Wow! Someone dies every nineteen minutes due to an accidental drug overdose? Get that guy to a medical lab for scientific investigation. Dying every nineteen minutes is decidedly abnormal. (You set yourself up for that, Amy.)

Seriously, I wonder how these overdoses are "accidental." Did someone really "accidentally" take five pills when the prescription plainly says to take one?

I'm sure there are people in this world who have died when they confusedly took four pills every one hour rather than the prescribed one pill every four hours.

But I wouldn't call deliberate self-medication against the advise of a prescribing physician to be an "accidental" overdose.

A couple of quotes from the article:

"I remember him telling me about a teenager dying because he had taken too much narcotic medication after a dental procedure."

Forgive me frmo being just a bit suspicious... teenager... narcotic... you do the math. I don't doubt that ER docs and trauma people see a lot of overdoses. But how many of these "accidental" overdoes are accidentally-on-purpose, kinda sorta? And how many are from peole who didn't obtain their meds legally? Practially every perscription drug on the market these days that has any potentially mood-altering effects whatsoever contains a warning to not consume alcohol while taking it.

"Distribution of morphine, the main ingredient in popular painkillers, increased 600% from 1997-2007."

I call bullshit. Morphine, as far as I know, is a Schedule I drug and cannot be adminstered except in a hospital or otherwise under a nurse's care. Further, I'd like to see some data on how many people who are hooked up to a morphine pump in a hospital actually take it. Among people that I hang out with, morphine is the drug you take when you've already got one foot in the grave. I wonder how much of the morphine that is prescribed actually winds up being disposed of because the patient doesn't take it. And as far as I know, there is nothing you can get at the prescription counter at Target that contains morphine. Maybe some derivatives, but not morphine itself.

"We know, however, that after just a few months of taking the pills, something starts to change in the body. The effectiveness wears off, and patients typically report getting only about 30% pain relief, compared with when they started. "

Data please. No cites were provided in the article.

"In my upcoming documentary, I will explain how we arrived in this deadly situation, but more importantly, explore solutions to address it."

Ah, now we get to the truth. What we have here is the medical equivalent of an actor going on Letterman to shill his latest movie. It's amazing how much of Hollywood's output consists of patting itself on the back.

I wonder which of the usual two "solutions" will be proposed, print [larger] warnings on the packaging, or just ban all [pain-killer] drugs?

It is a problem, but there are much worse ones. Mostly, I am with Cousin Dave, above. One thing, though, he mentioned morphine drips in hospitals: a couple of years ago, I saw a study that those the patient could control resulted in LESS dosing, possibly because patients used them only when the pain was present rather than the larger dosages administered on a schedule which are supposed to be enough to last for hours when pain is minimal as well as the moments when it hurts most badly.

I've seen prescriptions filled out incorrectly - pharmacists who aren't used to apothecary measurements can be lethal.

You know I really dont know how many people would die without prescription drugs.

Requiring a prescription is about control, and pricing, not because prescription drugs are particulaly effective or dangerous.

My 88 year old mother take a raft of them. Are they keeping her alive?

I dont know, because she doesnt have an 88 year old identical twin, and a time machine so we can stick one of them in it, go back thirty years, and see what her health would be like without all the crap she takes.

Maybe a low carb diet, fresh air, sumshine, and walking the dog twice a day would be better than eight different medications.

My mom takes a mini suitcase of meds (no, seriously). She is convinced she needs them to function.
However, so much synthetic man-made junk cannot be good long-term.
She cut out gluten and lost 30 pounds and felt great...but she won't keep it up.
She refuses to exercise, drinks Mt. Dews all day, and sleeps all day...I really wonder how many meds she could eliminate if she'd get out and treat her body right...but I guess popping pills is just easier.

Lack of my cholesterol medicines probably wouldn't kill me quickly, but probably sooner than without them. I suspect (I'm talking with my doctor about trying the experiment) that I can control my diabetes just by being really aggressive in cutting carbs). The medicine for palpitations? I've had times where an episode was so bad that my vision blacked out. Now imagine that happening while I'm driving. The rest are mostly for things that are more painful than life threatening--so far. (I'm not getting any younger.)

Raises hand

Sorry to hear about the continuing problems with motion sickness.

My problems with it, have only increased as I age.

I dont know about the drug interactions, but benedryl has worked for me up to a point.
I threw up the Benedryl on top of Monarch pass two weeks ago.

