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Drugs have powerful effects on the elderly and since often the elderly are required to consume varied meds in clusters, they are particularly vulnerable to harmful side effects. Moreover, they need nutritional support to help fortify their vital organs and brain and bones from such side effects. Note also that the elderly often have dental problems and so they desperately need supplemental nutrients in liquid forms since their mouths cannot chew tablets. Therefore, I'd like to know more about supplement nutrition programs and research about this.

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There are NO supplements that can erase the side effects of drugs. However, improving the gut will help digestion. Go for the highest BILLION live cultures of acidophilus in refrigerated pill form or in sugar-free yogurt.
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Yes ferris is right yoguart is good for everyone. The probiotics in it keep things moving along so they do sit in our gut to long. Ensure is a great supplement source. Beyond that recommend you speak with a dietian not the doctor as they have better handle on this than docs do in my opinion.
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I'm not sure this is the appropriate site for your question. Where have you looked for information so far? All we could give you is personal opinion, sometimes based on experience. To see valid research about this topic would require a more scienticic source. And there are lots of legitimate sources for such information as well as a lot of snake-oil sales sites! Be careful out there!

If you have a specific situation in mind about a person you are taking care of, I assume you've talked about this with the doctor. What have you learned?
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It might help if the person has a full stomach before taking the medications. For example, mashed potatoes and scrambled eggs make a good bland meal. Read all the fine print for each medication to see if there is any information that might help. The pharmacist doesn't always know all the interactions. Elderly people may be taking medications that they no longer need such as cholesterol meds that cause problems.
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I'm a dietitian in long-term care. This question is the reason I have a job in nursing facilities! The medical records are routinely reviewed by doctors, pharmacists, dietitians and nurse practitioners to ensure the issues you mentioned are addressed.
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My mom's Dr. had her on a statin in the past and recommended 250-300 mg of Co-enzyme Q10 a day to help negate the side effects of muscle aches. Statins deplete Q10 in the body. Currently her cholesterol is a bit over 200 and we do not give her the statin any more after discussing it with her Dr. Her cholesterol did not change when she took the meds, and she eats so little anyway, that we stopped it.

I would love to be able to get a multivitamin that is small in size for Mom. Right now we give her children's chewables, but she can just handle 1 a day. Adult vitamins are too large in size for her. We've tried liquid vitamins but had issues with caregivers not handling it properly.
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Tori, have you tried the new gummie adult vits, or now they have the mint one which just melt away in your mouth. The gummies work well for a client i have.
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I am really struggling with all the medications. Namenda gave him horrible side affects. He was on Exelon for two years, no side affects, but we have no clue if there was anything good from it. Way too expensive so we switched to Rivastigmine and are beginning to think the side affects are not worth it, plus turns out it's almost as expensive as Exelon. With that, anxiety drugs, blood pressure, thyroid and more, it's frustrating. We are beginning to think that we should just forget the ALZ related drugs. They can't cure or stop the disease. It's hard to know what to do.
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Some of the side effects can be related to the "fillers" the pharmaceutical manufacturers place in their pills to make the pills large enough to handle. Same with "binders" that are used to make the pill stick together. Same with "coatings" used on the pills to swallow better.

Every pharmaceutical manufacturers has their own formula, thus one has to search around to find the right manufacturer where a patient can easily take the pill with minor side effects.

I have the above issues with pills, and surprising just last year found out my Mom had the same problem.... we were surprised to find that we both had narrowed down the pills to just manufacturers that worked the best for us :)

I agree with Ferris above, there are no supplements that can erase the side effects. In fact, the supplements have "fillers", "binders", and "coatings" on their pills and even in liquid form.
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We are not doctors. That is who you should be asking.
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