Study Shows That 70% Of Americans Are On Prescription Drugs - Polidicks

[QUOTE=TestECull;41119955]A lot of the problem is people getting misdiagnosed so they can get a scrip for narcotics or anti-depressants when they don't truly need them.[/QUOTE] im sorry what medical expertise does "TestECull" from Facepunch Studios have to even be able to say someone doesn't "truly" need a drug?

[QUOTE=TestECull;41119955]A lot of the problem is people getting misdiagnosed so they can get a scrip for narcotics or anti-depressants when they don't truly need them. Some of it is also TV ads for pratcially every major Rx drug in mass production. The TV ads make it seem like you absolutely MUST be on the drug in the first half and most people are too busy setting up an appointment to listen to all the side effects. America does have a drug problem.[/QUOTE] Well that and the fact from the hospital's and especially your insurance company's point of view, just diagnosing people and then sticking them on medication that may or may not help them is probably more cost-efficient in the long run, instead of paying for a lengthy (for a reason) course of treatments such as CBT.

[QUOTE=thisispain;41120102]im sorry what medical expertise does "TestECull" from Facepunch Studios have to even be able to say someone doesn't "truly" need a drug?[/QUOTE] Let's see.....people who get shit like Prozac because their bills are piling up a bit? That'd be a great example. Oh, and a significant chunk of all the ritalin/adderol scrips are written out to kids, not because they genuinely need them, but because their parents just want a magic "Make Timmy stop acting like a shithead" pill. Add to that practically every pill you see on TV, because they're going to have a lot of users that are on them not because they need to be but because they saw the ad and pressured their doc into writing a prescription. You don't need a Ph.D to figure this shit out. Just a little common sense.

that doesnt mean anything, you didnt say anything of substance someone who's bills are piling up might benefit from an SSRI and you are in no position to say otherwise id suggest you stop taking your cues on prescription drugs from south park, i thought that would be common sense

[QUOTE=Camundongo;41120097]I never got the whole idea about being proud about not taking medication. Okay, when it's not necessary I can see the point, but I know loads of people who are proud about not taking ibuprofen when they've strained or sprained something, and then proceed to hobble around in agony. I've been told I'll have to take anticoagulants for the rest of my life or I could suffer from several severe and possibly fatal illnesses, but I'm not sure why that would ever be considered something to be embarrassed or ashamed about?[/QUOTE] Not referring to people who [I]need[/I] to take anything, just about the people who take things when it isn't necessary.

I was taking prozac after a short stay at as an inpatient due to depression. I was there for four days with an average stay length of a week and a half, I was positive, I was genuinely the happiest kid there. They're now 95% sure I have ADHD and I was only depressed because I wasn't able to concentrate enough on schoolwork and I was just being hard on myself. So they genuinely had me put on Prozac with almost zero patient-doctor interaction, almost zero diagnosis, and almost zero anything else. I felt far less productive or motivated to do stuff while I was on Prozac. I stopped taking it out of my own accord after around a month because I just kept feeling lazier and I felt actually depressed while on it rather than just upset that I couldn't focus. Fuck prozac. Haven't taken it in weeks and I feel so much better. Switched to B12 supplements because my therapist thought I might have a shortage which has helped immensely. They fucking throw antidepressants at kids. When I was an inpatient they had like 6-year-old kids in there. They have a temper tantrum? Throw drugs at them. It was fucking awful. I'm never, ever allowing any of my future children to touch any sort of antidepressant drugs. They're fucking terrible.

[QUOTE=TestECull;41119955]A lot of the problem is people getting misdiagnosed so they can get a scrip for narcotics or anti-depressants when they don't truly need them. Some of it is also TV ads for pratcially every major Rx drug in mass production. The TV ads make it seem like you absolutely MUST be on the drug in the first half and most people are too busy setting up an appointment to listen to all the side effects. America does have a drug problem.[/QUOTE] yeah lol nothing like the high from bupropion hooo boy I'm jonesin like fuck just one more doc just gotta give me one more bottle then im done narcotics are barely prescribed even when they should be for pain because of the stigma against them pushed by people like you and antidepressants have basically no recreational use so no reason for people to seek them out what are you even on about

We are the 30%. Well, I am.

I'm taking Prozac for anxiety disorder/depression and Adderall for ADD. Sure, I don't need it to live, but it makes my life easier. I'm also on some antibiotics for a sinus infection. The doctor barely looked me over and just tossed me a prescription :v:

[sp]coincidentally 70% of Americans have diabetes[/sp]

i am prescribed sleeping medicine i am whats wrong with america

No wonder everyone's so poor.

