An older adult patient started taking an anticholinergic medication for "overactive bladder," one week ago.
Her concerned family brings her in to the office, explaining that the patient got dizzy and took a fall yesterday at the family reunion. It was a hot summer day, and the patient had eaten a large meal and had taken a brisk walk on the beach before she "fainted."
The family wonders if her fainting episode was a side effect of the patient's new bladder medication.
The nurse knows that an adverse effect of anticholinergic medications is _____________ , and therefore the medication may, indeed, have contributed to the fainting episode.
a) hypoglycemia
b) decreased ability to sweat
c) low blood pressure
d) cardiac ischemia (inadequate blood flow to the heart muscle)