and oxycodone (Oxycontin). These drugs come in many different forms, including tablets, solutions for injection, transdermal patches and suppositories.
How they can affect memory: These drugs work by stemming the flow of pain signals within the central nervous system and by blunting one’s emotional reaction to pain. Both these actions are mediated by chemical messengers that are also involved in many aspects of cognition, so use of these drugs can interfere with long- and short-term memory, especially when used for extended periods of time. Researchers have also found a link between opioid use and dementia in older adults.
Alternatives: In patients under the age of 50 years, nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) are the frontline therapy for pain. Unfortunately, NSAID therapy is less appropriate for older patients, who have a much higher risk of gastrointestinal bleeding. Research shows the risk goes up with the dosage and duration of treatment.
5. Sleeping aids (nonbenzodiazepine sedative-hypnotics)
Why they are prescribed: Sometimes called the “Z” drugs, these medications can be used to treat insomnia and other sleep problems. They also are prescribed for mild anxiety.
Examples: Eszopiclone (Lunesta), zaleplon (Sonata) and zolpidem (Ambien).
How they can affect memory: Although these are molecularly distinct from benzodiazepines (see No. 1, above), they act on many of the same brain pathways and chemical messengers, producing similar side effects and problems with addiction and withdrawal. The “Z” drugs also can cause amnesia and sometimes trigger dangerous or strange behaviors, such as cooking a meal or driving a car with no recollection of the event upon awakening.
Alternatives: There are alternative drug and nondrug treatments for insomnia and anxiety, so talk with your health care professional about options. Melatonin, for instance, can help to reestablish healthy sleep patterns. And cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia (CBT-I) is the first-line treatment for the sleep disorder.
6. Incontinence drugs (anticholinergics)
Why they are prescribed: These medications are used to relieve symptoms of overactive bladder and reduce episodes of urge incontinence, an urge to urinate so sudden and strong that you often can’t get to a bathroom in time.
Examples: Darifenacin (Enablex), oxybutynin (Ditropan XL), solifenacin (Vesicare), tolterodine (Detrol) and trospium (Sanctura). Another oxybutynin product, Oxytrol for Women, is sold over the counter.
How they can affect memory: Patients who take anticholinergics can have complications with their long-term memory, says Merrey. These medications have been associated with an increased risk of dementia, and that heightened risk can persist even after the medication has been discontinued.
That’s because these drugs block the action of acetylcholine, a neurotransmitter that mediates all sorts of functions in the body. In the bladder, anticholinergics prevent involuntary contractions of the muscles that control urine flow. In the brain, they inhibit activity in the memory and learning centers. The risk of memory loss is heightened when the drugs are taken for more than a short time or used with other anticholinergic drugs.
Older adults are particularly vulnerable to the other adverse effects of anticholinergic drugs, including constipation (which, in turn, can cause urinary incontinence), blurred vision, dizziness, anxiety, depression and hallucinations.
Alternatives: As a first step, it’s important to make sure that you have been properly diagnosed. Check with your doctor or other health professional to see if your urinary incontinence symptoms might stem from another condition (such as a bladder infection or another form of incontinence) or a medication (such as a blood pressure drug, diuretic or muscle relaxant).
7. Antihistamines (first generation)
Why they are prescribed: These medications are used to relieve or prevent allergy symptoms or symptoms of the common cold. Some antihistamines are also used to prevent motion sickness, nausea, vomiting and dizziness, and to treat anxiety or insomnia.
How they can affect memory: These medications (prescription and over-the-counter) inhibit the action of acetylcholine, a chemical messenger that mediates a wide range of functions in the body. In the brain, they inhibit activity in the memory and learning centers.
Alternatives: Newer-generation antihistamines such as loratadine (Claritin) and cetirizine (Zyrtec) are better tolerated by older patients and do not present the same risks to memory and cognition.
FIAMC can transport Care Receivers to their doctor appointments if within Marathon County.
If you are 60+ and reside in Marathon County and could use help getting to and from appointments, call our office or locate our application on our website.
Faith in Action of Marathon County 
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