[QUOTE=Zeke129;41120605]yeah lol nothing like the high from bupropion hooo boy I'm jonesin like fuck just one more doc just gotta give me one more bottle then im done narcotics are barely prescribed even when they should be for pain because of the stigma against them pushed by people like you and antidepressants have basically no recreational use so no reason for people to seek them out what are you even on about[/QUOTE] I don't think he's stating people are taking them to get high, he's suggesting that they [I]can[/I] be over prescribed or misprescribed. By narcotics I'm guessing you mean opiates, in which case they're heavily regulated for a reason - they have a long list of side effects, and even when taken as prescribed can cause addiction, so there's a risk-reward equation you have to take into account. SSRI's are useful, but you and your doctor really need to weigh out whether the symptoms weigh out the side effects, or if other methods of treatment would be more effective or have less impact. This is all not helped by pharmaceutical companies fudging data about the effectiveness of their drugs or discovering new 'disorders' that their drugs can cure. You then also run into problems regarding the placebo effect - people will feel better if they're taking something, even if medically it's not actually having any positive impact (strong side effects can actually increase this as well). Saying someone has been misprescribed SSRIs or opiates isn't a slight at their illness, all it's saying is that there might be a better way, that exposes them to less harmful side effects. Like therapy, or lifestyle changes such as doing more exercise and a more balanced diet.

[QUOTE=kr1f333;41120708]I'm taking Prozac for anxiety disorder/depression and Adderall for ADD. Sure, I don't need it to live, but it makes my life easier. I'm also on some antibiotics for a sinus infection. The doctor barely looked me over and just tossed me a prescription :v:[/QUOTE] Oh, man. We're the same person. If I find something interesting, I can spend hours and hours and hours researching it or doing a project on it. If I'm involved and interested, I have zero trouble focusing. When I have to write a research paper for school, I'm fucked over. When I have to do boring, asinine assignments, and I know they're pointless, there's zero chance that I'll be able to do it. Write a short story? 5 pages in an hour. Write a single essay from memory about a book I enjoyed? 6 pages in an hour. ADD would be a total non-issue for me if it wasn't for the fact that I need to get through high school and college. I'd find something that I'm seriously interested in and I'd be able to hyperfocus on it and work on it for days straight, forgoing food and water just to fucking do it. I don't have an adderall script but I honestly have to buy it from friends in order to do essentially force myself to focus on and complete some of the shit I don't care about in school. It's the argument of "molding kids to the environment" versus "molding the environment to the kids." I'll spend maybe four-five more years at most just brute-forcing my way through shit I don't care about nor enjoy. ADD is a poorly-named affliction, honestly. I don't have a deficit of attention. I can spend an entire day on reddit. I can go through wikipedia for hours. I started reading The Hunger Games one morning and it was night by the time I finished, and I was dehydrated, had a migraine, and hadn't eaten all day. My attention is through the roof when I find something interesting. It's just that I can't focus on stuff I don't like at all, even if I know I have to do it and that I should just get it out of the way. It's not remotely a deficit of attention. Non-crippling ADD is a character trait that doesn't fit in with how the education system is set up, so it's medicated to make people fit in. It's bullshit. I love my hyperfocusing ability and my ridiculous attention span. I just hate that I can't bring it to things I'm not interested in. It makes math hell. If I was studying philosophy, religion, psychology, literature, creative writing, and language, I'd have zero difficulty focusing. But I've got calculus and economics and science and research papers to write, and I don't like those, so I can't focus on them. ADD is hell for school, but heaven for what you're interested in. (see look I'm interested in ADD so I can write a paragraph about it no problem)

[QUOTE=Camundongo;41120838]I don't think he's stating people are taking them to get high, he's suggesting that they [I]can[/I] be over prescribed or misprescribed. By narcotics I'm guessing you mean opiates, in which case they're heavily regulated for a reason - they have a long list of side effects, and even when taken as prescribed can cause addiction, so there's a risk-reward equation you have to take into account. SSRI's are useful, but you and your doctor really need to weigh out whether the symptoms weigh out the side effects, or if other methods of treatment would be more effective or have less impact. This is all not helped by pharmaceutical companies fudging data about the effectiveness of their drugs or discovering new 'disorders' that their drugs can cure. You then also run into problems regarding the placebo effect - people will feel better if they're taking something, even if medically it's not actually having any positive impact (strong side effects can actually increase this as well). Saying someone has been misprescribed SSRIs or opiates isn't a slight at their illness, all it's saying is that there might be a better way, that exposes them to less harmful side effects. Like therapy, or lifestyle changes such as doing more exercise and a more balanced diet.[/QUOTE] Why is antidepressant synonymous with SSRI There are multiple different classes of antidepressant

[QUOTE=Zeke129;41120940]Why is antidepressant synonymous with SSRI There are multiple different classes of antidepressant[/QUOTE] True, although SSRIs tend to be the most commonly prescribed which would explain why they are regarded as synonymous. That doesn't really change my argument though, antidepressants as whole all have a wide range of side effects, so the risk-reward thing still comes into play.

