In spite of controversy over many of them, Americans are taking more prescription drugs, whether youth, adults or seniors (RTT News).
The report shows that the main drugs to increase are statins, anti-depressants, mood enhancers and asthma inhalers. None of these should come as a surprise. In particular, rising numbers of overweight and obese Americans support increased use of cholesterol reducing drugs. Last year, 44% of Americans were on these and other medications. Today the figure is 48%, a huge jump.
Among youth, the number is now 20% while, with the senior population, statistics show that 90% take prescription drugs. Of those, almost 40% require the use of 5 or more. There is no way to use the argument that our generation simply relies on medication too much compared to our grandparents. Then again, seniors face a different battery of problems and, thanks to modern medicine, can live with them for longer.
A rising reliance on medication is in keeping with the public’s on-going call for medical intervention: whether in the desire for unnecessary C-sections, weight loss pills, botox and plastic surgery, or patching up weight-related problems with drugs instead of changing lifestyle and diet.
While many will require drugs no matter what and try hard to mitigate the effects of medical conditions with healthy living, there is an undoubted number among the population which looks outward instead of inward.
Drug Controversies
The rising numbers do cause a puzzle. The United States Healthcare system, unlike that of Canada and the UK, requires the public to hold health insurance privately or through their jobs, an off-putting and expensive proposition for some individuals. The system features in the news regularly, for better or worse, while Johnson and Johnson has faced the ignominy of recalls in recent months.
Many natural products have been panned by the FDA as dangerous too, if not deadly, yet a rising number of health food and supplement shops around North America show just how popular this method of self-care has become in the hope that drugs can be prevented and diseases withstood, no matter how life-threatening.
How to navigate the information has become increasingly difficult thanks to the internet where consumers can purchase products on-line, read testimonials, rants, articles for and against: an overwhelming amount of information. Meanwhile, those on both sides are motivated by something. Though FDA detractors claim that this organization only has jobs in mind when they try to act against natural products, these same manufacturers also have a business to run and their own motivations for anti-government attitudes. Within these groups are also the altruistic advocates of simple good health and lives lived well. As always, the answer remains with the consumer, who far too often leaves the decision up to a so-called expert, even her doctor, forgetting that the choice ultimately lies with
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