Elder-bury Whine
“Crabbing,” complaining, aches, pains, groans! All constant companions of a dear friend called “Old Age.” When you’re up, he brings you down. Our bodies are both friends and traitors, to be taken for granted in health and then turning their backs on us when we need them most. Can we do something about this, or should we drown ourselves in Tylenol, Celebrex, Kaopectate, and stool softeners?
Over the next 3 decades, the number of individuals over 65 years old will almost double, going from 29 million to over 51 million in the year 2020. This group will represent 17% of the total population. Currently, over 21% of all first admissions to state and county mental health facilities in the U.S. are over 65 years old. Furthermore, depression is particularly prominent in the geriatric population, with those over 65 committing suicide at a rate higher than any other group in the U.S.
Medicine cabinets crammed full of a vast assortment of multicolored elixirs and “bonbons,” upon which we rest our hopes for the future, are the envy of every “kid in the candy store.” Exercise and healthy diet, too, have ceded the sidewalk to “pushers” in three-piece suits, who hawk their wares to the tune of billions of dollars in annual pharmaceutical revenues. Ninety-five percent of people over 65 now take some type of medication.
As we get older, we see a decrease in gastric-cell activity, resulting in a rise in the gastric pH. Blood flow to our abdominal viscera decreases, intestinal motility declines, active transport processes are altered, and slight of hand produces no rabbit, but rather laxative or Milk of Magnesia.
There is a decrease in total body water with aging, as well as a reduction in lean body mass. Body fat increases, and the increase in adiposity with aging results in a greater amount of drug stored in the periphery of our bodies. This in turn prolongs the time required to metabolize those drugs. Serum albumin levels also decrease 15 to 20% with age, and the concentration of free drugs (not bound to albumin, and therefore free to act) subsequently increases. That increase gives rise to more side effects, since more drug is now available to enter tissues.
Many drugs are metabolized in the liver to active and inactive metabolites. Still, in those 65 years old and older, hepatic blood flow is decreased by 40% as compared to a young adult. This results in both a great degree of individual variation in liver metabolic activity in the aged and toxic buildup.
When we were young, a right of passage was not “peach-fuzz” as a preliminary to beard stubble, but rather the distance and sheer power of a urine stream. However, when our “plumbing” ain’t what it used to be, the processing of our bodies’ toxic waste tends to decrease. In fact, the rate at which we process a given quantity of toxic waste decreases 50% by age 70. A decrease in renal blood flow with age adds to the picture.
Perhaps it is just plain better to die young. A diet rich in vitamins and antioxidants, combined with stimulating play, nonetheless, can slow or reverse some age-related brain deterioration in dogs, which are a good model of human aging.
An occasional glass of elderberry wine, too, helps “bury” the elderly whine . . . . .
Over the next 3 decades, the number of individuals over 65 years old will almost double, going from 29 million to over 51 million in the year 2020. This group will represent 17% of the total population. Currently, over 21% of all first admissions to state and county mental health facilities in the U.S. are over 65 years old. Furthermore, depression is particularly prominent in the geriatric population, with those over 65 committing suicide at a rate higher than any other group in the U.S.
Medicine cabinets crammed full of a vast assortment of multicolored elixirs and “bonbons,” upon which we rest our hopes for the future, are the envy of every “kid in the candy store.” Exercise and healthy diet, too, have ceded the sidewalk to “pushers” in three-piece suits, who hawk their wares to the tune of billions of dollars in annual pharmaceutical revenues. Ninety-five percent of people over 65 now take some type of medication.
As we get older, we see a decrease in gastric-cell activity, resulting in a rise in the gastric pH. Blood flow to our abdominal viscera decreases, intestinal motility declines, active transport processes are altered, and slight of hand produces no rabbit, but rather laxative or Milk of Magnesia.
There is a decrease in total body water with aging, as well as a reduction in lean body mass. Body fat increases, and the increase in adiposity with aging results in a greater amount of drug stored in the periphery of our bodies. This in turn prolongs the time required to metabolize those drugs. Serum albumin levels also decrease 15 to 20% with age, and the concentration of free drugs (not bound to albumin, and therefore free to act) subsequently increases. That increase gives rise to more side effects, since more drug is now available to enter tissues.
Many drugs are metabolized in the liver to active and inactive metabolites. Still, in those 65 years old and older, hepatic blood flow is decreased by 40% as compared to a young adult. This results in both a great degree of individual variation in liver metabolic activity in the aged and toxic buildup.
When we were young, a right of passage was not “peach-fuzz” as a preliminary to beard stubble, but rather the distance and sheer power of a urine stream. However, when our “plumbing” ain’t what it used to be, the processing of our bodies’ toxic waste tends to decrease. In fact, the rate at which we process a given quantity of toxic waste decreases 50% by age 70. A decrease in renal blood flow with age adds to the picture.
Perhaps it is just plain better to die young. A diet rich in vitamins and antioxidants, combined with stimulating play, nonetheless, can slow or reverse some age-related brain deterioration in dogs, which are a good model of human aging.
An occasional glass of elderberry wine, too, helps “bury” the elderly whine . . . . .
Copyright 2003, Albert M. Balesh, M.D. All rights reserved.
posted by Dr. Al at
7/18/2006 09:43:00 PM
2 Comments:
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