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hedgehog

(36,286 posts)
Tue May 15, 2012, 01:54 PM May 2012

Do Americans overuse prescription medications?

I'm seeing another round of articles all about how Americans are over-medicated for diseases made up by Big Pharm and/or are taking pain medications they don't need. Then of course, there is the sub-genre about how people who are depressed should just pull themselves up by the bootstraps, because of course the SSRIs are less effective than placebos. Bonus points if the article somehow connects the use of meds to being an obese couch potato.

It occurs to me that healthy people don't know what it is like to live with a chronic disease and/or chronic pain. I'm curious how one's state of health changes one's point of view regarding prescription medications.


4 votes, 0 passes | Time left: Unlimited
I have a chronic disease and/or chronic pain, and I don't think prescription meds are overused
1 (25%)
I have a chronic disease and/or chronic pain , and I do think prescription meds are overused
1 (25%)
I don't have a chronic disease and/or chronic pain, and I don't think prescription meds are overused
0 (0%)
I don't have a chronic disease and/or chronic pain, and I do think prescription meds are overused
2 (50%)
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Disclaimer: This is an Internet poll
16 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
Highlight: NoneDon't highlight anything 5 newestHighlight 5 most recent replies

ZombieHorde

(29,047 posts)
1. "Overused" assumes there is an exact amount people "should" be taking.
Tue May 15, 2012, 01:57 PM
May 2012

What is the most object way to determine that?

dmallind

(10,437 posts)
2. It's impossible NOT to conclude meds are overused
Tue May 15, 2012, 01:58 PM
May 2012

Just not of course by everyone. Probably not even a majority, but certainly a bunch.

My own pain is moderate mostly, while my prognosis is quite stark. I do think that painkillers for those in serious pain are way UNDERused, but of course we also have the pill-poppers trading painkillers as recreational drugs. Rhe happy medium is hard to find.

Brickbat

(19,339 posts)
4. Pass: I think medications are mismanaged at both extremes. This country's attitude toward health,
Tue May 15, 2012, 02:04 PM
May 2012

preventive medicine, health care, addiction and other issues is so stunted and twisted, many people are not getting the help they need.

Seeking Serenity

(2,838 posts)
7. That is the truth!
Tue May 15, 2012, 02:13 PM
May 2012

I have a dear friend who suffers from chronic pain, but because it's not cancer related, she can't get pain medications she needs to have some semblance of quality of life because of the physicians' over-reaction, hyper-reaction, to prescribing narcotics and/or their fear of the DEA. And as a GI bleeder, she cannot take NSAIDs, period. All of this is in her chart and verified, but she can't get what she needs anyway because of the War on Medicine.

get the red out

(13,459 posts)
6. Doctors
Tue May 15, 2012, 02:09 PM
May 2012

Isn't this a question more for the medical community? The last thing we need is for people who suffer terrible pain not given medical care they need, like trying to keep a dying person from becoming "addicted" in their last month on this planet.

And I assume you mean pain meds? There are other medications people need which are not narcotic. I think we need to work toward universal health care rather than trying to meet some arbitrary medication use amount in general. Maybe if we had that we could get some real medical standards of care in place and people would have access to options.

hedgehog

(36,286 posts)
10. I'm not just thinking of pain medications, but for such things
Tue May 15, 2012, 03:24 PM
May 2012

as "restless leg syndrome". People that never heard of it think it's a made up disease. People who are exhausted because their legs keep them up at night think the medication is a god-send.

get the red out

(13,459 posts)
14. If someone needs the medication
Wed May 16, 2012, 10:03 AM
May 2012

And it does not harm them or others then to me it is a no-brainer. I can't see how someone's suffering could be justified by attempting to reach some arbitrary "medication" goal as a society. I see no benefit to making someone suffer untreated because people without the particular problem don't understand it.

kirby

(4,441 posts)
8. Of course...
Tue May 15, 2012, 02:15 PM
May 2012

Like many things, those who abuse something ruin it for those who really need something.

There is absolutely no doubt that prescription medications are over prescribed. It is a fact that doctors in general have transitioned to treatment via prescriptions. I'm assuming you mean pain medication considering the wording of the poll questions re pain.

hedgehog

(36,286 posts)
11. It's not so much a determination of reality, but what people think the reality is,
Tue May 15, 2012, 03:28 PM
May 2012

and how that opinion is influenced by the respondent's state of health. Sick people tend to think they need the meads, healthy people tend to think they don't. Oftentimes, diseases which are chronic and debilitating are not visible to the naked eye.

I inadvertently muddied the waters by mentioning pain medication, since pain medications are often abused by the healthy and denied to the ill.

JNelson6563

(28,151 posts)
12. I know a few serious addicts
Tue May 15, 2012, 03:40 PM
May 2012

that started out years ago with prescriptions. Now life revolves around the junk for these poor souls. Oh and they make life hell for everyone around them. I can't get over how many take the various opiates out there because they like them, but then again I have seen the horrors of the steps beyond recreational or managed long-term use up close and personal.

There are doctors out there that seem to prescribe unnecessary pain meds that the patients turn around and sell at a tidy profit. Often times on the day patient goes for office visit to re-up the 'script they actually have to take some of their meds to pass the dr's office drug test.

On the other hand, I had a bad experience at a hospital last fall. Several hours and about $1000 later I walked out with a 'script for 20 vicodins. I knew I hadn't broken anything. If there's a next time and I just need to deal with some pain beyond the scope of motrin, I'll hit the black market and pick up whatever I need for a few bucks a pop and save a bundle.

Like everything else there's the upside and the downside. Sadly though, in this case, it's mostly downside.

Julie

RagAss

(13,832 posts)
13. To all of you who voted "Overused"...
Tue May 15, 2012, 04:47 PM
May 2012

I pray for a ruptured disc in your lower back and full blown sciatica..FUCK YOU !

CTyankee

(63,769 posts)
15. I have a friend, an anaesthesiologist, who says that pain management is under utilyzed by
Wed May 16, 2012, 10:13 AM
May 2012

the medical community in the U.S. He has a pain management expert on his staff. He says that as long as the patient is taking the med for pain, it is not addictive in and of itself.

I have relied on some self medicating out of desperation in some cases. Luckily, I don't have a chronic condition but when I have pain that OTC pain meds can't touch I am forced to find options. I think that docs want to help but their hands are often tied by DEA restrictions.

We have a funny way of thinking about medication in this country (the same with use of alcohol). It's either all or nothing. You're either an addict or you are condemned to "be a trouper" and endure the pain. It's crazy...

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