For optimum health, there are few things you can do that are as important as getting off antidepressants, or — even better — avoiding them in the first place. These drugs are woefully ineffective, not to mention alarmingly dangerous.
And yet another devastating side effect has emerged. A new study shows that antidepressant use nearly doubles the risk of hip fractures in people with Alzheimer’s disease. These drugs were also associated with more fractures in elderly people who didn’t have dementia.
The study evaluated about 50,000 Finnish people, average age of 80, who were diagnosed with Alzheimer’s, and another 101,000 who didn’t have dementia.
The researchers discovered that the greatest fracture risks were at the beginning of antidepressant use (when these drugs have zero effectiveness anyway). But the risk remained high throughout the four-year study.
And this risk persisted even after taking into account study participants’ use of other medications. (Older people are typically given multiple drugs, many of which interfere with mental functioning, balance, and other factors that contribute to the risk of falling, and thus bone fractures.)
The study even took into account osteoporosis and other chronic diseases that contribute to the risk of falls or fractures, as well as history of mental illnesses and socioeconomic status.
And yet despite all of these factors, antidepressant use remained, by far, the greatest risk for hip fractures.
As you get older, your risk of depression increases, which prompts many doctors to prescribe antidepressants. But these dangerous drugs are also used for a host of other conditions besides depression, especially in the elderly — including chronic pain, agitation, anxiety, and insomnia.
This just contributes to overmedicating the elderly and, as this study shows, putting them at risk for the same key problems we all want to avoid as we get older!
The good news is, there are many safe, natural, drug-free approaches that can lift mood and ease depression. I covered this topic in detail in the March 2016 issue of Insiders’ Cures.
For more information on keeping your bones strong and healthy as you age, see the article “The surprising — and delicious — way to keep your bones healthy.”
And last but certainly not least, for dementia itself, drugs have nothing to offer. However, there are more than a dozen natural steps you can take that have been demonstrated to prevent and reverse Alzheimer’s disease and dementia. I discuss these steps in detail and explain how to incorporate them into your daily life in my Complete Alzheimer’s Cure online learning protocol.
You can learn more about this breakthrough program — or enroll today — by clicking here or by calling (866)747-9421 and asking for order code EOV3T401.
SOURCE:
“Antidepressant use and risk of hip fractures among community-dwelling persons with and without Alzheimer’s disease.” Int J Geriatr Psychiatry. 2017 Jan 5.