Experts Say Americans Are Overmedicating
Psalm 118:24
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Experts Say Americans Are Overmedicating
Experts Say Americans Are Overmedicating
By JEFF DONN, Associated Press Writer
PLYMOUTH, Mass. - About 130 million Americans swallow, inject, inhale, infuse, spray, and pat on prescribed medication every month, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention indicates. Americans buy much more medicine per person than any other country.
The number of prescriptions has swelled by two-thirds over the past decade to 3.5 billion yearly, according to IMS Health, a pharmaceutical consulting company. Americans devour even more nonprescription drugs, polling suggests.
Recently, safety questions have beset some depression and anti-inflammatory drugs, pushing pain relievers Vioxx and — most recently — Bextra from the market. Rising ranks of doctors, researchers and public health experts are saying that America is overmedicating itself. It is buying and taking far too much medicine, too readily and carelessly, for its own health and wealth, they say.
Well over 125,000 Americans die from drug reactions and mistakes each year, according to Associated Press projections from landmark medical studies of the 1990s. That could make pharmaceuticals the fourth-leading national cause of death after heart disease, cancer and stroke.
The pharmaceutical industry served up more than $250 billion worth of sales last year, the vast majority in prescriptions, according to industry consultants. That roughly equaled sales at all the country's gasoline stations put together, or an $850 pharmaceutical fill-up for every American.
Alice and Ken Heckman each begin their morning by cracking open a rattling plastic tray carting scores of pills in a rainbow of pastel colors.
Between the two of them, they gulp 29 pills every day: a regimen of 14 drugs, with a chaser of dietary supplements.
Here's the curious part: They feel pretty hale for people in their early 70s, working around the house and volunteering with several community groups. They each had heart fixes years ago — him a bypass and her a vessel-clearing stent — but fully recovered. She has well-controlled diabetes. He has worked his way through heartburn, arthritis, an enlarged prostate and occasional mild depression.
Do we need all these drugs? A relative handful yank many people away from almost certain death, like some antibiotics and AIDS medicines. Though carrying some risk, other drugs — such as cholesterol-cutting statins — help a considerable minority dodge potential calamities like heart attack or stroke.
The right balance of risk and benefit is still harder to strike for a raft of heavily promoted drugs that treat common, persistent, daily life conditions: like anti-inflammatories, antacids, and pills for allergy, depression, shyness, premenstrual crankiness, waning sexual powers, impulsiveness in children — you name it.
"We are taking way too many drugs for dubious or exaggerated ailments," says Dr. Marcia Angell, former editor of the New England Journal of Medicine and author of "The Truth About the Drug Companies."
"What the drug companies are doing now is promoting drugs for long-term use to essentially healthy people. Why? Because it's the biggest market."
In fact, relatively few pharmaceutical newcomers greatly improve the health of patients over older drugs or advance the march of medicine. Last year, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration classified about three-quarters of newly approved drugs as similar to existing ones.
Confronted with mounting costs, drug makers churn out and promote uninspired sequels like Hollywood: drugs with the same ingredients in a different form for a different disease.
Of course, many pharmaceuticals improve American health. "We now have more medicines and better medicines for more diseases," says Jeff Trewhitt, a spokesman for the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America.
However, the nation also overindulges far too often, the critics say, and violates the classic proscription of the ancient Greek physician Hippocrates: "First, do no harm."
Drug safety researcher Dr. James Kaye, of Boston University, remembers a medical school teacher telling the class: "All drugs are poisonous!"
The Heckmans found out on their own. Heckman lost his alertness for several months to a depression medication. His wife has come down with a rash from one heart medicine and muscle aches from a statin. But each time they switched medicines and escaped any lingering harm.
Hospital patients suffer seven hard-to-foresee adverse drug reactions and another three outright drug mistakes for every 100 admissions, estimates Dr. David Bates, a researcher at Boston's Brigham and Women's Hospital. That translates into 3.6 million drug misadventures a year.
The dangers potentially escalate when doctors prescribe drugs, as they often do, for uses not formally approved by the FDA. In a recent report, the Centers for Disease Control voiced concern about huge off-label growth of antidepressants. They have expanded to treat often loosely defined syndromes of compulsion, panic or anxiety and PMS.
