Six Reasons Why Patients Stop Taking Medicines
Several patients stop taking life saving medicines within a month of having a heart attack, says a study published in Archives of Internal Medicine. This study did not examine why people stop taking medicines. As for why people stop taking medicines, here is what my sources tell me.
1. Most of the medicines are very expensive. Health is precious, but there are situations where our bills take precedence over health.
2. People look to conventional (allopathic) medicine for acute problems. But they do not seem to have as much trust in allopathic medicine for health maintenance or chronic conditions.
3. We are unable to give concrete reasons for taking the medicines that we prescribe. Many proponents of natural products are able to make a stronger case for their products. It is not uncommon to see patients using their limited dollars to buy natural medicines instead of allopathic medicines.
4. There are several patients who take up a vigorous and healthy life style after a medical event like heart attack. They work very hard on leaving a feeling of vulnerability behind. Taking a fist-full of medicines is a daily reminder that they are still very sick. Ignoring to take medicines is a declaration that they are not sick any more.
5. Side effects are an important reason for stopping medicines. The side effects like “not feeling well”, “feeling fatigued”, “feeling nauseous” may have a completely different significance for the person experiencing them as compared to the prescriber
6. And last but not the least, patients have a life too. They can forget taking medicines just because…
Munch on this while I work on the steps to prevent patients from stopping medicines.
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1. Most of the medicines are very expensive. Health is precious, but there are situations where our bills take precedence over health.
2. People look to conventional (allopathic) medicine for acute problems. But they do not seem to have as much trust in allopathic medicine for health maintenance or chronic conditions.
3. We are unable to give concrete reasons for taking the medicines that we prescribe. Many proponents of natural products are able to make a stronger case for their products. It is not uncommon to see patients using their limited dollars to buy natural medicines instead of allopathic medicines.
4. There are several patients who take up a vigorous and healthy life style after a medical event like heart attack. They work very hard on leaving a feeling of vulnerability behind. Taking a fist-full of medicines is a daily reminder that they are still very sick. Ignoring to take medicines is a declaration that they are not sick any more.
5. Side effects are an important reason for stopping medicines. The side effects like “not feeling well”, “feeling fatigued”, “feeling nauseous” may have a completely different significance for the person experiencing them as compared to the prescriber
6. And last but not the least, patients have a life too. They can forget taking medicines just because…
Munch on this while I work on the steps to prevent patients from stopping medicines.
Home page
posted by kc at 4:53 PM
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