How many more does she need?

I always feel we are over medicating not only the elderly but ourselves. My parents are on a lot of vitamins... multivitamins, expensive special vitamins for the eyes, vitamin B complex, vitamin E, vitamin D, etc. Shouldn't all those extra vitamins be in the multivitamins? Also calcium tables, and a bunch of prescription meds. No wonder they have trouble keeping awake during the day !!

When my folks moved in they were living on pills.. tons of specialists.. you know. I got them into a family Dr who specialies in the elderly.. YIPPEE! He . looked at everything, and we were able to cut out alot of the pills. And alot of the Dr visits! I just felt like ONE Dr to oversee everything was in all our best interests. Like.. why was my 87 year old ALZ father taking testosterone cream and a bone builder? 3 creams for rozacia (SP) which never came back after we stopped it? He passed away from late stage ALZ a month ago.. not from any of the stuff he was on meds for... Mom only now sees the GP, a cardiologist and the eye Dr and dentist... way down from before and she is doing fine. And BTW. symbicort must be taken daily to work! then maybe the nebs can be cut down? I still joke my mom dosen't eat much because she is full of pills, but it's better than before!

They can end up taking so many pills. The other day my mother's new psych nurse wrote her a new prescription. Later I went to the drug store and leaned on the counter and said, "I want more drugs" in my best hippie voice. (I know them well.) We all had a good chuckle, because they knew how I was feeling.

I try to get my mother off the drugs that aren't needed. We can drug our elders to zombiedom if someone isn't watching. We have to keep a watch over the doctor's shoulder, because some of them prescribe far too freely.

I think this is a good discussion to have. My mom 84, is the same way. Every complaint and the doc gives her another pill. It's absolutely amazing how much crap due thinks she needs. I spent a few weeks living with her after hip replacement surgery and I soon realizes there was no way she could live at home while over medicating, especially with the pain pills. One thing that helped her understand was to read to her the long lists of side and adverse effects of each med. The majority said "May cause drowsiness " this was causing her falls. We also talked to her druggist and an RN friend of mind and worked out a better schedule for the meds. I still call each day and make sure she's behaving herself with the meds and she's been doing much better. But it has been a huge struggle for years for us, not only with the scripts but all the overcounter crap she thinks she needs.

She is 86,lives in Florida. Her docs & pharmacist know it all. They just kind of shrug when I tell them she doesnt need all of that garbage. She self medicates herself. Always wants more more. Lives alone. Bored & lonely recluse. Oh and Im from chicago also. Now living in Florida.

How old is she? Can you sit down with a pharmacist and discuss all of those meds. I don't see how she is even alive, taking all of that to sleep.

Where does she live? Because my mother in laws assisted living, hands out the meds and they wouldn't be doing all of that.