> More Than HALF Of Americans Take PRESCRIPTION DRUGS

[appalachiablue]

- More than Half of Americans Take Prescription Drugs - Newsweek, Nov. 4, 2015

Use of prescription medications- for chronic diseases such as hypertension, diabetes, acid reflux and depression- has surged in the U.S. in the past decade, according to a paper published Tuesday in JAMA, The Journal of the American Medical Association.

Researchers looked at data on nearly 38,000 adults age 20 and older and estimated that overall prescription drug use in the U.S. rose from approximately 51 percent to 59 percent between 1999 and 2012.

In particular, the number of Americans who are on 5 or more maintenance medications at once-- called poly-pharmacy use -- increased from 8 percent to 15 percent in the same period.

snip> But overall drug use is up, a finding that raises an important question: ARE ADULTS IN THE U.S. GETTING SICKER OR ARE DOCTORS OVER-PRESCRIBING DRUGS TO PATIENTS?

*Read More: 'More Than Half of Americans Take Prescription Drugs', Newsweek, Nov. 4, 2015.
http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/more-than-half-of-americans-take-prescription-drugs/ar-BBmNX7H

[enough]

1. Mission Accomplished. (nt)

[kcass1954]

3. very few cures, but lot and lots of "treatment"

[appalachiablue]

5. There's no PROFIT in wellness and health. Sickness 'treatment' sells $$, always has.

[MADem]

2. Even those of us who don't have that shit in our systems--via the water supply.

http://www.newrepublic.com/article/115883/drugs-drinking-water-new-epa-study-finds-more-we-knew

This New Study Found More Drugs in Our Drinking Water Than Anybody Knew
And no one's doing anything about it
By Dawn Fallik

Doctors prescribe hydrocodone for pain. They recommend ranitidine for acid reflux, a diuretic called hydrochlorothiazide for congestive heart failure.

But you don’t need a prescription to get these drugs in tiny doses. They're found already in our nation's water supply—and, according to an upcoming national study, the largest done so far, in higher amounts than drug companies anticipated.

We know how the drugs get there: Our bodies release them when we urinate or flush old drugs down the toilet. And it’s well known by now that pharmaceuticals are affecting fish, frogs and lobsters­—small amounts of estrogen cause male fish to develop eggs, for instance. But the impact on human health is unclear. Although research on pharmaceuticals in the water supply began almost a decade ago, no one seems to know which compounds need to be removed or how to remove them from the water safely. And no one seems to know which government agency should step forward and take action.

“All of these drugs out there on the market are going to be discharged into the environment and we don’t know what the effects are, because there’s no requirement to do an assessment on the front end,” said Nick Schroeck, executive director of the Great Lakes Environmental Law Center in Detroit.

[appalachiablue]

4. That's absolutely correct. More Americans need to realize this and what's Not being done

about these major toxic problems in our Deregulation Nation. It's sickening, truly!

[dixiegrrrrl]

10. What's sad about this is that dumping drugs into the toilet is common medical practice.

When I was working in Mental Health, it was not uncommon for the doc to ask one of us to observe his dumping of old or unused patient meds into the toilet. He had to have a witness.

Then again, we see so often in the movies the drug user flushing his stash as the cops approach...wonder how much cocaine and heroin hit the water supply?

[appalachiablue]

11. Amazing that medical centers don't have a better, ecological way to dispose of medicines.

I've read of mixing capsules/pills in coffee grounds, maybe to try to de-activate ingredients somewhat.

There are a lot of contaminants that make it into water from building construction, many industries, fracking, agriculture including animal breeding farms, household and consumer products that have nasty additives like detergents, cleansers, shampoos, etc.

*ATRAZINE is a controversial herbicide widely used in the US on lawns, golf courses, public greens and for agriculture.
It's manufactured by the Swiss agrochemical giant Syngenta and is so toxic that it's banned in Europe since 2004.
The run off into waterways is very dangerous and there's not much in the way of eliminating it it.
ATZ is an endocrine disruptor that alters hormonal and reproductive systems and fertility in frogs, fish, wildlife, possibly humans.

>Wiki, Atrazine
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atrazine

[99th_Monkey]

6. I refuse to jump on the "ban prescription opiates" bandwagon

Are opiate prescription drugs a problem, yes; but it's a symptom not a cause.

Candidates -- with a lot of help from M$M -- are focusing-in on this^ as the take-away from
the recently released study about 45-54 year old whites dying in disproportionate numbers.
All the candidates, that is, except for Bernie, who deftly connected this startling number of
45-54 deaths, with their underlying causes: destitution, despair, hopelessness, etc.

