So Young and So Many Pills

So Young and So Many Pills

online.wsj.com

These days, the medicine cabinet is truly a family affair. More than a quarter of U.S. kids and teens are taking a medication on a chronic basis, according to Medco Health Solutions Inc., the biggest U.S. pharmacy-benefit manager with around 65 million members. Nearly 7% are on two or more such drugs, based on the company's database figures for 2009.

(visit the link for the full news article)

Now this is a HUGE problem, which needs much more attention than it gets, imho.

And it is not relegated solely to the states, because as we know, the UK is heavily medicated as well.

But this escalation in children being given pharmaceutical meds at early ages to band-aid problems is an alarming statistic. Locally where I am, there was a recent drug sting at a couple of the high schools. What they found, moreso than narcotics were tons of prescription pharmaceuticals such as xanax and anti-depression meds, which several of the kids had been prescribed.

Putting overweight kids at a young age on anti-hypertensive meds, instead of treating the root cause of the problem (obesity) is something that needs changing, big time. These meds are not to be trifled with.

This particular group cites more 1/4 of all kids & teens are taking some sort of pharmaceutical drug, and I would venture to say they are probably pretty accurate. That is something we should all be watching carefully, and if you have children, try to encourage, and assist them in healthy living and exersizing before taking them into a doctor to have them drugged up with meds.

online.wsj.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

Maybe we should put our kids on diets before we put them on hypertension medication. Maybe we should enroll them in sports or karate before we put a rambunctious, energetic kid on ritalin. Maybe we should get them into art or music before we put a dreamy, head-in-the-clouds kid on concerta. Maybe we should ask them if they're being bullied before we put them on anti-depressants. Something to think about, anyway.

One thing noticeable is that every kid walks out of an allergy clinic with a fashionable allergy.
I'm a great believer in modern medicine, but, when medications and behaviors are misplaced, they can actually lead to the original problem (like homeopathy also teaches).
In fact, many people don't know the difference between an allergy and a food intolerance.

I spoke to an old bee farmer the other evening, and he's been terribly sick from bee-stings.
However, he says that he never went to a doctor, and certain bees sting worse than others.
However, his former partner went to hospital, and the medication now made him hyper-allergic.

It's completely sickening. It really is no wonder though, when they're packing artificial crap/aspartame/monosodium glutamate into the types of food that kids love and grow up eating, which causes them all manner of behavioural problems/illnesses/hormone issues/weight issues/mental health problems - there's a pill for all of them!