[QUOTE=Camundongo;41120998]True, although SSRIs tend to be the most commonly prescribed which would explain why they are regarded as synonymous. That doesn't really change my argument though, antidepressants as whole all have a wide range of side effects, so the risk-reward thing still comes into play.[/QUOTE] I don't really see the problem - [i]permanent[/i] side effects from any type of antidepressant are extremely rare and if they aren't working someone isn't going to continue taking them for long periods of time. Even if someone who is not depressed goes on antidepressants for a while to see if they help, what is the harm? Statistics say absolutely nothing.

[QUOTE=Zeke129;41121013]I don't really see the problem - [i]permanent[/i] side effects from any type of antidepressant are extremely rare and if they aren't working someone isn't going to continue taking them for long periods of time. Even if someone who is not depressed goes on antidepressants for a while to see if they help, what is the harm? Statistics say absolutely nothing.[/QUOTE] So inflicting unnecessary side effects on people is fine because they're temporary? Despite the fact that goes against the whole principle of medicine (first do no harm and all that)?. Not only that, but as I already said the placebo effect means they probably will feel like the drug has fixed their problem, even though a sugar pill would have exactly the effect, without the side effects, and even then the underlying cause wouldn't have been treated either.

[QUOTE=Skarr;41118957]I can proudly say that the only medication I take is an OTC allergy pill. Feels good.[/QUOTE] A bit silly to take pride in something beyond your control. [editline]20th June 2013[/editline] [QUOTE=cdr248;41120778]coincidentally 70% of Americans have diabetes[/QUOTE] Not even close.

And I am not one of them. Thank you mom.

Wasn't there a study that said people were actually getting sick [I]more[/I] because the overusage of anti-biotics was killing the healthy bacteria in their bodies and destroying their immune systems?

People like mind altering effects, for various reasons to be sure, but still it amounts to the same thing. So for the longest time I've been in favor of the development of new and improved mind altering drugs and letting the people have them. Instead what we have is a two faced society, in public the population champions sobriety and labels drug users as low class criminals. In private everyone is using though. The guy drinking beer watching the game is no different than the woman snorting a line in the club who is no different than the guy drinks coffee to start his day or the woman smoking cigarettes. The difference is in where your fix comes from. Some are legal, some aren't, some are provided by doctors, some are self prescribed.

I was diagnosed with depression once when my mom was worried I would kill myself. Got antidepressants, stopped taking them about a month later. Turns out all I needed was a strong dose of 'get-the-fuck-over-it', I know a lot of people deal with extremely serious depression, but I wouldn't doubt a large chunk of the people taking the anti-depressions meds would be much better off without it. It can do terrible things especially if misdiagnosed, I actually did become suicidal after starting the medication, and I know for a fact that I'm much, much happier without them.

[QUOTE=.Isak.;41120841]Oh, man. We're the same person. If I find something interesting, I can spend hours and hours and hours researching it or doing a project on it. If I'm involved and interested, I have zero trouble focusing. When I have to write a research paper for school, I'm fucked over. When I have to do boring, asinine assignments, and I know they're pointless, there's zero chance that I'll be able to do it. Write a short story? 5 pages in an hour. Write a single essay from memory about a book I enjoyed? 6 pages in an hour. ADD would be a total non-issue for me if it wasn't for the fact that I need to get through high school and college. I'd find something that I'm seriously interested in and I'd be able to hyperfocus on it and work on it for days straight, forgoing food and water just to fucking do it. I don't have an adderall script but I honestly have to buy it from friends in order to do essentially force myself to focus on and complete some of the shit I don't care about in school.[/QUOTE] I think we must have been separated at birth, you just described me perfectly. Literally the same interests, the struggles with focus, etc. I've been thinking for the longest time about how you would explain ADD to someone who knows nothing about it. It's not just a lack of memory or focus like everyone thinks it is. It's more like your thoughts are magnetized towards certain things, like imagination, and when you try to pull them towards things you don't like, like math, it's going to try and pull itself right back towards your interests no matter how hard you try. In normal people I'd imagine that thoughts cluster around whatever you're trying to do. I can never just stop thinking, especially when I don't like what I'm doing. There's a constant urge to satisfy your interests that never goes away.

