Overmedicated? A Medical Doctor’s Perspective

Dr. Jennifer Jacobs, MD, is the author of the new book DO YOU REALLY NEED THAT PILL: How To Avoid Side Effects, Interactions, and Other Dangers of Over-Medication.As a family physician, Dr. Jacobs was concerned over the number of medications that people were taking, especially ones that are not really needed. Forty percent of people over 65 regularly take five or more prescription drugs; twelve percent take ten or more daily drugs. In 2017, deaths due to adverse effects of drugs exceeded 164,000, which is 450 per day, triple the number a decade ago.Today Dr. Jacobs and I talk about the dangers are of taking too many drugs, why we are having this epidemic of overmedication, which drugs do you really need and which ones are doing you more harm than good, how do you broach the subject with your doctor about taking too many drugs an of course, what are some alternatives to taking conventional drugs.