Drug makers, doctors and patients have all been quick to medicate some conditions once accepted simply as part of the human condition.
Many Americans also assume, often with a nod from sellers or doctors, that new drugs inevitably work better than old ones. "Newer isn't always better, and more isn't always better," warns Dr. Donald Berwick, an adviser to the U.S. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.
The Heckmans buy both new and old — nearly $9,000 worth of prescriptions a year, plus hundreds of dollars in cheaper over-the-counter medicines. Even with supplemental insurance, their monthly out-of-pocket share of prescriptions alone roughly equals their food bills.
Around the country, prescription drug sales have pushed relentlessly upward by an annual average of 11 percent over the past five years.
The aging population is partly at fault, with its attendant ailments like cancer, heart attacks, stroke and Alzheimer's disease. Other conditions have mysteriously proliferated, including asthma, diabetes and obesity.
Exercise and better diet ward off heart disease and diabetes just as effectively as drugs do, studies show. However, says Fred Eckel, who teaches pharmacy practice at the University of North Carolina, "There tends to be a reliance on drugs as the first option."
Drug advertising to consumers has also boomed since the late 1990s, thanks largely to relaxed government restrictions on television spots.
For its part, the FDA generally demands only that new drugs work — not that they work better than existing ones. Dr. Janet Woodcock, an FDA deputy commissioner, says off-label prescribing and allowing similar drugs for the same condition present more options — and "choice is important."
Many safety experts say more new drugs should be tested against marketed ones, with more safety data required and stronger control of consumer ads and off-label promotion.
For now, though, most Americans seem to feel like Heckman: "grateful that there's a pill to take for something."
By JEFF DONN, Associated Press Writer
PLYMOUTH, Mass. - About 130 million Americans swallow, inject, inhale, infuse, spray, and pat on prescribed medication every month, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention indicates. Americans buy much more medicine per person than any other country.
The number of prescriptions has swelled by two-thirds over the past decade to 3.5 billion yearly, according to IMS Health, a pharmaceutical consulting company. Americans devour even more nonprescription drugs, polling suggests.
Recently, safety questions have beset some depression and anti-inflammatory drugs, pushing pain relievers Vioxx and — most recently — Bextra from the market. Rising ranks of doctors, researchers and public health experts are saying that America is overmedicating itself. It is buying and taking far too much medicine, too readily and carelessly, for its own health and wealth, they say.
Well over 125,000 Americans die from drug reactions and mistakes each year, according to Associated Press projections from landmark medical studies of the 1990s. That could make pharmaceuticals the fourth-leading national cause of death after heart disease, cancer and stroke.
The pharmaceutical industry served up more than $250 billion worth of sales last year, the vast majority in prescriptions, according to industry consultants. That roughly equaled sales at all the country's gasoline stations put together, or an $850 pharmaceutical fill-up for every American.
Alice and Ken Heckman each begin their morning by cracking open a rattling plastic tray carting scores of pills in a rainbow of pastel colors.
Between the two of them, they gulp 29 pills every day: a regimen of 14 drugs, with a chaser of dietary supplements.
Here's the curious part: They feel pretty hale for people in their early 70s, working around the house and volunteering with several community groups. They each had heart fixes years ago — him a bypass and her a vessel-clearing stent — but fully recovered. She has well-controlled diabetes. He has worked his way through heartburn, arthritis, an enlarged prostate and occasional mild depression.
Do we need all these drugs? A relative handful yank many people away from almost certain death, like some antibiotics and AIDS medicines. Though carrying some risk, other drugs — such as cholesterol-cutting statins — help a considerable minority dodge potential calamities like heart attack or stroke.
The right balance of risk and benefit is still harder to strike for a raft of heavily promoted drugs that treat common, persistent, daily life conditions: like anti-inflammatories, antacids, and pills for allergy, depression, shyness, premenstrual crankiness, waning sexual powers, impulsiveness in children — you name it.