Things that seem to help, Afternoon flights. If I have gotten less than 7 hours of sleep, I am more likely to be sick.

Also, make sure you have eaten something two hours before you get on the plane and are not dehydrated. Hot tea with milk seems to help also.

I have wondered if part of it might be low blood sugar, in the early mornings.

Motion sickness feeds on itself. Once you start puking, it is hard to stop.
You might want to try sips of very cold water, or an electrolyte solution, with salt, and a few carbs.

Beware of high elevations. Sea level I am fine, high elevations get to me. Less oxygen maybe, and a little altitude sickness?
I dont know what the oxygen level of a pressurized jet is, but I suspect it is not exactly equivelent to sea level.

To borrow the words of Ronald Reagan; the most terrifying words in the English language: "I'm from the government and I'm here to help you."

Amy, we need to fight tooth and nail to let you keep your Adderall. Having a "not harmful" medication or substance taken from you "for your own protection" is about the dumbest thing folks can do; and, even though he doesn't use those words, that is what he is suggesting.

I'm all for safety regulations being in place; but, come on, sometimes these "do-gooders" do more harm than good.

I wouldn't die, but I'd be bedridden. Currently undergoing treatment for a bad hip joint, which has kept me out of work, unable to sit, stand, or walk for more than a few minutes at a time. The physical therapy is extremely painful, having me sobbing even with the pain pills and muscle relaxers. I've been taking them for about three weeks, and this most recent refill (my doctor doles out the prescriptions about 10 days at a time) the pharmacist told me to take them hours apart, that they are both CNS depressants and it's dangerous to take them together. Same pharmacy, different pharmacist, first time anyone told me this. I've been taking them at the same time for weeks with no problem. Now I'm paranoid that I'm suddenly going to stop breathing, but the pain is only tolerable when I take them both. That's why the doctor prescribed both.

Back when I was a type 2 Diabetic, without metformin and other drugs, I would've died slowly. As such, it took quit a bit of drugs to stabilize my glucose level. So count me as someone who should've die without prescription medicine.

My husband and I were just arguing about my excessive intake of medication this morning. I take a cholesterol lowering medication even though my cholesterol is in the normal range after having a series of strokes. I talked to him about stopping the medication, but he convinced me to keep taking it citing evidence that it helps remodel the arteries of the brain and heart after injury. I also take Plavix to thin my blood. My husband is convinced that I will have an accident and bleed to death. I take thyroid medication. before I took it, i was not only sluggish and gaining weight, but was hemoraging and anemic. I was told that if it is bad enough, lack of thyroid is deadly in and of itself. I'm also taking an antibiotic and probiotic for a UTI. It's my second one because I reacted poorly to the first.

I probably wouldn't die from the UTI. I don't know about the other. I've been briefly incapacitated three times. If I happened to be driving or climbing a ladder, I would be in grave danger. Other people could also be in danger, so I guess despite my husbands protests, I will keep medicating.

If people are too stupid to follow dosage instructions and overdose, they probably deserve to die. As per Sanjays article, after a few months of pain meds, the effect begins to wear off and people go to the doc asking even stronger doses. If the doc gives stronger doses, then probably the doc can be held responsible, but if the doc says that he cannot give more than a certain dosage, but ppl try to beat the system and try to overdose, then probably the ppl who try to beat the system are to blame. Either way, in my opinion, the best thing to do is to remove all restrictions on prescription drugs and sell everything over the counter and do away with drug rehab programs so that things are just like India and Brazil. Then people know that there is no one to save them if something goes wrong and hence they will stop abusing things and start being careful.

There are some drugs that, without them, people would die. There are others that, without them, some people might die. Then there are the ones that won't save a life, but improve quality.

The first group contains things like insulin for people whose bodies don't make it. The epi-pen is another example.

The second group includes vaccines (I consider them medicine), antibiotics, and probably stuff used in ERs, but I'm not versed in that.

The last group includes things like cortisone cream, diaper rash ointments, ibuprofen, and medicines for things like basic heartburn, constipation, congestion, etc.

That's how I think about it anyway.

Just a quick thought about the morphine: this is often givn in palliative care, i.e., when someone is terminally il and just neefs to be kept comfortable. That can take a lot of morphine in some cases. Also, it is not uncommon for the person to die of an "accidental" overdose, if the alternative is weeks or months of misery.

