Are Americans Overmedicated?

MEMPHIS, Tenn. -  

What's inside your medicine cabinet? More importantly, does your body really need it? Doctors say Americans rely too much on medications without really understanding the consequences of introducing your body to foreign chemicals.

Here in Tennessee, the problem seems to be worst than it is in other parts of the nation. In fact, people living in The Volunteer State take 42 percent more prescription meds than the average U.S. resident. Doctors say the blame doesn't lie solely on the patients.

We live in a world driven by advertising.

Doctor Ann Payne Johnson, a family practitioner, says "with all the advertising, patients are coming in saying I want this medicine, and this medicine only."

Everywhere we turn the temptation to try something new.

Doctor Manoj Jain says "drug companies are putting ads on TV, in magazines, and in the newspaper, pushing the new and different medicines."

Well, when it comes to our health, doctors say being bombarded with promises of a pain and symptom-free life can be dangerous.

"We see patients who want a pill, a med, for every ache, every pain, every problem," says Jain. With patients begging for relief, doctors must decide what happens next. "Often when its appropriate, we talk about it, but when its not appropriate, its hard to convince them out of the drug."

Problem is, not many doctors stick around to have the tough, and sometimes awkward conversation. Doctor Ann Payne Johnson says its a different school of thought in what she calls old school medicine and modern medicine.

"The older practice methods are that a patient hurts, you give them pain medicine," says Payne Johnson. "one of the older physicians are going to say, well you got a headache, here is a medicine that's been out 30 years."

Payne Johnson says newer physicians, like herself, focus on the health of the patient over time, instead of instant relief that comes with popping pills.

"We start with the patients, we start educating patients on what medications really are for and what happens to them when you stay on them a long time, they can cause liver problems, kidney problems, addiction," she says.

Carmen Inquilla, a pharmacist with Baptist Memorial Healthcare, says people forget about the side effects of medications, and the consequences of mixing two or more medications.

"Even though they are medications, either prescription or over the counter and someone approved them, you're still giving yourself something that is not normally a part of your body," Inquilla warns. She says her hands aren't the only things working when she fills prescriptions. She has to keep her eyes open for people attempting to abuse the system. "We look at their profile and see how often are they coming in."

In Tennessee, hydrocodone, a pain killer, is the number one drug prescribed by volume, and many times it's abused and sold on the streets for recreational use.

"When patients abuse medication, a lot of things can happen, you can either become psychologically or mentally addicted to the medication, or physically addicted to the medication," the pharmacists stresses.

"Hydrocodone will be prescribed for back pain, and its hard to tell if someone is really having back pain or not," Jain says.

Its also tough to tell if patients are following the doctors orders, once they are granted the goods. That need to "feel better" leads some people into taking a prescription cocktail.

Jain says "a patient has heart disease, diabetes, emphysema, and they see 4 or 5 doctors, and each doctor gives them 2 or 3 medicines. By the end of it, they begin to have 15 or 20 medicines." Jain says The Volunteer State has the highest drug interaction rate among patients, and the 6th highest inappropriate meds among the elderly. "Doctors in Tennessee, on average, gave out 17 prescriptions per patient in 2006, while the national average was just 12 prescriptions."

And Jain says Tennesseans spend an average of $1300 a year on meds, $300 more than the average American. Neither doctor exempts themselves from being part of the problem, but they hope to also be part of the solution.

"If a patient has back pain, well you can't just keep giving them pain medicine, get to the bottom of it and get them fixed," Payne Johnson says.

Using physical therapy, encouraging more active lifestyles, helping Americans lose weight, and quitting smoking, all therapies that can help cut back on depression, anxiety, high blood pressure, pain, and the rest of the of the conditions we pop pills for, many times, unnecessarily.