Overmedicated to the grave
We have come to associate old people with endless doctor's appointments, countless bottles of pills and a pervading smell of pharmacy. We see this as normal. Old people need lots and lots of drugs, we don't even batter an eye when we hear they've been prescribed yet another drug.
Yet, how many are too many?
According to a British study, half of the pensioners today are on at least five medicines. Twenty years ago, only 12% were on five drugs a day. At the same time, two decades ago 20% of people over 65 took no medicine at all. None. Today, just 7% have the guts not to medicate themselves.
The figures above refer to the UK, but the situation is the same in most parts of the world. In the United States, the average retiree is on five drugs or more, according to statistics.
The elderly population is over-medicated, the British experts warn, pointing out the fact the doctors are financially motivated to prescribe as many pills as possible. This is not conspiracy theory, but an official program called Quality and Outcomes Framework under which British doctors get financial incentives for reaching targets – that is treating patients for heart problems, blood pressure, diabetes and so on. This translates in putting as many patients on as many pills as possible.
This doesn't take into account the financial incentives doctors everywhere receive directly from drug manufacturers, a common situation in the United States.
Dangerous drug cocktail
With all doctors focused on reaching targets, nobody really checks how the many pills prescribed to a patient interact with each other and the potential health risks associated with polypharmacy. There's always another pill to take care of any undesired side-effect.
Here's for instance the story of an 83 years old American woman:
'The woman had been hospitalized for an asthma attack. In the hospital she was prescribed steroids for the asthma, which made her blood pressure too high and caused vertigo. So the hospital prescribed a blood pressure medication, which made her dizzy. While in the hospital her ankles began to swell, so she was given a water pill, which in turn caused her level of potassium to bottom out, so the doctors added potassium supplements. To top it all off she was given a drug to treat osteoporosis, which eventually lead to gastric bleeding. (...) “I came out sicker than I went in.”
The age of the pill-dispenser
What life has become for our elders is best summed up by the scary look of this modern invention, called the pill dispenser.
Mind you, this is just one example – they come in all shapes, forms and capacities, some for the not so tech-savvy old people, some that send out text-messages or e-mails to remind the patient it's time to pop some pills. In one instance, the manufacturer assures that:
„MedMinder offers users a sense of comfort, independence and companionship”. Really? Companionship in a pill-dispenser?
Well, that's probably true in some twisted way, as old people are led to believe their lives depend on the many pills prescribed, so obviously the dispenser is the friend that takes care of them.
The medical system manages to fool people into believing the more expensive their pills or medical procedures are they luckier they should consider themselves. Talk to any old person about the drugs they're on and you'll inevitably hear how expensive the new heart drug is and how lucky they are to have insurance and only pay a tiny fraction.
The guilt-trap
Inevitably, the children of these old people are pressured into thinking the same. Buying your father a state-of-the-art pill-dispenser is what a good son does, helping your widowed mom cope with ever-increasing medical bills is what a good daughter does. Should a doctor catch sight of you they'll surely inform you in a hushed-voice your mother will need this or that.
Where I live, taking your parents to see a private doctor is the norm if you claim to love them. And the doctors have no shame in ordering dozens of tests, the most expensive pills ('you wouldn't buy your old mother generic pills, now would you?'). Not to mention unnecessary surgery. I was lucky to be born in a family which hates doctors like the plague, so I don't have a personal grudge against greedy unscrupulous doctors. But I see others who have been conditioned to believe they need to spend an increasing amount on doctors and pills.
The beauty of it is that when it comes to old people there's no accountability - no one becomes suspicious if they get worse or even die...it was to be expected, they were on so many drugs...
Thanks for reading
As a really old guy who lives on prescription drugs, I say great article. It's terrible what is being done to (other) seniors. I only take 3 meds a day- 2 pain killers and insulin. The guy I take care of has a table full of mostly psychotropics... and really, that's the only thing wrong with him- he's overmedicated. I guess this is true of many people.
Not bad - painkillers and insulin. My guess is you don't spend too much time at the doctor's for every minor ailment, otherwise you'd have way more pills.
As for your friend, I just read a story about an old lady the doctors diagnosed with dementia, but luckily her children sought a second opinion - turned out the many pills she was taking were getting her confused and she recovered after cutting back.
Naw... I'm one of those guys you have to drag to the doctor's even if my leg is broken. I think my friend just likes the pills because they make him feel good (high)
'Trained' by pharmaceutical interests who in turn, for the most part are a phsychopathic murderous cabal - most of these people who are awarded the title Medical Doctor are not doctors. While most of them may have good intentions, their lack of understanding and refusal to research and oppose the establishment is criminal negligence at best.
The real doctors are trauma surgeons, who actually do save lives.
The rest of them - I wouldn't want to be in your shoes when you meet your maker.
