When you have a chronic health problem, taking medications can help you manage your condition. There are justifiable reasons why physicians prescribe medications. For example, medicines for diabetes, high blood pressure, and high cholesterol can be helpful, even life-saving. Using medicine for any of these conditions can also help you suffer less in the future.
But each medicine in the bathroom cabinet has risks. Your body has to process each medication, usually in the kidneys or liver. Adding new medications can overwhelm your body’s processing centers in these organs. This is especially true if your organs are not working as well as they should. Taking many medicines can increase the possibility of medication interactions. Medications can also counteract each other. This means they can cause each other to have an effect that is too weak or too strong.
For all these reasons, sometimes improving health means reducing medications. Healthcare providers can help you reduce your prescription medications. In place of medications, you may be able to use simple preventive care actions instead.
Published on November 14, 2023
