Polypharmacy

How many pills are you taking?

The 10th Meeting of the Study Group on the Appropriate Use of Medicines for the Elderly(2019年4月24日)In the article
751/4 of the older people take 7 or more types of medication every day.
4Most people take more than 5 types of medicine.

Because this is a statistic of drugs prescribed in pharmacies
Maybe you get it from an in-house prescription clinic, or you get it from another pharmacy
If you don't have a medication notebook, you may be taking more.


Why are so many drugs prescribed?

(1) Medications always have side effects.
Typical gastrointestinal symptoms (nausea, stomach pain, constipation, diarrhea, etc.)
Medication will be added to it.

In some cases, it is served as a set from the beginning.

(2) As people get older, the number of people who go to various medical departments increases.
Then, medicine will be prescribed in each department.
I often see stomach medicines being prescribed on top of each other.
The current situation is that it is rarely sorted out by out-of-hospital pharmacies.

Other medications may also be given for different symptoms.

(3) It is difficult to touch the medicine prescribed by the doctor of other departments.

In order to suppress the symptoms, there are times when the number of medications is increased more and more.

What are the problems if you take a lot of medicine?

I don't know which medication is working.
Unexpected side effects can occur with many combinations of medications.
It can have serious and life-threatening side effects.

For example, Parkinson's symptoms, cognitive symptoms, asthma attacks, weakness, delirium
These are some of the side effects that I've actually seen.



Patients who are admitted to the hospital in an emergency are often unable to take their medicine.
In that case, all the medications you have been taking until you calm down will naturally be discontinued.
It is.

Rather than causing troublesome symptoms
More often than not, nothing happens.

When you get well
When you are discharged from the hospital

All medications are resumed.
Most of the time.
It can also increase.


Do you really need the medication you're taking right now?

There are many things you can do easily in a life that does not rely on medication as much as possible.