[QUOTE=Camundongo;41121090]So inflicting unnecessary side effects on people is fine because they're temporary? Despite the fact that goes against the whole principle of medicine (first do no harm and all that)?. Not only that, but as I already said the placebo effect means they probably will feel like the drug has fixed their problem, even though a sugar pill would have exactly the effect, without the side effects, and even then the underlying cause wouldn't have been treated either.[/QUOTE] Because mental problems can't be diagnosed as easily as physical problems, sometimes attempting medication has to be a part of the diagnostic procedure

[QUOTE=evilweazel;41116196]minor-emergency clinics and the ER at a hospital are completely different things fyi You probably should have gone to a minor-emergency clinic instead of the ER, that's a fault on your part technically, but a lot of people don't even know about them at all really so it's no big deal honestly.[/QUOTE] Its no big deal if you dont want to waste the ER's staff's time, and have your visit take 5x as long on average, with a bill that is 5x as big as well. Pro-tip to TheTalon, never go to the ER and demand just pain medicine. Just something ive observed from my time working in the ER as a volunteer, patients who want just pain medicine and nothing else, usually WILL NOT GET IT unless you're dying/in A LOT of pain, or seriously seriously hurt.. We're not a pharmacy,treating your ER doctor like a stop and go pharmacy, is a quick way for them to do the "quick-fix now" approach to get you to leave.

[QUOTE=Skarr;41120014]I remember turning on the TV a couple weeks ago and there were about 12 commercials about different medications all on at the same time. It was kind of silly.[/QUOTE] Yeah the US and I think New Zealand are the only two countries that allow drug companies to make TV advertisements. It's strange hearing all this hostility to doctor's about drug prescriptions, since both my parents are pediatricians and from what I've heard in over the dinner table talks they avoid prescribing unnecessary medication. My dad even attempts to dissuade people from taking certain drugs depending on their side effects and the patients' diagnosed illness. I've actually talked to my parents about it before, and they're concerned about the drug culture they're seeing in the US (both legal and illegal). Maybe its partly cultural. Like I said earlier, the US and New Zealand are the only countries that allow companies to advertise drugs on TV. At least for the US, maybe the constant bombardment of these images makes people feel that they're a necessary part of life or that its an easy way out of pain. In high school I often heard about people who faked symptoms to get prescription drugs. Hell, even in my university (in Canada), a little over 50% of students surveyed in a drug survey believed that its acceptable to take ADD/ADHD medication without a prescription to help with studying so I doubt its just a American phenomenon. Maybe its a global culture of convenience that's causing this. I have no idea though, I haven't done much research in it.

[QUOTE=Mr. Someguy;41121191]Wasn't there a study that said people were actually getting sick [I]more[/I] because the overusage of anti-biotics was killing the healthy bacteria in their bodies and destroying their immune systems?[/QUOTE] anti-biotic resistant bacteria can seriously wreck havoc. Get a bad infection with one of these bacterias, it can be very very hard to treat. The reason i think we have a lot of people on prescription drugs is simple. We have a very very very very very very very "sick" population. 2/3rds of people are over-weight, this leads to a lot of complications/issues, which require medication to manage we have a serious mental health issue right now that is not being openly addressed like it should (medically, doctors/nurses do the best they can, but society really needs to step up in how we handle mental illness, and remove the stigma for it). Low/high blood pressure is all too common in the population above 55 years old. Doctors over-prescribe anti-biotic when they're not needed Some people simply "doctor-shop" are get pain-meds, for the side-effects. ADHD/ADD affects a lot of kids, so they're medicated to address this "illness".

My psychology lecturer last semester showed us an interesting pie chart which showed which fraction of the world's prescription medication was consumed by which country, and despite only making up 4.48% of the world population the United States consumes just over (or just under, I can't remember which way, but it was only shy by 4% or so) 50% of the world's prescription medication. That's not just medication for psychological issues, either - that includes everything prescription based That doesn't seem healthy in the least to me. You should treat the underlying cause, not merely attempt to mask the symptoms.

Prescription drugs =/= illness. I take anti-acne drugs for example. Am I abnormal? I don't think so.