"We are taking way too many drugs for dubious or exaggerated ailments," says Dr. Marcia Angell, former editor of the New England Journal of Medicine and author of "The Truth About the Drug Companies."
"What the drug companies are doing now is promoting drugs for long-term use to essentially healthy people. Why? Because it's the biggest market."
In fact, relatively few pharmaceutical newcomers greatly improve the health of patients over older drugs or advance the march of medicine. Last year, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration classified about three-quarters of newly approved drugs as similar to existing ones.
Confronted with mounting costs, drug makers churn out and promote uninspired sequels like Hollywood: drugs with the same ingredients in a different form for a different disease.
Of course, many pharmaceuticals improve American health. "We now have more medicines and better medicines for more diseases," says Jeff Trewhitt, a spokesman for the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America.
However, the nation also overindulges far too often, the critics say, and violates the classic proscription of the ancient Greek physician Hippocrates: "First, do no harm."
Drug safety researcher Dr. James Kaye, of Boston University, remembers a medical school teacher telling the class: "All drugs are poisonous!"
The Heckmans found out on their own. Heckman lost his alertness for several months to a depression medication. His wife has come down with a rash from one heart medicine and muscle aches from a statin. But each time they switched medicines and escaped any lingering harm.
Hospital patients suffer seven hard-to-foresee adverse drug reactions and another three outright drug mistakes for every 100 admissions, estimates Dr. David Bates, a researcher at Boston's Brigham and Women's Hospital. That translates into 3.6 million drug misadventures a year.
The dangers potentially escalate when doctors prescribe drugs, as they often do, for uses not formally approved by the FDA. In a recent report, the Centers for Disease Control voiced concern about huge off-label growth of antidepressants. They have expanded to treat often loosely defined syndromes of compulsion, panic or anxiety and PMS.
Drug makers, doctors and patients have all been quick to medicate some conditions once accepted simply as part of the human condition.
Many Americans also assume, often with a nod from sellers or doctors, that new drugs inevitably work better than old ones. "Newer isn't always better, and more isn't always better," warns Dr. Donald Berwick, an adviser to the U.S. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.
The Heckmans buy both new and old — nearly $9,000 worth of prescriptions a year, plus hundreds of dollars in cheaper over-the-counter medicines. Even with supplemental insurance, their monthly out-of-pocket share of prescriptions alone roughly equals their food bills.
Around the country, prescription drug sales have pushed relentlessly upward by an annual average of 11 percent over the past five years.
The aging population is partly at fault, with its attendant ailments like cancer, heart attacks, stroke and Alzheimer's disease. Other conditions have mysteriously proliferated, including asthma, diabetes and obesity.
Exercise and better diet ward off heart disease and diabetes just as effectively as drugs do, studies show. However, says Fred Eckel, who teaches pharmacy practice at the University of North Carolina, "There tends to be a reliance on drugs as the first option."
Drug advertising to consumers has also boomed since the late 1990s, thanks largely to relaxed government restrictions on television spots.
For its part, the FDA generally demands only that new drugs work — not that they work better than existing ones. Dr. Janet Woodcock, an FDA deputy commissioner, says off-label prescribing and allowing similar drugs for the same condition present more options — and "choice is important."
Many safety experts say more new drugs should be tested against marketed ones, with more safety data required and stronger control of consumer ads and off-label promotion.
For now, though, most Americans seem to feel like Heckman: "grateful that there's a pill to take for something."
Not all better, getting better
Join Date: Feb 2002
Location: The Beautiful Inner Banks of NC
Posts: 1,702
Originally Posted by CAPTAINZING2000
Drug advertising to consumers has also boomed since the late 1990s, thanks largely to relaxed government restrictions on television spots.
Also doctors are so in bed with the parmacutical reps it is outragous! I have a friend who is a rep and what they do is nothing short of bribery to get script written for their product. There has been some crack down on this, but not nearly enough.
Peace,
Tyler
Psalm 118:24
Thread Starter
Join Date: Nov 2004
Location: ILLINOIS
Posts: 15,203
Most of the side effects are a hell of a lot scarier then anything I've got.
