Redirection

Wednesday, August 9, 2017

Do People Overuse Prescription Drugs?

I've been reading about the abuse of legal opioids such as fentanyl which are apparently freely available in some countries and prescribed for even minor pain issues. Here it's more difficult to get a prescription for this sort of thing, unless you are over certain age or have serious health problems, such as cancer.

Yet I've heard of someone who was very old and had persistent back pain, but was otherwise overall healthy. The person got hooked on morphine for pain issues, developed some nasty complications and died quickly afterwards. I know that at this person's age it was hardly a surprise, but there still appears a connection to me.

In general though, doctors seem to dole out certain medications like candy. There are folks out there who use one medication to go to bed, another to wake up, and yet another to deal with anxiety issues. I'm not talking war veterans over here, but young people in their twenties. Of course, I'm not a doctor, but it looks excessive to me.

Antibiotics abuse has got so bad, with resistant strains which keep popping up, that the doctors here hesitate to give it even for pneumonia sometimes. There are many home remedies available yet we've seemed to develop a culture which tells us to look for easy solutions to our problems, as in fixing everything with pills.

I will freely admit that I'm probably biased since I can badly tolerate even simple medications and prefer not to use them if at all possible, so I'd like to hear other opinions. You are all welcome to comment!

11 comments:

  1. I do not no about painkillers or such but when it comes to antidepressants and tranquilizers, they are very easily prescribed here. I have tried them all... And funniest thing is that when you get horrific side effects the doctors do not believe you. They just prescribe you new medicines for the side effects etc.

    I personally think that rest is the key ingredient in of healing. And most working people are denied it.

    My personal healing started when I realized that worklife is something I cannot manage. Period. Nowadays I take sedative if I have to sleep somewhere else than home and occational painkiller for migraine but that's it.

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    1. There is definitely less focus on healing from the inside, pills have easily been mistaken for an easy, quick fix. I know not all doctors/etc do it, though many are overworked and don't have much to work with emotional and mental issues with their patients, sadly.

      I actually start feeling quite fatigued if I'm out for too long, I don't want to take medicine for it though.

      -ThatStepfordGal (I can't figure out the comments yet!)

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  2. Have you tried herbal teas? There is one sort here with hops, which depending on how strongly you breed it, will knock you out for several hours. Available in the supermarket.

    Agree about rest and worklife. I only worked for several years but got a horrible burnout and still can't cope with stress all too well.

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    1. I do have some herbal teas that help. They contain chamomille, valerian and such. Don't remember if contain have hops.

      In L. M. Alcott's "Eight Cousins, the Aunt-Hill" Rose had a pillow filled with hop cones. I would like to make one for myself.

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  3. BTW, I often sleep better outside home, vacation always does this trick for me.

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  4. StepfordGal, here it often depends on how old you are. Younger people have difficulty in getting a doctor interested in them, but once you hit retirement age, they start running after you pushing stuff like flu shots, colonoscopies, knee replacements, whether you need it or not.

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  5. Housewife, it's this one:
    https://zonnatura.nl/producten/goede-nachtrust/

    It has both chamomille and valerian in it.

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  6. Well, medication prescriptions are rampant here(USA). I have a cousin who is a teacher. The majority of her co-workers are on meds for anxiety and then they diagnose many, many students with ADHD. The children are then drugged. I consider it close to an epidemic.
    I think getting outside and even just walking can help aid sleeping. Does anyone else find this helps?
    Mrs.O

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  7. Walking definitely helps, especially to the point of exhaustion:) I've never slept so well as after climbing a mountain:)

    ADHD is over-diagnosed, imo. Or rather, it's defined as a very broad "spectrum" with some children obviously needing help while others would just benefit from some old-fashioned discipline. Yet, they all supposedly have the same condition.

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  8. No, not in Canada. Doctors are very cautions with prescriptions, and if you're pregnant they refuse you basically everything. Drink cranberry juice for an infection, they say.

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