4Sep/11Off
How can multiple prescriptions be healthy?
I've worked in health care, in a non clinical capacity, for over 15 years. Frequently I review patient records and see that patients are on 10 prescriptions, simultaneously.
I simply cannot see how this can be healthy. Can someone, not on a drug company's payroll, put forth a plausible explanation why this occurs?
September 4th, 2011 - 21:41
The scripts may not all be for the same symptoms/conditions of course. Would it be strange for someone to take an antidepressant and a script to lower blood pressure? Not really. Now throw in all the other possible ailments: cholesterol, thyroid disorders, kidney, liver, heart, lungs, etc., etc., etc. The trouble comes in when the 10 scripts are all by different doctors and no one is talking to make sure they all are compatible.
September 4th, 2011 - 21:41
Some patients are probably over medicated, but not as often as you would think with multiple prescriptions. So long as each pill does something a little different and they don’t interfere with each other, it is safe and effective to take a lot of medications at the same time.
Funny you should use 10 as your example. My brother recently had major heart surgery and was given 10 medicines to take when he got home. Each one does something a little differently to maintain a healthy heart. Some work on the blood pressure, some keep it from clotting too much, some are pain pills, some are water pills, one is an antibiotic so he doesn’t get an infection. He’s also diabetic, so some of them are for controlling that and the complications that occured due to his heart problem at the same time.