Prescription drugs are a little like magic. Things that would have killed us are not worth a second thought thanks to the work of the pharmaceutical industry. Diabetes used to be a death sentence. Now, it is barely an inconvenience. HIV was once the harbinger of a relatively quick and bad death. Now, thanks to ART, a 20 year old with HIV can expect to live into his 70s.
But for every pharmaceutical miracle, there is a cautionary tale. Doctors are reminded that all medicines are poison. No medicine, not even ibuprofen, should be taken lightly. There are dangers associated with prescriptions. Here are three of the big ones, and how to avoid them:
Prescriptions Are Deadly
There are more ways for prescription drugs to turn deadly than there are for them to go right. And they turn deadly a lot more than you think. Here are just three of the ways things can go fatally wrong:
- Prescription is misread by the pharmacy
- Deadly interactions or allergy not caught in time
- The drugs were formulated poorly by the manufacturer
Attorneys like Heard Robbins have been quietly fighting the fight for safer drugs, litigating the big cases involving defective drugs. Here is an example of the types of cases being litigated:
Testosterone replacement therapy is the process through which levels of testosterone are augmented to be higher. Many men who are not in a real need of this therapy have been prescribed it in an attempt to improve their bones, sexual appetite, and muscle mass. Testosterone therapy has been proved to cause heart attacks and strokes.
Between faulty drugs coming out of the factory, knowing the dangerous side effects, and doctors misprespcribing them, prescription drugs are highly deadly.
Prescription Drugs Are Deceptive
In some ways, prescription drugs work a little too well. They can make sick or injured people feel better than they really are. A person managing an injury with pain pills may be tempted to be more active than warranted by their health.
As Captain Kirk might say, “We need our pain!” Without pain, diabetics often lose their feet because they have no sensation of pain in their extremities. Some pain is just unnecessary. But the absence of pain is also dangerous.
People often have a good laugh over commercials for ED medication. Very few people are likely to ask their doctor if their heart is healthy enough for sex. Too many people fail to take the warnings seriously.
Still other medication makes us feel so good after a sickness, we take ourselves off of the medicine, declaring ourselves healed when we really are not. The Mayo Clinic gave the following example:
It is tempting to stop taking an antibiotic as soon as you feel better. But the full treatment is necessary to kill the disease-causing bacteria. Failure to do so can result in the need to resume treatment later and may promote the spread of antibiotic-resistant properties among harmful bacteria.
Prescription drugs are deceptive. Decrease the danger by following all the prescription instructions to the letter, regardless of how good you think you feel.
Prescription Drugs Can Be Addictive
No one starts out wanting to become addicted to drugs. The street drugs that plague urban society are based on the same drugs prescribed by doctors. Drug stores really are DRUG stores. The opioids in medicine cabinets all over America are some of the most dangerously addictive substances in the world.
Sometimes, doctors prescribe pain medicine when Tylenol would probably do. You don’t have to fill the prescription if you find that the pain turns out to be not as bad as you thought it would. When you are over your pain, flush the rest down the toilet. Don’t leave it around the house as a temptation for abuse.
Modern medicine is a modern miracle. We couldn’t live the lives we do without it. But defective drugs, deceptive cures, and addiction are real dangers we cannot ignore.