"I dont know what the oxygen level of a pressurized jet is, but I suspect it is not exactly equivelent to sea level. "

You're right. The airline has some control over how they set it, but most of the time an airliner flying at 35,000 feet will have a pressure altitude inside the cabin of about 8000 feet. By FAA regulation the cabin altitude must be kept below 10,000 feet, but 8000 is enough to cause problems for people who are altitude-sensitive. One of the advantages Boeing advertises of the 787 is that it is supposed to be able to operate economically at a cabin pressure altitude of 4000 feet, but I don't know how the airlines that are flying it actually set their systems up.

Gee, can you tell I typed that on my phone? Dunno what happened to autocorrect...

Anyhow, palliative care is something that has grown rapidly in the last couple of decades.

Other aspects of drug deaths arise indirectly from federal involvement in health care, for example, Medicaid and EMTALA. Taking EMTALA as the most egregious example: since emergency rooms are not allowed to turn people away, expediency too often means that they give drug seekers narcotics just to make them go away. Otherwise, the drug seekers will stay around, complaining of inventive problems and driving the staff nuts.

Lastly, even for those people who do accidentally overdose themselves: this is possible with all sorts of drugs. Take too many Ibuprofen and you will die of liver failure. The same is true of other, perfectly ordinary drugs available in your local grocery store.

I see this as part and parcel of civilization. Without drugs, no one would die of drug overdoses. Without cars, no one would die in auto accidents. I know, let's ban cars! I'm sure horses were much safer...

"I dont know what the oxygen level of a pressurized jet is, but I suspect it is not exactly equivelent to sea level. "

You're right. The airline has some control over how they set it, but most of the time an airliner flying at 35,000 feet will have a pressure altitude inside the cabin of about 8000 feet. By FAA regulation the cabin altitude must be kept below 10,000 feet, but 8000 is enough to cause problems for people who are altitude-sensitive. One of the advantages Boeing advertises of the 787 is that it is supposed to be able to operate economically at a cabin pressure altitude of 4000 feet, but I don't know how the airlines that are flying it actually set their systems up.
Posted by: Cousin Dave at August 9, 2013 11:36 AM

Thank you for that Cousin Dave. I live at 6000 feet, and I am pretty good in planes as a general rule, but Monarch pass made me hurl. It is 11,300.

I know Amy lives at sea level, so maybe we ought to operate under the assumption that a lot of air sickness, is actually altitude sickness.

Sour foods such as lemon and ginger fight nausea. Something about the brain not being able to process both sensations simultaneously, and sour wins (like rock, paper, scissors). My source for this is a once-pregnant woman... But it works for me. Go for the drugs, but ginger and lemon are good back-ups.

Benadryl combats my nausea when my nausea is due to too much histamines - too much red wine, etc. - or storm related migraines. But I rarely get motion sick unless I'm reading in the car (as a passenger), so I can't speak to that.

My experience with ginger is that it makes your throat really sore, and cleans out your sinuses nicely when you vomit it back up.

As far as motion sickness, vs altitude sickess. The two are not mutually exclusive, and I believe they augment each other.

There have been times when I have suffered from both simultaneously like when I was in a C-130 getting tossed around by a violent thunderstorm over the Agean sea.

Amy, thanks so much for that link.

http://www.dizziness-and-balance.com/treatment/drug/drugrx.html

I went through six months of dizziness / lightheadedness / vertigo and went to three different brain docs, one of whom wanted to install a pump in my head to equalize my spinal fluid pressure.

After two MRIs and four prescriptions (none worked), one day my neighbor gave me half a Valium. Bingo, success.

I told my doc about it and he gave me a scrip for lorazepam cuz Valium's all, like, addictive and stuff and I'm, like, so into that. Not.

After a year of taking it a several times a week I now take it once a month, if that. I learned to recognize the onset and take the drug before the attack (usually when I was stressed out), and the lorazepam reduces that significantly.

I wish I'd had that list from Day One!

"The medicine for palpitations? I've had times where an episode was so bad that my vision blacked out."

Look into stopping your widespread use of antibacterial soaps, containing Triclosan, if indeed you use them. I have read somewhere that it causes heart palpitations, and when I stopped using them the incidence fell off.

Anecdotal, YMMV.

"The medicine for palpitations? I've had times where an episode was so bad that my vision blacked out."

I have had these too. They can be caused by hypothyroidism. The proper dose of Synthroid, and iodine supplements has stopped them completely.

Again, as Radwaste said, YMMV

The valium didn't make me sleepy, it made me happy!

