Mixed Meds Send Senior to Mental Facility

MEMPHIS, Tenn. - In a follow-up report to the "Overmedication of America," a 78-year-old man speaks out about how medicine changed his life. He went from peaceful living at home to being admitted to a mental facility. Now, he wants to warn other people about the dangers of mixed prescriptions.

By all accords, Charles Austein was a normal 78 year old man, until he caught pneumonia. A trip to a Mid-South hospital to clear the fluid off his lungs almost cost Austein his life.

According to Charles, "they gave me some medicine that threw me into another world."

"The first day he was home, he said 'I'm feeling kind of down in the dumps,' and I said 'yes, we've noticed that,'" said Austien's daughter, Kim Austein.

Charles Austein became easily agitated, and started experiencing paranoia, anxiety and fear. But the 78 year old's doctor attributed the behavior to age-related illness.

"It was obvious to us that it was a change in his medication that has prompted that," said Kim. "We saw behaviors we had never seen in him before."

"The next thing I know, I'm in a mental hospital for 10 days," said Charles.

That hospital stay meant more meds from doctors to treat what they thought to be a mental disorder. 10 days into his stay at the mental facility, he had a heart attack.

Kim blames the heart attack on the prescription cocktail he was taking at the time, saying he was taking 27 medications at the time.

According to Dr. Manoj Jain, that is a dangerous combination.

"At times, especially in the elderly, the medications can have very adverse events, and cause people who are sane to be even psychotic," said Dr. Jain.

Ironically, the heart attack saved his life. It wasn't until then that doctors decreased his meds, after Kim begged.

"Let's get him off of something," Kim said to his doctors. "Something that he's taking is not right."

Now, his meds are down in the low teens, and he's back at home with family.

The Austein's learned a valuable lesson in the last 3 months, and Charles' wife keeps a closer eye on her husband, his meds, and what goes into his body.

Dr. Manoj Jain urges patients to start slowly, communicate closely with a family member, as well as your doctor, be honest with yourself and others about how medicines make you feel, and be sure to alert doctor of changes or stops of any medication.