Changes in Your Response to Medications
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As we age we may become less responsive to drugs or more likely to experience side effects.
- Changes in the body’s physiology may reduce the benefits of some drugs but create a potential for benefit in another, even if that drug has been tried before. For example, an individual who could not tolerate a drug at an average dose in their 40s may experience a benefit from the same drug a decade later at a fraction of the dose.
- Some individuals—including those with severe dystonia—find that after trying many prescription medications, adequate relief can be achieved through over-the-counter analgesics and non-drug methods such as regular relaxation and gentle exercise.
- If you are being prescribed medications by multiple doctors, be sure that each doctor is aware of every drug you are taking. Consider keeping a written list of all current medications (both oral and injected) and bringing that list to every medical appointment.
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