Use of Psychotropics Has Doubled

More proof that medical cronyism can pay big dividends.
A new analysis in JAMA Internal Medicine has found that the number of older Americans taking at least three psychiatric drugs has more than doubled between 2004 and 2013, despite half these patients having no mental health diagnosis on record.
The research team looked at office visits for people 65 and older that resulted in the prescribing of at least three drugs from a list of psychiatric, sleep, and pain medications.
This sharp increase is almost certainly bad news. Recall that a recent study found that elderly patients were able to reduce their risk of death by 38%, simply by reducing the number of prescription drugs they were taking. We recently reported that a new study found that taking antipsychotic drugs significantly increased the likelihood of premature death for Alzheimer’s patients.
Other than increasing risk of death, antipsychotics have many other side effects, including hypotension, movement disorders, and metabolic syndrome issues. Sleeping pills come with a spooky list of side effects including sleepwalking, “abnormal thinking,” and “strange behavior.”
Let’s also not forget that many of these drugs simply do not work. Patients get the serious side effects with no benefits.
Despite the many dangers posed by taking one—let alone three or more—powerful prescription drugs, doctors are apparently firing off prescriptions at record rates. So long as the drug companies control our crony health system, this will be business as usual.
 
Other articles in this week’s Pulse of Natural Health:
Fake Organics Flooding US Market
Surgical Device Spreads Cancer Inside Women