Are most people over 50 on some kind of medication?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:59 and I only take supplements. My dentist recently was surprised. What astounds me most is that so many people would rather take meds than work on their problem - such as folks who could get their bp down through diet and exercise but would rather take a pill.

You realize that many people have hypertension who are otherwise healthy, fit, and of normal weight. They need medication. If you are luck enough (now) to be healthy and not require medications, be thankful and not judgemental. Your time will probably come!

You are lucky! If you win the lottery it isn't because you did something better than everyone else. You simply lucked out. Hopefully your luck will continue to hold out and you'll one day be a 90 year old who looks and acts like a 40 year old.

I in no way was commenting on people who have no choice but to take meds! READ CAREFULLY people - you'll notice I was talking about people who WOULD RATHER take meds than use diet and exercise to control a problem. DCUMers you always amaze me with your reading ability considering you apparently all went to HYP as you like to put it!! By the way, I am very aware how lucky I am not to be on meds! Many people in my life are not so fortunate.

You can't really tell what another person has or has not already tried. It's possible that they have done everything they know how to do to stay off meds and have accepted that they must be on them.

Not everyone gleefully takes statins so that they can continue to eat bacon for breakfast, lunch and dinner. And not every fat person on meds "doesn't care". Some meds make you more insulin resistant and that makes very easy to gain weight and very hard to take weight off.

I have learned not judge.

[Anonymous]

I'm 51 and not on anything, but I was on Synthroid. The informal rule is that once put on Synthroid, you are on it for life. I have been on it for...15 years or so.

I decided this didn't have to be the case so I asked my doctor if we could try getting me off it. We lowered the dose (and took blood tests) every six weeks until I was off it. I'm fine.

I have another example with GERD, where I made diet and lifestyle changes (including mechanical ones like not eating/drinking before bedtime, and raising the bed at an angle) and kicked that, too.

I think a lot of us get put on meds for something, then just continue with the meds.

[Anonymous]

There's a reason so many people in their 50s die. It's called the drugging of America. Instead of fixing the problem, doctors medicate you. The kickback business is more secret now but it used to be out in the open.

I'm not talking about life saving drugs. I'm talking about giving pills out like pez because the doctor feels pressure from the patient to give something. One reason we have a pain medication crisis in this country.

The next big phase will be the ADHD and all the alphabets associated with it.

Go look at your hometown obituaries. See people around your age dropping dead. You cannot indulge anything for 20 years and think it won't affect you. It does.

[Anonymous]

I think it's mostly genetic. I am 52 and on no medications. My last physical was a month ago. My mother is in her 70's, and takes no medications. She looks at least a decade younger, and has many female relatives who have lived past 100 in good condition. Her grandmothers youngest sister just died recently at 105.

[Anonymous]

I have heart disease and take 3 medications for this. These medications are one of the reasons we are living longer.

[Anonymous]

I'm 56 and taking supplements Vitamin D and Calcium. Not sure that counts.

[Anonymous]

So for the anti-meds poster:

There are things in our life that build up over time: hardening of the arteries is largely genetic, but can be avoided/reduced with statins and other meds (PCSK9 inhibitors). In my case, I was more with genetic high cholesterol. I have known about it since I was 10. I have been on meds since then....nothing was effective until statins came along 30 years ago.

I have been on the maximum dose of statins from the age of 23 to present (50 years). My LDL cholesterol dropped from 300 down to about 210 on the first, 200 on the second, and 180 on lipitor. That is still very high -- more meds were added.

One of them (an OTC supplement, Niacin) worked and doubled my HDL (18 to 36), but had nasty side effects on me -- it damaged my pancreas so I am now diabetic, and also triggered asystolic syncope (meaning my heart would stop for 10-20 seconds under stress). I no longer take niacin. And I have a pacemaker. But, thanks to the Niacin, I have to take medicine for the diabetes.

Today, (as of about 1.5 years ago), we have a new class of PCSK9 inhibitors. Expensive as hell, but it works. My LDL is down from 180 to 63.

Oh, in the process of living with the low HDL and high LDL for all those years, I developed multiple blockages. Based on family history, it seems that the Statins delayed that for 10 years -- that mean that, instead of bypass surgery, I got stents. Stents are holding, but I need to take an anti-clotting drug.

So this accounts for my cholesterol meds, heart meds my diabetes meds.

I also have had cancer, which resulted in the removal of a kidney. As such, I can not tolerate many of the diabetes drugs: they largely work by making the kidneys more effective at removing sugar. So I take insulin for the diabetes.

Finally, if you lived with all of this all your life, you would need an anti depressant too.

[Anonymous]

I'm under 50 and without medication, I'd be blind in just a handful of years at most (glaucoma). So yeah, I guess meds are a choice for me...

[Anonymous]

A lot of it is simply luck of the draw even within the same family.

64 and no meds, but have child in twenties who has five unrelated chronic illnesses and takes six medications daily and another 4 PRN. I sometimes wonder in what life is this fair--our positions should be reversed.

[Anonymous]

My parents didn't need assisted living until they just couldn't cope with their medications. Medication errors by the elder, lead to more problems, IMHO in some cases, than not starting the meds in the first place. Yes, depends on the meds ...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:A lot of it is simply luck of the draw even within the same family.

64 and no meds, but have child in twenties who has five unrelated chronic illnesses and takes six medications daily and another 4 PRN. I sometimes wonder in what life is this fair--our positions should be reversed.

This. My daughter -- 15, and not overweight, takes a statin for genetic high cholesterol. (I am the PP with genetic cholesterol). She may have the bRCA1 gene too, we have not tester her (I am a carrier). A lot of things are the luck of the draw.

[Anonymous]

58 and I've never had to take any regular meds. *knock on wood*

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Most people in DC are on some kind of medicine...

Or should be!

[Anonymous]

Thyroid starting at 49 and that's it

[Anonymous]

Migraine poster, what do you take to control them? I need ideas.