Doctor warns of five medications known to raise dementia risk
Dr Zain Hasan, a US-based anesthetist, told his 635,000 followers on
TikTok that there are five medications that could cause dementia — including some antidepressants, painkillers and antihistamines.
The first drug he included in his warning was antihistamine medication used to help ease the symptoms of allergies, as well as anticholinergics, also used to treat allergies.
Another medication that is thought to cause dementia is opiates, often used as painkillers after surgery, serious injury or for
cancer patients.
Dr Hasan said: 'This is pretty common knowledge but if you take any opiates like morphine regularly they affect your brain, they cause sedation and anything that causes sedation for a long period of time can probably end up causing dementia.'
Another medication was omeprazole, which is widely used to treat indigestion and heartburn.
He said: 'If you take omeprazole regularly it can increase the amount of beta-amyloid in your brain, which can lead to dementia.
A type of sedative drug used to treat anxiety, insomnia and seizures called benzodiazepines — such as Valium and Xanax — are thought to raise dementia risk if taken over a long period of time.
Several studies have shown a link between the drug and dementia. In one benzodiazepine
study a team of researchers from France and Canada selected 2,000 people with Alzheimer's disease and 7,000 without it.
Researchers found those who had taken benzodiazepines for three to six months had a 32 per cent greater risk of developing Alzheimer's, and those taking one for more than six months had an 84 per cent greater risk than those who hadn't taken one.
Dr Hasan also highlighted that taking tricyclics antidepressants (TCAs) — a less commonly prescribed mental health drug compared to SSRIs — could also cause dementia.