The underlying CAUSE of these deaths is widespread despair and hopelessness about how
lives are being devastated as the Oligarchy-driven income inequality keeps hollowing-out the
American Middle Class, destroying labor unions's right to organize, etc. <--This needs to be the
take-away, not trying to gin-up a new "War on Drugs!!!!" neo-prohibition of drugs, alcohol, etc.

Many people who suffer from chronic pain need to rely prescription drugs like Vicodin, and use
them responsibly. These are already very difficult to obtain on a prescription basis, thanks to
a previous wave of hysteria about them, just a few years ago. Now they're harder to get, yet
the problem persists, because the underlying problem -- grotesque income inequality -- keeps
getting exponentially worse.

THIS ^ is why I am supporting Sanders, because if Bernie were not in this race, discussion
of the issue of income inequality would not even be in the forefront of everyone's mind as a
political issue in 2015-16.

[appalachiablue]

8. I'm not against prescribing or using drugs. Overuse and self medication are symptons as you say,

Last edited Thu Nov 5, 2015, 01:54 PM - Edit history (1)

often derived from despair over financial and other issues afflicting Americans in the last 20+ years as Bernie emphasizes- major US job losses, decline of unions, mass incarceration, decimated communities, destruction of families, income inequality and decline of the middle class. Misuse of pain meds is a real issue in many poor, ravaged areas, like the 'oxycodone express' flight that went from Ft Lauderdale, FL pill mills to deliver drugs in WV/KY/OH a few years ago. And it's tragic.

That pain relieving medications are necessary I know well from my mother who was prescribed them briefly to recover from a bad fracture. Psychotropic meds for depression, anxiety and other conditions are also beneficial to many people. But there are practitioners who recommend these medications and others quickly, recklessly and 'off label' - not for the intended purpose, but for financial gain.

Govt. regulatory agencies and the science community also are not (or can't) adequately addressing widespread disposal of medications and other toxins that enter rivers, lakes and oceans and our drinking water, and the impact on the health of wildlife, humans and ecosystems. A very dangerous situation that won't change until we elect more solid Dems. to enforce EPA regulations and end the lucrative revolving door and placement of industry insiders like Monsanto appointees in our regulatory agencies.

One of the most preyed upon demographics are elderly patients who are given a pharmacopeia because they're vulnerable targets. Misuse of psychiatric drugs intended for schizophrenia, in order to make frail elders passive and less anxious is one of the more despicable examples that goes on, particularly in ill managed care facilities.

[CTyankee]

12. I guess the sticking point is that people with chronic pain do get addicted but should we

keep them from the drug? If we deny them, then they are in pain. Is the pain or the addiction worse? Another issue is whether such dependency requires stronger and stronger doses, resulting in those overdoses we read about. I believe these are real problems.

I have read some threads here at DU about colonoscopies and some folks are saying they hate the prep but like getting the drugs to put them under briefly for the procedure. I think that is weird. I was told at my last colonoscopy that the drug would knock me out but I'd wake up alert and fine. Wrong! My husband drove me home and I was groggy the rest of the day and told my doc not to ever schedule me for another (too old and no colon cancer in my family). She agreed.

I have osteoarthritis and am currently having Physical Therapy to bring me out of pain. My therapist tells me that people with my problem complain because they can't get surgery to fix it. My guess is that they are in such pain that they just want it to stop, even tho surgery is NOT the answer and is always risky anyway. Having had my own share of surgeries over the years, I know what it takes out of your body. No thanks, I'll do the pt any day.

A friend of mine self medicates on alcohol when his MS pain gets out of control. He doesn't like his pain meds and prefers to get bombed and sometimes calls me just to talk. I once was cornered by a self medicating acquaintance who got in her cups at a football game and went into a long, tearful confession of how she prays to the Virgin every day. Her suffering was real and I felt terrible for her.

So I thought Christie's story about his friend was very moving. It was sad that no one could help that guy.

[SamKnause]

7. Ask your doctor if; (fill in the blank) __________________

is right for you ?

Have you noticed the bizarre names the new drugs are given ???

[appalachiablue]

9. Drug names & new 'conditions/diseases' in the media- magazines & TV are amazing. Lotsa 'z' names.

Advertising for medicine, doctors and lawyers was once illegal, but no more in corporate USA. I believe commercial sponsorship is still banned in Europe.