Do Your Prescriptions Need a Checkup?

 

Americans are taking more prescription drugs than ever. A 2017 survey found that 55 percent of Americans regularly take a prescription medicine. The Health Policy Institute at Georgetown University estimates the number to be closer to 66%. But that doesn't tell the whole story.

Prescription drug use increases with age. Three-quarters of those age 50 to 64 use prescription drugs, compared to 91 percent of those age 80 and older. More than half of Americans take at least two prescription drugs and one-fifth of us are taking five or more. Among those who take prescription drugs, 53 percent get them from more than one health care provider, which increases the risk of adverse drug effects. More than a third say no provider has ever reviewed their medicines to see if all are necessary.

I know from personal experience that this is a serious problem. My mother suffered from and eventually died of Alzheimer's Disease. When she was no longer able to live on her own, we moved her from Florida to California so that she could be near my brother. At the time, she was taking 13 different prescription medications from half a dozen different healthcare providers and dispensed by 3 different pharmacies.

One of the first things my brother did was find a local neurologist and one of the first things she did is review all 13 prescriptions that my mom had been taking. She was, in my brother's words, horrified. On the list were medications that were not to be taken together, medications dispensed to deal with the side effects of other medications, incorrect dosages and older medications that should have been replaced with newer, more effective ones. She took my mother off all but 3 of the drugs.

In the following weeks there was a marked improvement in my mother's cognition. This is not to say that she was "getting better". She wasn't. But taking her off 75% of the prescription medications she had been taking removed much of the brain fog that they were causing.

If you are taking several prescription medications you should review the list with your primary healthcare provider at your next appointment. Ask which ones are still necessary and why. Then ask which ones you might consider eliminating.

Dr. William Hall, MD, of the University of Rochester Medical Center asks his patients to bring a complete list of all medications (prescriptions, over the counter medications and supplements) that they are taking to every annual wellness visit. "Usually," he says, "half the drugs can be stopped."

If this is not your doctor's policy, make it yours.