Over-Medication could be worse than not Receiving Treatment
For various reasons, the Western world has become increasingly reliant on medication to preserve health. It’s not uncommon for people to receive more and more prescriptions as they age: a full twenty percent of people over 65 take ten or more prescription medications regularly. So what’s the problem – those pills are helping you stay healthy, aren’t they?
The problem is, that’s not necessarily true.
An Avalanche of Prescriptions
Health care coverage for chronic diseases tends to shunt people off to multiple doctors – according to statistics from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, 81% of people with a chronic condition see two or more doctors – more than half have three or more, and around a third have four or more.
And if you see a specialist, they don’t necessarily know what your previous doctors have prescribed. Your primary care physician is supposed to oversee your medical care, but they tend not to question specialist decisions – and over the last decade or two, prescribing medication has become the standard way of treating almost any ailment, regardless of whether there are other solutions. With insurance companies preferring to pay up for medication rather than any other option, it’s no wonder that over-prescribing is rampant.
The Snowball Effect: Over-use of Prescriptions
So what are the consequences of taking ten or more prescription medications every week, or every day?
One of the most dangerous effects is the possibility that a toxic drug reaction may result from a certain combination of medications – an increasingly likely prospect for someone who has two, three, or four doctors, any one of whom may not necessarily know what the other three are doing. Those reactions can lead to the development of new symptoms – caused by the drugs – for which your doctor may even prescribe yet more medication.
This is an especially potent problem for seniors: as we age, we begin to absorb and metabolize drugs differently. A dose which might be safe for a young person might very well be toxic in someone thirty years older.
When you add these two issues together, the results can be dangerous. An estimated 1.5 million adverse drug reactions occur in the U.S. every year; around a third occur in seniors.
So what’s the solution here? It’s pretty simple: take control of your health. Talk to your doctor, and ask them about any lifestyle or other changes you can make that might alleviate your need for prescription medications. In many cases, lifestyle changes might allow you to throw away some medications for good.
photo credit: kimberlyfaye