I've never understood why, they have a commercial and have it say ask the Doctor if the little purple pill is right for you. I'm thinking, why would I want to know when, I don't know what the hell the purple pill is for any way.
Ever notice, when symptoms are described people go yeah, I've been having an ache there as well. We all know how much the drug companies are making. It was ok when, a manufactoring jobs left the states. Once it came time to import drugs all of a sudden The government steps in oh, we can't have you doing drugs from out of the country. I'm going to take a look see if, Dan gets unhealthy from Canada's drugs I hope, he passes it on that we shouldn't take the drug. (((((JUST KIDDING DAN))))))
I've never understood why, they have a commercial and have it say ask the Doctor if the little purple pill is right for you. I'm thinking, why would I want to know when, I don't know what the hell the purple pill is for any way.
Ever notice, when symptoms are described people go yeah, I've been having an ache there as well. We all know how much the drug companies are making. It was ok when, a manufactoring jobs left the states. Once it came time to import drugs all of a sudden The government steps in oh, we can't have you doing drugs from out of the country. I'm going to take a look see if, Dan gets unhealthy from Canada's drugs I hope, he passes it on that we shouldn't take the drug. (((((JUST KIDDING DAN))))))
It is what it is!!!
Join Date: Feb 2002
Location: Sobriety
Posts: 5,767
Umm YEP!
This is such a huge problem it is amazing. We are a society always looking for a quick fix. Yep, advertising just made it worse. And there are so many drs out there (not all, I have agreat one now) just ready to write up the script on that pad no problem.
And you know, I hear it hear and in meetings alot to. Someone comments that they are depressed and right away someone says call you dr. I am not saying that for some that is the right thing to do, but IMO it is not the first and only answer.
One of my best friends in French and even after 15 years in this country she was still amazed at how we medicate oursleves. I think it is sad.
This is such a huge problem it is amazing. We are a society always looking for a quick fix. Yep, advertising just made it worse. And there are so many drs out there (not all, I have agreat one now) just ready to write up the script on that pad no problem.
And you know, I hear it hear and in meetings alot to. Someone comments that they are depressed and right away someone says call you dr. I am not saying that for some that is the right thing to do, but IMO it is not the first and only answer.
One of my best friends in French and even after 15 years in this country she was still amazed at how we medicate oursleves. I think it is sad.
Putting it all together
Join Date: Apr 2005
Location: St. Louis, MO.
Posts: 469
Is Elvis Dead???????
Originally Posted by CAPTAINZING2000
I'm going to see if Elvis Presley's doctor is still alive. Any one think the King might have been over medicated?????
whataday
Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: al.
Posts: 91
It`s all about the money, medicine makes more money than oil, what research studies have concluded is that too much medicine tears down the emune system, making you more sick, wich makes you take more medications to combat the medications your on, whats going on with that!?
chris
chris
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Join Date: Jun 2004
Location: Ohio
Posts: 2,139
Good thread Captain! 
I agree mostly that the overmedicating is horrible, but I am also thankful that we do have the capabilities to help people in this day and age when just 60-some yrs ago they would be stigmatized and more than likely institutionalized for the rest of their lives.
I do get fed up with all the TV commercials and magazine ads though!! It is almost like they "want" you to diagnose yourself with these problems so you will try their drug! And there is usually many more bad side-effects associated with the drug than the actual problem itself!! ARGG!!! I do wonder sometimes if it is all some sort of "subliminal messaging" thing going on with these drug companies as each are trying to get the consumer hooked into buy their product!
Jane
I agree mostly that the overmedicating is horrible, but I am also thankful that we do have the capabilities to help people in this day and age when just 60-some yrs ago they would be stigmatized and more than likely institutionalized for the rest of their lives.
I do get fed up with all the TV commercials and magazine ads though!! It is almost like they "want" you to diagnose yourself with these problems so you will try their drug! And there is usually many more bad side-effects associated with the drug than the actual problem itself!! ARGG!!! I do wonder sometimes if it is all some sort of "subliminal messaging" thing going on with these drug companies as each are trying to get the consumer hooked into buy their product!
Jane
Member
Join Date: Oct 2004
Location: Kingston, NY
Posts: 390
Interesting thread indeed.
