The OP of that thread is 50 and takes none. She wonders if she’s an anomaly. I will be 54 in less than a month and don’t take anything either. But now that I think of it, most people in my peer group are on one or more meds.
I think one determining factor (for the U.S. at least) is whether you have health insurance that pays for meds. The people I know who are on prescription meds regularly all have health insurance that pays for it, or are one some sort of assistance that pays for meds. I can also think of a couple of people who probably should be receiving medical attention/drugs but aren’t because they have no insurance.
And another determining factor is if you can live without whatever drug you’re on.
I voted one, since I need my Insulin. I don’t really have much of a choice on that one; I either take it, or end up dead. I’m pretty motivated to keep taking it.
Funny, someone just made a comment that I am on a lot of drugs every month. That is in the Testosterone thread in GQ. So, here is a copy and paste from that one. Only 45 and I join the seniors at the pharmacy line every month!
Morphine
Ritalin (started this recently in place of Aderall (amphetamine) to keep me awake. New insurance won’t cover Aderall, but will cover Ritlan)
Percocet
Soma
Lipitor
Terstosterone
OP of the other thread here. As mentioned in that thread I have not taken a prescription medication in about 30 years, and I honestly believe that was the only prescription I’ve ever had: EVER!
I think a lot of the drugs that people take are “preventative” drugs. Personally, I’m on three BP meds and a cholesterol med. But none of those are because I’m sick; I’m on them because they increase my chances of living to a ripe old age. Also, it’s three BP meds instead of one because my doc believes three low doses are more effective (and less prone to side effects) than one large dose.
If you eliminated those types and just counted the “I’d be dead within a month without 'em” drugs, I’ll bet the average would be a fraction of what it is now.
I am a free lancing computer guy.
I don’t have insurance.
Weirdly, after going off of all of meds, I feel better.
When I get the house sold, I’ll probably go back on the BP med.
But, the pain stuff, the anti-anxiety, the antidepressant, heck no.
I take a couple of drugs that used to be prescription (Benadryl and Claritin, one at night and one during the day). I occasionally use an albuterol inhaler for asthma symptoms (I can go months between doses). No regular Rx meds, and nothing I probably couldn’t live without (I’ve never ended up in the ER with asthma or anything like that). My insurance covers just about anything I can think of in terms of drugs, so it’s not like I’m going without. (I’ve had to take antibiotics, etc. now and again over the years, but that doesn’t seem to be within the scope of this thread.)
I had to put “other” because while I have a prescribed albuterol inhaler I only take it when needed and I may go months without needing it. I don’t think that’s what’s meant by “are you are prescription meds?”
Yes, there are over medicated people. On the other hand, there are many people whose lives are improved by long-term medications. I spent many years with untreated asthma, and I could survive without the medications, but on the other hand I am, overall, much healthier when it’s properly treated and spend far fewer nights having to sleep sitting up, or feeling half-strangled on those infrequent occasions my asthma acts up.
I take two. Clonazepam and Wellbutrin. I’m on a low-ish dose of the former, and I’m glad I’m down from where I was, but I wish I didn’t need it at all. It’s one of those drugs that has side effects similar to the symptoms it’s supposed to treat, which makes trying to gauge myself very difficult. I just went up on the Bu-Bu because my affect is as dull as a…see? I can’t even think of a funny metaphor. I hope it kicks in soon.
Yeah, but they’re preventative, not curative. And a LOT of perfectly healthy het women of childbearing age take them. So yes drugs, but in a different class.
I’m a female in my 50s and chose “other.” I take 2 medications chronically but I have prescriptions for several more that I take only sometimes for episodic issues, so I wasn’t sure how to count those.
I do have the distinction of having taken no antibiotics since the early 1970s. My doctor thinks this is very strange.
Me too!
Actually I went much of my entire adult life assuming I wasn’t allergic to any medication because “me” and “allergy” didn’t exist in the same sentence together; also in retrospect I realised I’d never been prescribed anything - then in my late 40s I had dental surgery and was prescribed penicillin, or one of the “…illin” antibiotics.
Allergic. Massive itching, couldn’t sleep, rash, swelling, the whole deal. Turns out best anyone could figure out, I was almost 50 before being prescribed antibiotics for the first time and I am indeed allergic to the 'illins.
So, OK, BCP is OK.