Among other things:
Every person should have at least annual (or more frequent) medication checkups where they talk with their pharmacist and providers about ALL the things they are taking–medications, supplements, vitamins. They can act cumulatively or antagonistically and can create unintended side effects.
Especially as patients age, their metabolism and body weight changes and sometimes their medications can benefit from adjusted dosages. It’s sad that sometimes folks are taking medications that cause side effects and rather than considering switching to a medication that might cause fewer (or no) side effects, the provider may just provide a new medicine for the side effects! Polypharmacy as the article states is a HUGE and growing problem!
Sadly, at least for me the Electronic Medical Records (EMR) system is making the problem worse. For me, it often lists medications I have never taken or only took two pills of once and in spite of numerous attempts to get the record corrected, it’s a huge challenge to get it changed at all. My EMRs are all separate by each individual MD or health center–one in Denver, one in SF, one in Palo Alto, several different ones in Honolulu! The records do NOT communicate with one another either.
Interesting, and it shows one of the issues we are wrestling with with health care and health insurance and the like. These numbers are room for concern, and I think we need to take a close look at what people are taking and why. Part of the problem I am convinced is the marketing of prescription drugs, I have to wonder how many men are buying the hype about “low T” and getting testosterone supplements expecting a fountain of youth, and doctors going along with it. How many doctors prescribe drugs as a first response, rather than finding something that might work better, like for example, someone with potential blood sugar issues switching to a more appropriate diet and exercising and losing weight?
The problem is we have been in an era for a long time with the search for “miracle drugs”, rather than looking at root causes, and people and doctors are equally to blame, rather than looking at other ways to treat it. Doctors have decided that serum blood cholesterol is the result of genetics, and then immediately came up with recommendations that adults start taking statin drugs earlier, rather than saying “what does this mean for heart disease, and is there any other way to prevent heart disease given cholesterol is not primarily diet”, it has become a cheap shortcut. It doesn’t help that when you go to a doctor these days because of the way medicine is practiced, they are rushed to get a decision, rather than talking to the patient and drilling down (it isn’t the doctors fault, it is they have to see X patients an hour to try and get enough revenue to make the practice work), so pills become the easy shortcut. Person seems depressed, lot easier to prescribe an anti depressant then maybe suggest things like exercise, or meditation and the like; person is overweight and has pre diabetes, tell them to lose weight and exercise and give them a drug, and so forth.
Similar things have happened with treatments once reserved for people with severe problems. I was just reading something where they are recommending bariatric surgery for people who are overweight or obese, not morbidly so, as a ‘quick way’ to lose weight, and centers are out there advertising in effect “miracle weight loss”, When they introduced the diet drug Phen Fen (or whatever it was called, prob spelled it wrong) it was supposed to be used for people who were extremely overweight, but doctors were prescribing it for people who were merely overweight, or thought they weere.
I wonder how inflated that data really is. I had a laparoscopy and was given painkillers prescription which the doc insisted I needed to fill. I never took a single pill. Am I part of the staggering number of new prescriptions?
Most of the article focuses on one idiot patient who is suing his doc because the prescribed testosterone did some damage… Duh. Consumer Reports at its best, as usual.
Yup.
I have 3 month check-ups with my rheumatologist and every time, we go through all of my meds to see what needs adjusting. I’m weaning off two meds right now but the weaning isn’t going well for one of them and I need to go back on. But at least I know that I’m being monitored.
I do love EMRs. It reminds me of who has prescribed what so I can just go on and request them all at once (helpful since I usually sort my weekly pills long after offices close). It also helps me keep track of what I’ve tried and what’s worked and what hasn’t.
“Number of prescriptions filled by Americans increased 85% from 1997 to 2016, even though the US population increased 21%.”
Some is probably due to an aging population. After a certain age, a large percentage of the population could be on simple meds for HBP and the like.
But I do think we are a prescription happy country. It’s big business and much is spent advertising on prescription meds.
My quality of life would be awful without my medications. I am so grateful they have been developed. I hope everyone is likewise benefiting.
I love me my pills and inhalers.
I was having a particularly bad inflammatory reaction and was prescribed an anti-inflammatory that was stronger than the antihistamine that I was normally taking. I took maybe two pills and have been trying to get it off my EMR ever since (it was over a year ago and the only time I ever took it).
I also have an epi-pen that I’ve never needed to use, but have it because I am at risk of anaphylaxis. I don’t want to be a noncompliant patient but feel bad that I end up throwing away the Epi-Pen when it expires every single year that I’ve had it (for over a decade now). I wish there was some alternative. It feels very wasteful. I am sure I will be grateful to have the unexpired Epi-Pen IF I ever need it someday.
