What is Polypharmacy, why should it concern you?
If you or a family member is taking 4 or more types of medicines then I encourage you to read through this post.
I see a lot of senior citizens in my practice and most of them take more than 4 kinds of medication on a daily basis. Sometimes without realising it, as 1 tablet could be combination of as many as 3 or 4 different compounds.
Possible reasons for this:
1.The person has many problems like Diabetes, High Blood Pressure, Heart problems & Acidity all of which are treated by different medicines
2.Patients sometimes get medicines from a chemist directly in order to avoid the hassle and cost of seeing a doctor, not realising that the medicine could have a bad interaction with what they’re already taking.
3.They visit multiple specialists, who prescribe their own set of medicines, which again could result in interactions or duplication.
What are some of the problems/side-effects that could be due to the medicines themselves or in other words problems caused by polypharmacy.
Here are some common ones I see in my practice:
•Confusion•Falls•Sleepiness•Leg swelling•Depression•Walking difficulties•
And a few dangerous ones –Low Blood SugarLow Blood Pressure
In the US, ADRs or in simple terms - serious medication side-effects rank as 4-6th leading cause of death: Ranking after heart disease, cancer, stroke, (pulmonary disease and accidents).
Some situations which increase the risk for medication related errors are:
- living alone
- poor eyesight
- very small print or similar sounding names of medication
- combinations where an additional “A” or and “H” means a whole new medication
- poorly informed house help/ GDAs – who manage medication for patients.
Stay tuned for my next article on solutions for this problem