HYANNIS — Calling it the Silver Tsunami, treatment specialists are predicting that elder addiction to alcohol and medication is becoming a vast health and medical expense issue.
Seniors make up the fastest-growing population in the United States, said John Dyben, director of spiritual care and wellness at the treatment facility, the Hanley Center, of West Palm Beach, Florida.
More seniors than ever suffer from drug or alcohol dependence, Dyben said.
"The bottom line is we have a wave of older adults and they are bringing with them increased use of substances both legal, prescription and illicit," Dyben said. "We're seeing more of that in older people than ever before."
Dyben is one of about 70 speakers at the 27th annual, four-day Cape Cod Symposium on Addictive Disorders that began Thursday at The Resort and Conference Center at Hyannis.
The symposium, geared toward health professionals, has more than 1,000 people registered, said Susan Benvenuti, director of marketing for C4 Recovery Solutions, Inc., which puts on several conferences a year throughout the country.
The issue of elders and drug abuse has particular relevance for Cape Cod, which has the highest median age in the state (51.4 years), according to the U.S. Census.
The illicit drug of choice for boomers and elders happens to be marijuana, but this isn't the kind of pot they smoked in 1969, Dyben said.
This variety contains 25 percent to 30 percent more THC, and hence, acts as a powerful narcotic, he said.
On the legal list of drugs, the top is alcohol and the second is opiate painkillers and benzodiazepines such as Valium and Xanax, he said.
But most doctors don't screen for alcohol or drug dependence when an elderly person seeks treatment for a fall or memory loss. The symptoms often look like dementia, depression, Alzheimer's and other common illnesses of the elderly population, he said.
Often adult children rush their parents to the doctor because of memory problems, fearing that dementia has set in, Dyben said. But at the Hanley Center, it's amazing how often the memory problems completely disappear within 30 days of sobriety, he said.
This may sound hard to believe because elder drinking or drug use usually goes on unseen. They often drink or take pills at home. They don't drive as much and may not need to get to work.
Addiction can go unnoticed for a long time without police, family or co-workers taking notice, according to a guidebook entitled "Aging and Addiction" published by the treatment center Hazelden in 2002.
Older people who become injured or complain of pain are often prescribed addictive painkillers, and if they become hooked, it's easy for them to doctor shop or get prescription refills. They usually are not screened for addiction, Dyben said.
Also, doctors see 35 to 40 patients a day, Dyben said, so physicians don't have the time to talk to their patients.
"It takes five minutes to say yes and write a prescription and 40 minutes to say no, and discuss alternative treatments," Dyben said. "The system is still broken in my opinion."
If there is good news in this crisis, it is related to the Affordable Care Act of 2010, which now provides financial incentives for doctors and hospitals to do early intervention to stop illnesses before they become larger medical/financial issues, said James Huysman, senior clinical consultant for The Hanley Center's Boomer and Older Adult Program. Huysman is also a speaker at the conference.
The focus on early intervention is forcing the medical community to realize how much substance abuse and mental illness costs the health care system as a whole, Huysman said.
Gosnold on Cape Cod, the largest treatment center on the Cape, now has counselors placed in several primary care doctors offices to screen patients for mental health problems and addiction.
"That's the beginning of the future," Huysman said. "That's what will happen more and more."
Traditional health care has split one human body three ways: the mind, the body and teeth, he said.
"But we have a new opportunity to become creative and quality-driven," Huysman said.
No comments:
Post a Comment