There are numerous studies of expiration dates for Rx being MUCH shorter than their useful lives and the military has tested this several times and gotten their expiration dates extended so they can continue to use their Rx but the hospitals and medical centers need to discard perfectly good medications because of the artificially short expiration dates. (Sorry, for drifting into another irksome topic.)
I’m happy to report neither my husband nor I take any prescription mess regularly.
That said, if I needed them I wouldn’t hesitate to take them.
But I have seen plenty of cases of too many mess prescribed, and my mother is addicted to painkillers. (She now has dementia badly enough that her pills are controlled).
@1214mom loved your auto correct!!
You know…if someone needs four medications…so be it.
I think the article has a lot of flaws in it.
Doctor offices always ask for your medical history, including regular meds.
When the doc reads my forms, they always comment how rare it is for someone my age (50s) to not take any meds at all ! They seem to not believe me almost 
I wonder if prescriptions for birth control are included in the utilization rate? Having said that, I am not a fan of all the drug advertising. For children, I think subconsciously a mindset is established that using pills is natural - I have told DS that he should critically think through any drug use. Just because it’s legal doesn’t mean it’s good. I grew up before the era of non stop drug ads - my son has no idea of a world without them.
I had Tylenol #3 after a c section in 1990, then an antibiotic for a uti in 2000. Other than that, nothing and I am 58.
Does wine count?
Some of the rx advertisements are for drugs that a tiny handful of people might ever need. I don’t understand why the rx industry wastes its money.
Both I and DH take a bunch of meds. DH probably wouldn’t be alive without his. I would be alive, but miserable.
The article did not look like it was including recreational drugs (including legal ones like alcohol).
I’ve taken prescription sinus medicine for years and I do not have a drug problem. I bet there are many Americans on Allegra, Claritin, etc. Blood pressure meds probably prevent many a stroke.
Maintenance drugs like allergy or blood pressure should not be linked with pain killers, etc. And @jade100 makes a good point about birth control pills being included.
One med here and I want off that one (helped me get off another one).
“I think the article has a lot of flaws in it.”
I agree. From 1997 to 2016 there has been an increase in the use of prescription drugs. However, from 1997 to 2016 there has been a huge increase in the ability of modern medicine to deal well with allergies, depression, heart disease, and a wide range of other illnesses. I can go out for a bike ride in September and laugh at the ragweed (or ignore it) because of prescription drugs. 40 years earlier I would have been hiding in an air conditioned room. Other people can live productive lives free from their depression or heart disease or other ailments due to prescription drugs, and in many cases the illnesses that they have been cured of or are handling effectively were not handled well in 1997. There are people biking on our nearby bike trail who have recovered from ailments that would have killed their parents 30 years earlier.
Another thing that has happened is that the baby boomers are getting older. There are a lot of us, and as we get older, we need more medications.
“my mother is addicted to painkillers”
I think that pain is one of the ailments where we have not done so well at finding an effective long term treatment.
“Blood pressure meds probably prevent many a stroke”
Yes, and heart attacks.
As a pharmacist–It doesn’t take much to get to four meds. That’s actually not a problem. Or even a concern in most cases.
Just a start–Thyroid meds, inhalers and asthma meds, GERD meds, blood pressure meds, cholesterol meds (which now debated whether actually needed or not), meds for diabetes (insulin etc).
Nope. Not hard at all to get more than four. Lots to consider. And YOU are the major consideration.
Nobody is giving up the ability to breathe, want heart palpitations, or want reactions because of blood glucose.
So if I have those problems (or anything else solvable)–I will sign up. And protect my health.
Oh–add in a script for an antibiotic when I have an infection.
Some questions to ask:
Do you actually need everything you take on a regular basis?
Hard to say. We live much longer than we used to. There are “natural” alternatives but they are still drugs but don’t cost as much as the drug companies would like us to pay.
Do you have multiple drugs for the same condition? Time for a consult.
How about drug interactions? Sometimes a second drug is prescribed to counteract the side effect of another.
Or help the other drug work better. Or they work against each other.
Do you know how your drugs are supposed to work?
Told your doctor you take a ton of Tylenol? St. John’s Wort? Some other “therapeutic” supplement?
Have you “outgrown” the drug and it’s use? GERD meds have been shown to have limited use over a certain age. (sometimes studies show the usefulness of a drug dramatically decreases at an advanced age). Still need it?
Take a step back and look at what you (or a loved one) take.
There are lots of good reasons to take multiple meds.
And lots of good reasons to cut back.
Have a professional evaluate the list for therapeutic reasons.
Count me in for the 85%. I am asthmatic and have been all my life . I need my prescription to stay alive