The Dangers of Polypharmacy

Susy Owen

Attorney

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Most people realize the problems that can arise from drug interaction. The elderly are particularly vulnerable. As a rule, many people need medications as they age, and as a result, there are many opportunities to have a dangerous combination of pills in one's system. Take this story, for example: A 78-year-old woman was found unconscious on the floor of her apartment by a neighbor. She could not recall falling but was taking a lot of medications at the time of the fall. A drug combination which, may be doing her more harm than good.

A combination such as can be found on the drug interaction link above is what is referred to by doctors as polypharmacy, otherwise known as a "poisonous cocktail." The 78-year-old woman mentioned above had a bleeding stomach ulcer from a combination of drugs that irritated her stomach.

In order to prevent problems with respect to dangerous drug interactions, it is a good idea to do the following:

A) Keep a list of the medications, dosage and injestion schedule - including herbal remedies and over-the-counter medications;

B) Order all medications from the same pharmacy, so the a potential problem can be found due to computerized records; and

C) Ask you doctor what the side effects of a particular drug are and what side effect(s) should prompt a call to the doctor.

For more information on this subject matter, please review our section on Drugs, Medical Devices, and Implants.