Britain Becoming Nation of Pill-Poppers as Medication Rates Skyrocket
Thursday, April 01, 2010 by: David Gutierrez, staff writer.

(NaturalNews) Prescription rates in the United Kingdom have been rising rapidly, showing an increasing reliance on pharmaceuticals to treat everything from allergies to obesity, according to a report released by the National Health Service (NHS) Information Center.

The NHS data show that 842.5 million prescriptions were dispensed in the country in 2008, which comes out to 16.4 prescription items per person. This marks a significant (5.8 percent) increase over 2007. When compared with figures from a decade earlier, the rise is even more astonishing: 64.1 percent more prescriptions were filled in 2008 than in 1998.

These figures cannot be explained by rising population. In 2007, 15.6 prescriptions were dispensed per person; in 1998, only 10.5 were.

The largest increases came among allergy-related drugs, including antihistamines and drugs for allergic emergencies or hyposensitization, which increased by 5.1 percent between 2007 and 2008. Prescriptions for obesity drugs increased by 3.7 percent.

Health professionals note that many of the prescriptions being filled are set to automatically renew, so that many patients may be taking drugs long after they are actually needed. A large number are also coming from people over the age of 65, nearly 50 percent of whom are taking five or more drugs at one time.

Mixing medications in this way can lead to a serious risk of dangerous drug interactions.

"Inevitably, people do get put on more drugs when they get older because they suffer from more chronic conditions," said Jonathan Silcock of the University of Leeds. This is often the right thing to do, but the problem is we don't necessarily know how these drugs are going to work in combination. GPs are excellent at prescribing, but they are not always so good at knowing when to stop, and they may not always have the time to conduct a thorough review. "

More than 60 percent of patients surveyed report that they believe they are suffering a drug side effect, but many have not reported it to their doctors.

Sources for this story include: www.timesonline.co.uk.

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Hi Jon

I very very rarely go to the doc, but on the last occasion that I did so he was extremely fast to pull out the 'pill prescription' pad & start writing! I sometimes wonder if they get incentives from...pharma companies?...to do this. He wrote me a script for something that I specifically said I didn't want, but he said 'have it anyway'. Huh.

Yes, elderly people seem to be on a lot of pills. It appears to give them a sense of security; they love to tell you all about the medication they're on, I've found.

Meds for allergies? Yes, I can believe there's much more of this - both allergies & meds. The more our food is grown & produced with the help of chemicals & other crap, the more allergic reactions are appearing. It's a downward spiral.

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Yes Helen, Britian seems to be going the way of America, which, I think, is because big pharma are paying doctors to sell their stuff.
As our food becomes more and more chemicalised, not only food sensitivities but all sorts of other illness become more prevelent.

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Both the food industry and pharmaceutical industry are making big profits at the expense of our health. Health problem emerges from eating processed foods, artificial sweeteners, colourings, additives, fizzy drinks ect. Then when we fall ill we are prescribed the appropriate pharmaceutical medications.
These industry provide a classic example of a vicious circle of weight gain, obesity, heart disease, high blood pressure etc.

Last edited: 4-07-2011 05:15:12 PM

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How pharmaceutical corporations hard-sell to doctors: http://tinyurl.com/3nesdkg

When I started as a healing practitioner, I was determined to have a balanced view of the benefits and problems of the state / corporate medical system. The more clinical experience I have, the more contempt I have for doctors and the industry.

At best, they have no concept of positive health and a very limited theory of disease. At worst, they are pushing totally unnecessary drugs and surgery on people that will cause very serious health consequences.

The attitude of the state / corporate health system, combined with the bombardment of propaganda from other industries promoting an unhealthy lifestyle, tends to promote the idea that we can ignore and abuse our bodies until they go so badly wrong that we can't ignore it any more, then go to the god-like experts and get fixed with a magic pill.

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