My Grandparents didn't have a table top full of prescription drugs like todays elders.

[texanwitch]

When did the seniors start taking so many drugs.

I have just returned from taking a neighbor to the drug store, and she picked up a lot of drugs.

I have another neighbor the same age who takes no prescription and seems to be in better health.

I know some prescriptions might be necessary but a so many!

[Irishonly]

1. I think it depends on the general health

I have had a heart attack and so I take medication for that and diabetes. I don't take any sleep aids, anti depressants or mood elevators. I am diabetic and the only medications I take are for conditions I have.

I heard somewhere doctors were complaining about the commercials for drugs you can take.

[texanwitch]

2. The commericals scare me.

They seem of have a lot of bad side effects.

[Irishonly]

5. If you believed all of the commercials talk about symptoms..

most of this country is dying or very depressed. It was a mistake to allow pharmaceuticals to advertise.

Last week I had major swelling in my ankles. Because of my heart condition I knew I had to go to the doctor. I looked for kelp and couldn't find it in a store. I ordered it online and he gave me water pills. I am taking kelp with his blessing and the medication sits in a cupboard gathering dust. This society has been brainwashed into thinking pills cure everything,

[Bertha Venation]

21. "It was a mistake to allow pharmaceuticals to advertise."

[digonswine]

7. They list side effects that would have been experienced without the drug-

Headache? Really? Diarrhea? No SHIT?
This is not to defend the pharm industry, by the way.
There are some scary ones, though.
Not a drug, but I have noticed that products containing,I think it was, Olestra have not been too popular. One side effect was anal seepage or anal discharge, both of which I would like to avoid.

[sarge43]

15. Chantix is my example

It's a anti-smoking drug. My doc wanted to put me on it. After I read up on the possible side effects - nausea, headaches, sleep disorders, nightmares, depression, suicidal impulses, I allowed that cold turkey was cheaper ($180.00 a pop) and safer.

[crunch60]

17. Good for you, Chantix is dangerous, and you don't want to replace

one drug (nicotine) with another, Chantix or Zyban. Cold Turkey is best and has the most successful long term Quit rate.

My quit date now is ONE MONTH, yea, into a long smoking habit, cold turkey, and doing fine. The attached link is a fantastic site was really helpful , Joe's videos are the best source of information that I have ever found. Good Luck to you-- you can do it!

http://www.whyquit.com/joel/

[sarge43]

20. Thanks for the heads up. I'll check it out.

What I didn't like was doc didn't say a mumbling word about the side effects. Good thing I'm not a trusting soul. I got another doctor.

[digonswine]

24. I think you made a good choice!

Those are not your garden-variety side effects.

[sarge43]

25. I think so, too. That stuff is just flat dangerous.

And they throw people in jail for doing a little weed.

[Viva_La_Revolution]

3. Gram did much better when we pared down the drugs she was taking

all with the doctor's ok of course. She was one that would go in with assorted symptoms and not leave till she had a prescription in her hand.
We weeded out the unnecessary ones and she's doing better mentally. She's still taking about 6 assorted ones each day, but that's half of what she was on before.

[texanwitch]

4. I wonder if the seniors get the drugs mixed up.

So many.

My Father had a big ziplock bag of pills from the VA, he was taking them wrong.

After a visit the the ER half the pills were taken away because he didn't need them.

[Bertha Venation]

22. They do.

Mrs. V.'s dad has Alzheimer's, and Mom is quite frail. For a long time Mom had Dad taking a certain medicine at night, when he should've been taking it in the morning -- because it makes one wired. It was one reason she wasn't getting any sleep. He was up all night.

(Of course, now that his disease has progressed to its current stage, he's up most of the night anyway, wandering around the house, trying to figure out where he is.)

[LynneSin]

6. When our diets went to shit

Processed food is killing us!

[pink-o]

12. +1 million, Lynnie!

Hope U don't mind the diminutive. My sis is named Lynn (no E) and I used to call her that when we were kids.

[treestar]

8. They may have been less comfortable, though

Those drugs may serve some purpose and make the oldster feel better than he or she would have.

[trof]

9. Because drugs can 'fix' stuff we didn't used to 'fix'.

I have hypertension.
A fancy name for 'high' blood pressure.
'High' according to who?
Well, my doctor (who I really like) and...pharmaceutical companies.
120 over 80 is now the accepted norm.
For everybody

In the olden days systolic (the high number) was considered 'normal if it was 100 + your age.
I'm 70, so under the 'old' guidelines my normal BP would be 170 over ...something.
BP goes up as you age.

