excerpt from article at the following link:
http://health.msn.com/health-topics/caregiving/articlepage.aspx?cp-documentid=100219494>1=31036
"Here's what I learned: The use of multiple, often unnecessary medications—especially among older people—is an entrenched, escalating, frightening, and mostly unexamined problem in modern health care. Although medications can ease many conditions, multiple-drug use often exacerbates existing ailments and causes troubling side effects that are treated with yet more drugs. Many doctors, researchers, and pharmacists I talked to agree. "Overmedication is a true epidemic," says Armon B. Neel Jr., Pharm.D., a clinical pharmacist in Georgia who evaluates medication plans for private and nursing home clients. "It's completely out of hand."
I also learned that, with the help of professionals, a determined patient can dramatically scale back her prescription drug use and eliminate, or at least reduce, the jumble of side effects that has clearly contributed to her downward spiral. That's what my mom did, emerging from her med-induced fog to reclaim her former vibrant self. This is the story of her comeback—a cautionary tale for everyone who takes several medications every day."