I am of several minds with regard to this topic. I do agree that we are overmedicating as a society; I think sometimes people are on so many different meds that it's impossible to know how the drugs are interacting with each other within each person's individual physiology. There are also important food-drug interactions that are overlooked by many physicians. I *hate* the way the pharma companies are mass-marketing, too - it seems totally unethical to me. My dad is a doctor... I remember how totally freaked out and angry he got when the first commercials for drugs started coming out on television. He was horrified. I have removed myself one step from the marketing campaign - I don't have a television and I don't subscribe to any magazines. I think drugs have become just another commodity in our society - and this society is a junkie for the quick fix, the instant gratification. I think many of the ailments suffered in Western cultures could be cured or at least improved by any number of common sense things that don't involve medication - eat well, get plenty of rest, exercise daily, give to your family and community, focus on what's important in life, drink plenty of water, avoid alcohol, don't smoke, take pride in what you do, be kind and think positively, and keep your integrity intact. Those things won't cure everything, but they'll sure as heck help out a lot.
On the other hand, there are miracles of modern medicine, in everything from vaccines to antiviral medication to chemotherapies... these things are important and beautiful achievements that, when employed properly, raise the quality of life for many people. I am struggling at the moment with deciding whether or not to take medication for my lifelong depression. I am acutely aware of the overmedication trend in this country and I don't want to be a part of it; I don't want to take part in the feel-good culture of "me-ism" that seems to be prevailing these days. However... perhaps an antidepressant could raise my quality of life and allow me to love my family better, to achieve my potential, and simply to live freer of the vicious shadow of depression.
Captain - I guess this topic touched a nerve! Thanks for bringing it up.
take care, all.
--anne
I am of several minds with regard to this topic. I do agree that we are overmedicating as a society; I think sometimes people are on so many different meds that it's impossible to know how the drugs are interacting with each other within each person's individual physiology. There are also important food-drug interactions that are overlooked by many physicians. I *hate* the way the pharma companies are mass-marketing, too - it seems totally unethical to me. My dad is a doctor... I remember how totally freaked out and angry he got when the first commercials for drugs started coming out on television. He was horrified. I have removed myself one step from the marketing campaign - I don't have a television and I don't subscribe to any magazines. I think drugs have become just another commodity in our society - and this society is a junkie for the quick fix, the instant gratification. I think many of the ailments suffered in Western cultures could be cured or at least improved by any number of common sense things that don't involve medication - eat well, get plenty of rest, exercise daily, give to your family and community, focus on what's important in life, drink plenty of water, avoid alcohol, don't smoke, take pride in what you do, be kind and think positively, and keep your integrity intact. Those things won't cure everything, but they'll sure as heck help out a lot.
On the other hand, there are miracles of modern medicine, in everything from vaccines to antiviral medication to chemotherapies... these things are important and beautiful achievements that, when employed properly, raise the quality of life for many people. I am struggling at the moment with deciding whether or not to take medication for my lifelong depression. I am acutely aware of the overmedication trend in this country and I don't want to be a part of it; I don't want to take part in the feel-good culture of "me-ism" that seems to be prevailing these days. However... perhaps an antidepressant could raise my quality of life and allow me to love my family better, to achieve my potential, and simply to live freer of the vicious shadow of depression.
Captain - I guess this topic touched a nerve! Thanks for bringing it up.
take care, all.
--anne
Psalm 118:24
Thread Starter
Join Date: Nov 2004
Location: ILLINOIS
Posts: 15,203
Anne,
how long have you drank in your life? Try not drinking for over a year. After a year of not drinking or, having someone offer me a joint, I'm ok today. Try it for one year not drinking. Get propr rest, eat right, exercise and daily devotions
I'm here to tell you your life can be great. I used to hate the perky sons of B!TCHS like me, now I am 1
how long have you drank in your life? Try not drinking for over a year. After a year of not drinking or, having someone offer me a joint, I'm ok today. Try it for one year not drinking. Get propr rest, eat right, exercise and daily devotions
I'm here to tell you your life can be great. I used to hate the perky sons of B!TCHS like me, now I am 1
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