It is a common complication of diabetes. The most common cause is poorly controlled blood sugar over time. Diabetic nerve pain can take years to develop. In the early stages, you may have no signs at all, and then only start to feel a tingling or numbness in your feet. As it progresses, you may also feel the pain in your hands and it is often worse at night.
Lastly, the aging process affects how drugs are excreted (eliminated) from the body. The elderly have a decrease in kidney function and blood flow to the kidneys. Due to this decrease, it is common to decrease the dose of drugs that are eliminated by the kidneys.
Elderly patients take about three times as many medications as younger patients do. 1 They are also the greatest consumers of prescribed and nonprescribed medications. 2 There has been a gradual increase in prescription drug use in the United States.sychoactive drugs have an effect on the brain and are among the most frequent medications given to the elderly. Elderly patients generally require lower doses of psychoactive drugs, in some cases one-fourth to one-half the dose of a younger patient. 3.