Unfortunately, drug side effects are the leading cause of death in the United States. Prescription drugs are responsible for more than 100,000 deaths and more than 1.5 million hospitalizations due to serious side effects each year.
Three types of prescription drugs can cause a variety of cognitive problems, including memory loss:
Sleeping pills
Sleeping pills often cause memory loss, resulting in a coma or a drunken state. Therefore, they do not restore the sleep that the body needs to heal itself.
For example, the popular drug Ambien is known as an “amnesic” because it can cause hallucinations, nightmares, drowsiness, and sleep-driving.
Statins
These drugs are the most harmful to the brain and are used to control cholesterol levels. This is because the brain contains a quarter of cholesterol, which is essential for thinking, memory, and learning. However, they cause memory loss and similar side effects.
“Antihistamines”
Antihistamines, antibiotics, antidepressants, antipsychotics, anticonvulsants, and antihypertensives affect the body’s levels of acetylcholine, a key neurotransmitter necessary for memory and learning.
Low levels can lead to blurred vision, memory loss, dementia, delirium, confusion, and hallucinations.
Mount Richard S. Morse, former associate chair of the department of psychiatry at Sinai School of Medicine, has compiled the following list of 20 drugs for memory impairment.
•Antibiotics (quinolones)
•Sleeping pills – Ambien, Lunesta, Sonata
•Pain relievers – Morphine, codeine, heroin.
•Insulin
•Chemotherapy drugs
•Epilepsy – Dilantin or phenytoin
•Barbiturates – Nembutal, Phenobarbital, Seconal, Amytal.
•Antipsychotics – Meraril, Haldol.
- Parkinson’s disease – atropine, glycopyrrolate, scopolamine
- Benzodiazepines – Xanax, Valium, Dalmane, Ativan.
- Quinidine
- Beta-blockers
- Blood pressure medications
- Interferon
- Naproxen
- Tricyclic antidepressants
- Methyldopa
- Lithium
- Antihistamines
- Steroids
If you’re taking any of these medications, talk to your doctor about whether they’re affecting your memory. You can always find healthier alternatives, or at least other medications and lifestyle changes.
To reduce the stress on your brain, you need to be more active, take supplements, and eat brain-healthy foods.
In general, keeping your brain healthy and smart requires keeping your brain healthy.
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