[Hadassah On Call] Medication Overload

A pill for hypertension. A pill for cholesterol. A pill for anxiety. And so on and so on.

It adds up.

And when it does, it’s called polypharmacy — taking more than five medications.

Dr. Yosef Caraco, director of the Clinical Pharmacology Unit at Hadassah Hospital Ein Kerem, tells us that the average elderly patient in his department takes about eight medications.

With the rising population of elderly patients and the need for specialized treatments, Dr. Caraco says that lifestyle modification is preferred over overmedication.

“In general, my belief is if you can treat a symptom or a disease without medication, it’s much better.”

But what happens when medication is still necessary?

Tune into Medication Overload to learn more about optimized therapy and medication reviews, drug interactions, patient-doctor communication and more.