Always read the label!!

My relatives are pill hounds. They love to take whatever their doctor prescribes them and they always believe their doctor at their word.

They never really ask many questions. If their doctor said that this is what they should do, then they take it at face value.

I think most people are like this. If their doctor tells them to do something or gives them some prescription or some fact, then they take it as gospel -- pure truth, no questions about it.

What worries me about this approach is that if you are not "reading the label" either figuratively or literally reading the label, then you will run into all sorts of issues.

Here is a great example. One of my relatives has trouble falling asleep, so she takes OTC (over the counter) sleep aid.

She asked her doctor if it was ok to take this every night and what did he say?

"sure, go ahead. Sleep is important."

This makes me want to pull my hair out. Why is this doctor not informing her of the risks associated with long-term use of these sleep aids?

I was talking with her about it tonight and I pulled up this article about a study:

"Taking anticholinergics for more than 3 years linked to higher dementia risk For their study, Prof. Gray and colleagues tracked nearly 3,500 men and women aged 65 and over with no dementia symptoms at the start of the study. The participants were part of the Adult Changes in Thought (ACT) study in Group Health, an integrated health care delivery system in Seattle."

---https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/288546.php

She's been taking this for nearly 2 years now, every single night!

Taking these drugs or similar ones for more than 3 years is linked to a higher dementia risk. They've also found signs of possible risks of alzheimers.

These drugs affect the central nervous system and your brain. People just assume that their doctor is always right but that is clearly not the case!