Do You Need All Those Meds? How To Talk To Your Doctor About Cutting Back
Drug combinations can cause side effects like confusion and dizziness — and even increase the risk for falls. Here's how to talk to your doctor about reducing or eliminating some prescriptions.
It's a common problem for many older adults. You may have more than one doctor and each prescribes a different drug for a different illness. Before you know it, you're taking multiple medications and start feeling tired, dizzy, or nauseous. Your doctor interprets that as a new symptom for a new disease and prescribes yet another drug.
Overmedication is a health hazard for older adults that their doctors can often overlook. "It's easier for doctors to simply start another medication than it is for them to evaluate each [current] medication," says Leah Rorvig, a geriatrician and a professor of medicine at the University of California, San Francisco.
The problem is that we become increasingly sensitive to the side effects of drugs as we age,
