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Location: East of Seattle since 1992, 615' Elevation, Zone 8b - originally from SF Bay Area
44,722 posts, read 81,625,646 times
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Seems to make sense. I take two a day, my wife 3, my mother (86) spends 10 minutes taking her 10-12 pills every morning. With the frequency of high blood pressure and cholesterol alone, there will be a lot of drugs needed, then add to that a variety of other problems, aches and pains, and the many hypercondriacs.
Just reminds me to have gratitude about my health.
Mom lived to 89, took four meds toward the end, for cholesterol, blood pressure, dementia.
I'm 55 and take none, although the doc wanted to put me on a cholesterol med. Nothing doing.
I'm shocked by the number of people on meds...young and old -- and who just take them without asking any questions about them.
But Big Pharma is pushing drugs for everything from having short eye lashes to other "conditions" that, IMO, I'd never take a drug for.
Sometimes I think the companies are making up conditions and people are just falling for it.
Obviously if a med is lifesaving you take it. But I don't think there's much debate that society in general is "over medicated."
But Big Pharma is pushing drugs for everything from having short eye lashes to other "conditions" that, IMO, I'd never take a drug for. Sometimes I think the companies are making up conditions and people are just falling for it.
Obviously if a med is lifesaving you take it. But I don't think there's much debate that society in general is "over medicated."
Not just the drug companies, but doctors also push drugs, as it is often the easiest way to deal with a patient in the 5-10 minutes allotted to a typical doctor visit, before they move on to the next patient. I can excuse the drug companies' conduct pushing the drugs on doctors, since they are businesses whose sole purpose is to make a profit; but I cannot excuse the physicians, who are supposed to be concerned professionals operating under a higher standard, pushing drugs on patients when the drugs are not absolutely necessary.
Im 63 and take only one medication a day, because it is absolutely necessary to deal with a serious health condition. I have turned down other medications offered by doctors and am no sicker for it.
In many cases, the meds are much cheaper than treating the diseases they prevent or delay... like blood pressure, cholesterol, thyroid, or diabetes meds, to name a few. This portion of the "drug taking adult population" is NOT a bad thing.
My concern is for the so-called addictive drugs which many people actually need to deal with chronic pain. There has been a lot in the news lately to treat addiction rather than incarcerate the victims, and I agree with this.
There is also news about overdoses from people combining prescription meds that should not be taken together. I think their prescribing doctors are responsible for a lot of this. When they prescribe one or more of these meds, they really need to take the time to explain which ones can't be taken together. So many people just don't know.
As a chronic pain sufferer who actually needs a muscle relaxer and pain meds on a regular basis, I am very much aware of which ones cannot be taken together. Sometimes I skip them and have a glass of wine INSTEAD (never together). But I can't keep switching drug plans every year because the meds that work for me keep getting dropped from the formularies because "some" people were overdosing with some bad combination of drugs or drugs+alcohol.
I got a notice recently that my muscle relaxer is being dropped (after switching plans last year because the previous plan dropped that drug). My current plan's suggested replacements included 4 NSAIDS (pain meds like Aleve and Ibuprophen that don't relax muscle spasms) and 1 muscle relaxer that is meant for MS and has interactions with a ton of other meds. Even the drug supplier can't seem to come up with appropriate substitutes.
I have spent some years in the Health Care industry in both Emergency Medical and Senior Health Care and can honestly say.........it doesn't bother me at all to see my PCP and the meds she has me take. A small mg of blood pressure each day and a cholesterol med once a week. 1500 mg (total) of Metformin 3x daily for diabetes (II) and a med each morning to control my stomach acid.
I've only had one problem dealing with a doctor, and it was a VA ortho surgeon, concerning a rotator cuff surgery. As recommended by this doctor, I done PT, which didn't help at all, so went to another doctor (outside the VA), who recommended surgery and I got it. So far, has worked out fine.
Actually, before meeting my wife, 16 years ago, I wasn't taking any kind of prescription meds or OTC stuff. No vitamin or any kind of vitamin supplements. Today, it's totally different and I'm glad that I do take what I take.
Prescribed generic 600mg ibuprofen is cheaper for me than 3 OTC 200mg tablets. Lots of people get prescription NSAIDs due to stomach issues with OTC choices also. I know a few people who have no other "regular" prescription other than NSAIDs.
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