They're just shills for Big Pharma... handing out psychotropics for imaginary illnesses! Feeling a little down- take a pill. Don't feel good enough- oh you're depressed, take another. Sometimes you feel ok, but not others- you're bipolar- take some more pills! The guy I take care of gets bipolar pills that the co-pay is $1500 a month... that's just the co-pay!!!
As I said, in my family we don't trust doctors much. At this point, Dr.Google seems the better option - do your own research, look for alternative remedies, that sort of thing.
http://www.azquotes.com/quote/722387
I have used this quote with my wife who, after spending 25 years as a paramedic, retired and went back to school to become a Physician Assistant. It's amazing the indoctrination that they endure and the overwhelming influence the pharma industry has in the educational system. I spend a lot of time at mercola.com garnering ammo to combat the disinformation.
Yep, sadly 5+ prescription meds sounds just about right. My mother told me she just cut back to 5, but then she said, "that doesn't include the over-the-counter stuff and supplements." And she wonders why she has so many digestive issues!
The fact that doctors can receive payments from drug manufacturers seems like one of the biggest conflicts of interest in history.
My mother is in the same situation and that's because some doctor gave her these heart pills years ago... I don't know if she actually needs them as it was the same doctor who also said she needed heart surgery. My mother wouldn't even consider the idea and she's lived well enough for years without it.
Sorry to hear that. (But glad your mother is doing okay!) It's such a tricky situation because once you get hooked on several pills, it seems like such a risk to eliminate even one.
My own plan is to avoid them as long as I can. Being uninsured has its benefits. Doctors aren't exactly eager to talk to me!
I don't have insurance either :)
Oh my. What are medical costs like in Romania?
Here in the US we have to pay a fine if we don't have health insurance. Last year it was a $600 a year penalty on our taxes, per person. The government actually criminalizes us for not buying a product from a private company.
Don't even tell me about the US...I have friends and family there and I'm always amazed about that insurance system... it's absolutely insane and people there don't realize it's a huge scam.
Here, insurance is sort of useless, as the state system is not that good, so it's better to go to a private clinic, it's like $50 a visit. Tests are more expensive, but anyway just a fraction of what you'd pay in the US.
When my wife got sick travelling in the UK, they said, "Oh no! You're not part of the NHS so you'll have to pay for private care."
She got to meet with a doctor, no wait, and pick up antibiotics, all in a couple of hours, for $75.
That visit here would have cost hundreds!. Even with insurance!
Its sad. I think of my situation..If I ate better i could eliminate the need for certain meds right from the start..
If you know what you should do, why don't you?
(By the way, very cool blog you have there)
Why?? Thats the million dollar question..Why does the heroin addict continue to shoot up ? He knows its killing him. Why does the alcoholic continue to drink? He knows its killing him...Why? If we could all solve the why puzzle in our lives , the world would be a lot healthier....thanks for checking out my blog. Im glad you liked it..
Today doctors and pharmaceutical companies work hand in hand. And some people still believe that the doctor is always right. They don't realize that they have the right to say NO! to more drugs, expensive tests and treatments and surgery. We have the right and the obligation to stand up and speak for those that can't. I speak from personal experience.
While my husband laid in an ICU bed, connected to all sorts of life saving equipment, dying of cancer and general system failure, within hours of succumbing to his illness, nurses would come in every four hours to take blood samples. I refused saying of what benefit would it be? The response is he might die of a heart attack because his electrolytes were too low. Again I asked, of what benefit would it be? He is going to die regardless of total system failure anyway. If he has a heart attack, it takes a way his suffering sooner rather than later. I was called all kinds of names starting with Gringa Bujja and end with a whole lot worse. I couldn't believe it!
When the heart monitor finally sounded the alarm that my husband had flat lined or in layman's terms, passed on, all kinds of carts and white coats descended and wanted to begin resuscitation. I asked why? To what purpose? To give practice to new interns? To preform an indignity on a dead person?
Then they wanted to give me medications! I refused on the basis that I wanted to feel my grief, to own it.
I wonder now, how much of the medication and unnecessary surgeries are responsible for the repaid decline of my husband's health. Perhaps we should have said no much sooner...
What a tragic story... so sorry to hear ... There is no respect for the living...or for the dead. I expect they did all that just to put it on the bill. Resuscitation must be quite expensive after all!
We are being bullied into paying for a lot of useless meds and even surgereries. Right now, I'm following the story of one of my mother's friends, put through surgery, dialysis three times a week, God only knows how many pills - and for what? Her life is a living hell, basically she spends her time in bed waiting to die which might take a while because of all the meds...crazy..
Yes, it is crazy. We need to be more proactive in our own health care and not depend on the broken system.
For my condition I need to get medicated but I just use what I needed and control the cause and not the symptoms of most of my ailments.
Yes, I guess you'd be on a lot more meds if you took pills for the other symptoms, which would do damage to other organs and you'd need more meds. You're being very brave to simply put up with some of the associated ailments. In the Western parts of the world, people run to the doctor for the slightest problem and end up with two or three pills that they probably don't even need.