Geriatric Pharmacy: What It Is and Why It Matters for Older Adults

When we talk about geriatric pharmacy, the specialized branch of pharmacy focused on medication use in older adults. It's not just about giving pills to seniors—it's about understanding how aging changes the body’s ability to process drugs, manage side effects, and avoid dangerous interactions. As people get older, their kidneys and liver don’t work as efficiently, stomach acid drops, and body fat increases. That means a drug that was safe at 50 might become risky at 75. A common painkiller or sleep aid that works fine for a younger person can cause confusion, falls, or even kidney damage in someone over 65.

Polypharmacy, the use of five or more medications at once is a huge issue in geriatric care. Many older adults see multiple doctors, each prescribing something different. One doctor gives a blood pressure pill, another adds a diuretic, a third prescribes an antihistamine for allergies, and maybe a fourth recommends a sleep aid. None of them know what the others prescribed. The result? A dangerous mix. Studies show over 40% of seniors take at least five medications daily, and nearly 20% are on drugs that could harm them more than help. Age-related drug changes, how the body absorbs, metabolizes, and eliminates medications differently after 65 make this even worse. Drugs like diphenhydramine, often found in over-the-counter sleep aids, are anticholinergics—and they’re linked to memory loss and increased dementia risk in older adults.

Geriatric pharmacy isn’t just about avoiding bad drugs—it’s about finding better ones. It means choosing medications with fewer side effects, adjusting doses based on kidney function, and checking for interactions before adding anything new. It also means asking: Do we really need this? Can we stop something? Is there a non-drug option? For example, instead of giving a senior a sedative for insomnia, a pharmacist might recommend melatonin or cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia (CBT-I), both safer and more effective long-term. Or, instead of using a statin that causes muscle pain, they might suggest CoQ10 as a supportive supplement—something we’ve seen discussed in posts about statin side effects.

What you’ll find in this collection isn’t theory—it’s real, practical advice drawn from posts that deal with the daily challenges seniors face. From corticosteroid withdrawal risks to the dangers of antihistamines in older adults, from kidney-safe diabetes drugs like saxagliptin to the hidden dangers of intra-articular steroid shots, these articles show how medication decisions for seniors are anything but simple. You’ll see how one pill can affect another, how perception shapes whether a generic works, and why what’s safe for a 40-year-old isn’t safe for a 70-year-old. This isn’t just about prescriptions. It’s about keeping older adults independent, alert, and out of the hospital.