Dementia in a pill

It might not be the advancing years—it could just be the medicine
you’re taking. Common treatments, including over-the-counter pills, can cause
side effects that mimic diseases of old age such as dementia and glaucoma,
doctors warn in the Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine (vol 93, p 457).
The authors single out drugs for nausea, Parkinson’s disease and
gastrointestinal problems. But pills for heart problems, diarrhoea and
depression may be to blame, too. One of the researchers, Jacobo Mintzer of the
Medical University of South Carolina, says patients must be made more aware of
potential side effects.…