But pharmas discovered/developed drugs that could lower that.
So why not?
You can make a hell of a lot of money selling drugs to do something that might not really need doing.

Yeah, I still take the pills.
But I question if they'll really extend my life.

[Archae]

10. I have 5 precriptions.

5 prescriptions, 3 for high blood pressure, 1 for my heart, and one for cholesterol.

[texanwitch]

11. My Grandparents seemed healthy to me.

They did eat a lot of garlic and ate food from the farm.

So they did eat right and did exercise.

[Neoma]

13. I'm young and I already take a lot of pills.

7 prescriptions, plus vitamins. But I need them.

[Swede]

14. Folks are living longer.

Old folks get sick.

[hedgehog]

16. When my grandfather was my age, he was old and crippled.

Same for my husband's grandfather!

My mother passed away partly because of a long standing heart problem, the result of not having access to 58 cents worth of penicillin back in 1934 when she had strep. My younger son is healthy today because of all the medications he had as a kid to treat his severe asthma.

So yes, all drugs and herbs, over the counter, prescription or from your local alternative medicine shop have to be considered carefully before taking. It's up to the patient to be educated and to work with all the doctors. Still, in my family, the real problem is that certain chronic diseases are turning up more often, hitting harder and hitting at an earlier age. I attribute that to the stress of all the chemicals we are exposed to that were not in the environment before WWII.

[Manifestor_of_Light]

23. Penicillin was not available in 1934.

It did not come on the market until the 1940s, and at first it was restricted to military personnel.
The patent for mass production was granted in 1948.

[zanana1]

27. I read something interesting the other day...

In the 1800's and before, a child's first birthday was a cause of great celebration. It was alot more than parents and friends singing "Happy Birthday". It was a very important rite of passage because about half the children born would die before their first birthday. Modern medicine had alot to do with 2nd, 3rd, 4th birthdays, etc. Before the advent of antibiotics, a simple cut could become septic and easily kill a baby. So could a myriad of other illnesses that are curable now, thanks to medication. I just turned 60 and if it wasn't for "all the pills" I take, I wouldn't be here.
I guess people just have to find some things out for themselves.

[Manifestor_of_Light]

29. Lots of women died in childbirth too.

Either from septic infections (childbed fever) or because they needed a C-section and surgical intervention was not available. I would not be here were it not for a c-section. I think that would be a horrendous way to die.

And no, NOT all babies can be turned and delivered vaginally.

[sarge43]

30. It was the early 20th century before infectious diseases began to be under control.

It wasn't until after WWI when heart diseases, cancer and strokes became the leading causes of death in the US. Until then infection was the killer and it hit the very young and elderly the hardest.

[yellerpup]

18. If you notice the interviews with people who hit their 100th birthday

the thing they have most in common is that they take few or no medications. Dr. Oz did a show that explained that the more drugs a person takes, the more likely they are to have a fatal drug interaction. Eating real food and exercising is the best program for prevention.

[4th law of robotics]

19. A lot of people "back in the day" solved this problem by simply dying younger

that does cut down on the need for prescription drugs.

[zanana1]

26. When you turn 65, write another post. nt

[harmonicon]

28. I think it was related to when they started living longer.

My grandfather didn't take many drugs, but he also died before I was born, before he was 65, etc.

[gollygee]

31. My grandma did

But it got too expensive for her, so she started having to take them every other day instead of every day. Guess what happened?

Ah, the Regan years.

[Avalux]

32. We live in a reactive society. That goes for how we treat illness too.

Instead of focusing on and investing in prevention to extend our lives, we don't give a shit until we get older and start breaking down. Most of the drugs taken by older people are for problems that could have been prevented through diet and lifestyle choices(eg, hypertension, hypercholesterolemia, type II diabetes). Of course there are conditions that require medication, but for the most part, the 'designer' drugs people take for chronic conditions exacerbate overall health as they have side effects which require more drugs. Taking a powerful antidepressant for arthritis pain is like opening Pandora's box.

When its perfectly acceptable to market drugs with significant side effects on TV, and lead people to believe they're magic bullets(complete with pretty pictures and pleasant music), what else can we expect but to have people taking a shit load of drugs?

[Comrade_McKenzie]

33. My grandma would be dead without her prescriptions. nt

[Codeine]

34. My grandparents took very few drugs. They didn't live as long as today's seniors.

And I intend to live even longer than THEY will likely survive.