This. Sigh. It’s wrong on so many levels. In a lot of ways I’m not even sure where to start. It’s only 144 characters, so I’m not sure where they got their information…is this claim actually documented legitimately through literature as in research? Possibly…if you cherry pick your data and blatantly ignore A LOT of data. None the less, I have a LOT of questions about this statement and I feel very compelled to elaborate greatly on these extremely misleading 144 characters. So here goes…
Number of diagnoses
I’m not really sure how this number can ever be found, but it’s probably quite close to the following number…
Number of prescriptions written
In 2011 an new record was set. 4.02 BILLION prescriptions were written. 3.99 Billion were written the previous year according to ACS Chemical Neuroscience. Billion is a pretty big number. To help put that number in perspective, that’s 13 prescriptions written for EVERY SINGLE MAN, WOMAN and CHILD in the US. Every. One. That’s also more than one prescription taken every month. Yes, prescription. This number does not account for the number of over the counter medications that are taken.
The leading prescriptions? Antidepressants. 264 million prescriptions were filled for antidepressants. In 2005, the FDA issued a warning that recent data indicated that there was an increase risk in suicidal behavior among adults on antidepressants. The agency asked for clinical trial information as this information pertains to the pediatric population. That opens up a new can of worms. If this data exists, why doesn’t the FDA already know about it. Why aren’t pharmaceutical companies required to report ALL findings? Why is it that only 50% of clinical trials are actually published? The ones most often neglected? The results showing negative results that would harm the company’s bottom line.
None the less, the reviewed showed that 4% of children on antidepressants experience suicidal thoughts and may even attempt suicide. 4% of 264 million? 1,056,000.
Number of prescription filled
This chart is extremely interesting: http://kff.org/other/state-indicator/retail-rx-drugs-by-age/
An 2011 exhibit in the British Museum called Pharmacopeia estimated that the average number of prescription pills a person takes in a lifetime is 14,000. If over the counter meds are included, that number explodes to 40,000 pills taken in a lifetime!
The money is not in the writing of prescriptions, though doctors do get paid for office visits and some do get kick backs from pharmaceutical companies for writing scripts for their products. 319.9 BILLION dollars represents the SALES of prescription in 2013.
2014 saw just a small increase of 3.2% which amount to another 10 billion dollars for a grand total of $329.2 billion.
Number of people who take their prescriptions as directed…
It’s pretty much impossible to know what people actually do with their medication. Then there’s the question of how many properly take prescriptions improperly directed.
Number of people who don’t
Apparently half of prescriptions are not taken as directed according to this.
Death from not taking meds?
This says 125,000 due to poor adherence.
This says 125,00 from improperly taking meds, which could mean over dose.
Number of people killed by auto accidents
There were 30,057 fatal motor vehicle crashes in the United States in 2013 in which 32,719 deaths occurred.
Number of auto accidents caused by DUI – medications
Imagine taking your antidepresssant and allergy pill this morning. Both pills cause drowsiness. And boy, it’s been a rough day and you’ve got a splitting headache, so you pop a another prescription which also causes drowsiness, then jump in your car to drive home. You fail to notice another car because for some reason, you’re more tired than usual.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration found that 16% of nighttime drivers have some sort of potentially impairing drug in the system – that number is a mix of illegal and legal drugs. However, The CDC’s Public Health Report study reported the prescription drugs were involved in fatal car crashes at 3 times the rate of marijauna. Read this for more info.
Ultimately, the number of traffic accidents and fatalities due to prescription drugs is not a number that is going to be found because many states don’t require testing beyond illegal drugs and alcohol. If my memory serves me correctly, according to Our Daily Meds, just two states routinely test.
Number of people killed by falls
Number of falls due to side effects of prescription medications?
Unknown. Does it happen? Without a doubt.
Number of people killed in fires
How many fires are caused because people are knocked out on meds
Unknown. Does it happen? Of course.
How many drownings
3,533 + another 347 due to boating accidents.
Number of people who are killed by properly prescribed medications
106,000 people die from properly prescribed medication. The right medication for the right diagnosis given in the correct dosage. That’s a reported number. Pharmaceutical texts make it clear that many are missed because the doctor isn’t sure if it’s the med or the disease.
Just 1 in 20 adverse reactions are actually reported. 20% of hospital medications had dosage errors, 40% of those errors were potentially harmful to the patient.
So:
125,000 die from not taking meds, properly
70,000 die from auto accidents, falls, fires and drowning combined
106,000+ die from properly prescribed medication
98,000 die from medical errors
37,136 die from unnecessary surgical procedures
I’m not saying that medicine never saves someone’s life. It does. When the body has maxed out its ability to continue to adapt to the environment, medication absolutely can come in and buy more time. But medicine is not the cure to chronic disease. Living congruently according to our design is. Medicine can only extend a life when someone has lived very incongruently for a very long time. Getting back to living
The bottom line, no one is deficient in prescription medications. Prescription medications is not a requirement of a properly functioning body. We are deficient in positive thought processes, adequate movement and sufficient nutrients. We are also toxic with negative thought processes, sedentary lifestyles and food like products containing an overwhelming amount of chemicals. These are the things that cause disease in our body. Adequately addressing these issues is the only path to true prevention and disease curing. Until then, we’ll continue to manage disease. Until then we’ll continue to see disease rates climbing.
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