Happy happy happy! So it's probably a good thing they didn't write me a scrip for it :-)

The lorazepam will sometimes make me drowsy later in the day if I take it early in the a.m., but a short nap brings me back to alertness.

I just don't use it that much these days - perhaps my brain's created some new synaptic links and learned to chill out on its own?

Incidentally, the lorazepam doesn't put me to sleep (like a sleep aid) at night - but if I was really stressed I'd take one half an hour before bed and then my mind wasn't racing and I could fall asleep.

Always woke up on time, no weird hangovers or nightmares or anything.

I don't usually agree with Isab, but he/she has a point (sorry, I don't know the gender). The only way to know if someone would die without their medicine is to have a monozygotic twin not on the same medications and see how they do.

As one who has set up the medications for his mother, I notice there's an awful lot of things she wouldn't need if she had done what she was advised by the doctors to do. Such as her diabetic medication.

I also take Plavix to thin my blood. My husband is convinced that I will have an accident and bleed to death. -- Jen at August 9, 2013 10:24 AM

I looked at Plavix as soon as it hit the market. (My lady was on warfarin.) Dump Plavix and go to aspirin. Aspirin is cheaper, works better, and has less side effects, especially on the stomach.

Also look at the doctor that prescribed it.

I too have ADHD. The people I've heard call it a fictional ailment take for granted that they have clarity of thought and assume everyone's brain works like theirs.

I think some of them have Attention Surplus Syndrome.

The Mythbusters tried to find a seasickness cure that didn't
impair their mental functions. They found that ginger did work
for them. A good summary of the episode can be found at
http://kwc.org/mythbusters/2005/11/episode_43_seasickness_cures_f.html

Note that they didn't try the Valium idea.

I swear by Ginger.

"I swear by Ginger."

Completely, terribly, hilariously off-topic.

God is dog spelled backwards.

I know of people who suffer from Appearance Deficit Disorder.

I take alcohol for that.

Carefully, of course. No need to risk finding such a person attractive!

Amy, 5th try, it keeps telling me to answer the challenge question even though I have:

Claritin D has pseudoephedrine in it. It's kept behind the counter at the pharmacy.

You can also get a behind-the-ear patch prescribed by a Dr that works great for my motion sickness. If you leave it on for 4 or 5 days though it might make your vision blurry.

If pseudoephedrine works for your sickness, it's probably an inner-ear sinus type issue. Which doesn't mean anything, except that treating for sinus will help with the motion sickness.

Valium IS lorazepam. It goes by many different names. Just like Vicodin, loratab, etc are all hydrocodone/apap combinations. Drugs.com is your friend.

I take an SSRI, low dose, daily. So does DH. We wouldn't die without them, but life would be worse. I've also gotten so sick of the "oh no, someone might abuse this, let's make it impossible for anyone to get it" hysteria that I've come over to the full-legalization of all drugs side. I get more Libertarian every day....

NOTE FROM AMY: This apparently has a number of spam-banned words in it. When a comment won't publish, please email me ASAP and I'll retrieve it. I'm going to retrieve and delete the duplicates now. Sorry about this!

OK, figured out the issue, Iw as using too many flagged drug names:

V*lium IS loraz*pam. It goes by many names, just like v*codin, lorat*b, etc are all hydrocod*ne/apap mixtures.

I wouldn't die without drugs but I would have quality of life issues. I have terrible allergies (to most of mother nature) and while no one is going to take away my flonase anytime soon, I get that burst of libertarian rage every time I have to submit extensive personal information to buy sudafed. I'm also hypothyroid so synthroid is a quality of life-improver too.

"I don't usually agree with Isab, but he/she has a point (sorry, I don't know the gender). The only way to know if someone would die without their medicine is to have a monozygotic twin not on the same medications and see how they do."

Yes, part of the problem is that some of experiments that would more definitely answer the question cannot be done for ethical reasons. If, for example, you develop a potentially life-saving drug for treating stage 4 cancer, you can't just administer a placebo to half of the patients to see how many of them die.

Cousin Dave, they actually DO that in studies all the time. A double blind study us the best way of determining efficacy. You sign up for the study, maybe you get meds, maybe you get a placebo.

Seldane was my miracle drug - the closest I've come to knowing what it's like to go through life without being allergic to every pollen and dander.

It was taken off the market in the 1990s supposedly because when combined with a particular antibiotic it could result in heart palpitations.

There is no combination of antihistamines or other allergy combating remedies that comes close to the entire relief and no side effects I got to enjoy on Seldane.