Why should a person over the age of 65 see a Geriatrician?

A person over the age of 65 that may be showing cognitive changes such as wandering at night, hallucination may be experiencing early signs of dementia or delirium.  A Geriatrian can make sure the patient is getting the appropropriate care needed to treat these conditions that might be overlooked.  Another reason a person might go to see a Geriatrician would be if they start falling frequently and have difficulty with daily activities that used to be simple to do. 

An elderly person might be struggling with issues in their life that affect their independence and a Geriatrician can help the elderly patient better understand and assess the patient about why these changes might be happening.  Another very common problem that Geriatricians deal with is polypharmacy.  It is not uncommon for a typical elderly patient navigating through the system to receive 1-2 prescrions from their cardiologist, another 3-4 from their primary care physician and 2 more from their orthopaedic surgeon due to knee surgery a few weeks ago.  Before you realize it, an elderly patient can be on 8 or more medications without completely understanding the interactions between each one or even if they really need to be taking that many medications.  If you see a Geriatrician, he/she will be able to take the time and discuss with the patient the interaction of all these medications and evaluate whether or not it is required to take all medications in communication with your primary care physician along the way.