Medication Nation

[marmar]

from the Mayo Clinic:


ROCHESTER, Minn. — Nearly 70 percent of Americans are on at least one prescription drug, and more than half take two, Mayo Clinic and Olmsted Medical Center researchers say.. Antibiotics, antidepressants and painkilling opioids are most commonly prescribed, their study found. Twenty percent of patients are on five or more prescription medications, according to the findings, published online in the journal Mayo Clinic Proceedings.

The findings offer insight into prescribing practices. The statistics from the Rochester Epidemiology Project in Olmsted County, Minn. are comparable to those elsewhere in the United States, says study author Jennifer St. Sauver, Ph.D., a member of the Mayo Clinic Population Health Program in the Mayo Clinic Center for the Science of Health Care Delivery.

"Often when people talk about health conditions they're talking about chronic conditions such as heart disease or diabetes," Dr. St. Sauver says. "However, the second most common prescription was for antidepressants — that suggests mental health is a huge issue and is something we should focus on. And the third most common drugs were opioids, which is a bit concerning considering their addicting nature."

........(snip)........

Prescription drug use has increased steadily in the U.S. for the past decade. The percentage of people who took at least one prescription drug in the past month increased from 44 percent in 1999-2000 to 48 percent in 2007-08. Spending on prescription drugs reached $250 billion in 2009 the year studied, and accounted for 12 percent of total personal health care expenditures. Drug-related spending is expected to continue to grow in the coming years, the researchers say. ..................(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.mayoclinic.org/news2013-rst/7543.html

[postulater]

1. Drugs create jobs!

[Warren DeMontague]

2. Quick, better get more money to the DEA.

You'll excuse me if I dont get too worked up over the weekly hyperbole regarding the alleged "prescription drug crisis". The fact is, I'm more concerned about the bone cancer patient who can't get adequate pain management because his doctor is terrified of the DEA, than I am in flappy-armed panic that someone, somewhere, might catch an unauthorized buzz.

The fact is, we still live in a society that thinks nothing of sending a quadriplegic to prison for 25 YEARS for managing his own pain.

[marmar]

3. 'the weekly hyperbole regarding the alleged "prescription drug crisis"'

Huh?

[Warren DeMontague]

4. Exactly.

You think that drug war gravy train is gonna promote itself? It needs help, dammit!

[malokvale77]

6. I work in home health care...

I agree with you on the under use of pain medication. My major bitch is the over use of prescription drugs to mask symptoms, rather then treat the underlying disease. Most of these pharmaceuticals cause other symptoms, that get treated with other drugs that cause additional symptoms. It becomes an unending cycle of chemical toxicity that the human body cannot recover from.

A lot of prescription drugs cause the very pain they refuse to give you relief for.

[Warren DeMontague]

7. Fair enough. But it doesn't take a genius to figure out why more people are on prescription meds

than there were 10 years ago.



I also think that if we had a sane policy on cannabis a lot of people could find non-opioid relief.

[malokvale77]

8. I agree...

I take care of my own health (some times it crosses the line of legality). I was pointing out the fact that legal pharmaceuticals often do far more harm then good.

I've lost faith in the medical community as it stands. I see the suffering on a daily basis.

"First do no harm", has been lost to capitalism. It weighs on my soul.

[snagglepuss]

5. That's truly shocking.