Five Minutes to Midnight

Print Friendly, PDF & Email
February 26, 2018 | 6 Comments

Comments

  1. As one who falls into the ‘5 drugs or more’ category by age, I find it quite frustrating when a pharmacist (which I see far more regularly than a GP) insists that I MUST be on more drugs than the ONE shown on my repeat prescription – AT MY AGE! The final straw comes when ‘over the counter’ drugs are mentioned. Each ‘no’ of mine is accepted with a questioning glance – then comes “and what about painkillers we ALL need painkillers from time to time”. Again, my reply is ‘no’ and I almost sense the disbelief. Why should I feel such a freak just because I don’t fall into the ‘usual’ pattern for my age?
    Thankfully, I am in good health. Many others, I guess, do have different needs by the time they reach retirement age – but 5 different drugs? As we’ve heard before, a new drug is added to counter the ill-effect of the first – and so it goes on. Looking at it that way, it is not such an outstanding number anymore. We cannot blame the patients – if my prescribed drug caused me problems and the GP suggested another to balance things out, what would I do? Would I say to stop the original drug – or would I comply with the GP’s suggestion? I know what I would WISH to do – and that is to ask the doctor’s advice, have an honest opinion about the situation that presents itself. My wish, unfortunately, would not be granted – I would probably be told to read the PIL for all the information that I needed, be handed the prescription and ushered to the door, as my allocated slot in the doctor’s busy day was running over into someone else’s timeslot!

  2. I don’t want to rain on the parade, but as someone who became much more impaired (by adverse drug reactions) after trying to taper off an antidepressant (and ending up on way more medicines) I’m not sure Taper MD is a good idea unless there are a ton of clear disclaimers about the risks of tapering.

    • Katie

      The issue is not tapering from antidepressants – its tapering from 15 or 10 drugs to 5 or less. The way this will affect antidepressants is that it should force docs – but this will be overtime – to consider whether its a good idea to use as many antidepressants as they are using given how difficult they are to get off.

      Another benefit may be that as they try to taper to 5, they will find as you have found to your cost just what the damage can be from antidepressants and will wake up to what has been going on

      D

  3. Is this business of layering drug upon drug a fairly new phenomenon or has it just grown over time – the consequences of which are only now becoming apparent?
    I only have to look at Shane’s case to see how the number of tablets etc. can increase over a very short period of time. I can see the reasoning behind the increases in his case – it’s a case of either ‘risk this’ or ‘take that’. However, I would like to think that GPs and nurses would look at the full picture of his case – that he’s withdrawing from the causes of his present problems; that he’s carefully keeping an eye on his diet; that ( when energy permits ) he’s becoming more and more active – the results of which, I would hope would be considered and acted upon rather than a repeat prescription sent across to the pharmacy on a monthly basis?
    If the situation remains as it is at present, it will be of immense interest to me as to whether or not the pharmacist will take him to one side and suggest that he’s on TOO MANY different drugs ………or does that ‘chat’ only happen with those of us who appear to be on too few? ( re:- my previous comment at the top).

  4. No one, not even drug companies, want to have the dirty laundry exposed.
    We are so fortunate to have Rxisk make people aware of dirty secrets.
    Yes, this song I dedicate to those who believe their dirty lies will never catch up with them.
    Yes, you have kicked us when we were up and when we were down, but we are no longer fools and will no longer tolerate what they try to cover-up.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0AhZ5lmLacI&feature=youtu.be

Leave a Reply