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Too many people take too many pills

economist.com

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Re: Too many people take too many pills

#71

Post by escapedmoose »

aschearer wrote: post #8

People want pills or miracle diets. People don't want lifestyle changes. They're busy, stressed, strapped for cash, and anyway they like the standard American diet. Collectively, we could shape our environment so healthy decisions are easier and unhealthy choices are harder, but we can't even agree to tax sugar. So we won't make policy changes anytime soon, and individually many of us will fail to make healthier choi…

I used this same reply elsewhere, but it’s relevant here as well:

Diet/sleep/exercise/sunlight are always the first step, and if you don’t at least get those, you’ll be hard-pressed to feel decent no matter what else you do, regardless of whether you have other medication-dependent conditions.

That said, there are way too many people out there who have no experience with conditions which require medication, who seem to think that those things are a substitute for medication rather than a baseline that must be kept up alongside medication.

I’m no psychologist, but I tend to assume that a driver to thinking this way might be the sense of safety that comes with self-righteousness. Similar to victim-blaming in crimes, where people pick at the personal faults of crime victims (however slight) in order to reassure themselves that a similar thing couldn’t happen to them. Imo it’s a coping mechanism for a world where long-term suffering can be brought on totally at random.

Re: Too many people take too many pills

#72

Post by dismantlethesun »

omginternets wrote: post #47
asdfman123 wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As a doctor it's your job to give your patient something that will treat them. You can't tell someone "if you exercise an hour a day, your problem will go away" because at least 9/10 people won't do it.

If they don’t take the pills, are you also supposed not to prescribe them? Patients refuse treatment all the time. I’m not so sure it ought to be a doctor’s job to cater to the patient’s every whim.

Actually yes. If the patient refuses treatment you do not give them a prescription they is useless but rather tell them of an alternative if one exists. If none exists then tell them that.

In the end, it’s the patients right to have the treatment they want and can afford so long as it’s efficacious.

Re: Too many people take too many pills

#73

Post by escapedmoose »

0zemp2c wrote: post #63
asdfman123 wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’ll tell you what your doctor might not be telling you: - 30 minutes of cardio, 3x a week is a bare minimum. The more cardio the better, so consider endurance sports. - Resistance training is necessary too, and can be done at home with no equipment - Get at least 10 minutes of sunlight right after you get up or right after the sun comes rises, even if it’s cloudy, if possible - Don’t drink more than 2 drinks in a da…

I don't think 30 mins, 3 times a week of exercise is remotely close only stretching back a few decades, my grandfather was working his own land as a subsistence farmer without much "automation"...probably doing the equivalent of three hours of CrossFit a day, basically every day. looking back at pics of him now...he was strapped, even in his late 70s (what was also known as "normal"). my genetics probably come from h…

I don’t have the energy to refute these claims one by one, but I would recommend you do some more research into the lifestyles and health conditions of previous generations.

Glad you’ve found something that works for you though

Re: Too many people take too many pills

#74

Post by escapedmoose »

inglor_cz wrote: post #68
eli_gottlieb wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm being real. Lots of people work 10-12 hours a day. How are they supposed to shop and cook for only fresh and healthy food, as well as do 30 minutes of rigorous cardio per day, in the remaining four hours a day when they're not asleep? What if they have family obligations?

In the developing world, where highly processed food is usually too expensive for a normal family to live on, people cook regularly. Like, every day. How come? They certainly don't work any fewer hours than Westerners do.

Often those tasks are left for their children who are forced to cut their education short to care for the family.

Re: Too many people take too many pills

#75

Post by amanaplanacanal »

dantheman wrote: post #36
aschearer wrote: post #8

People want pills or miracle diets. People don't want lifestyle changes. They're busy, stressed, strapped for cash, and anyway they like the standard American diet. Collectively, we could shape our environment so healthy decisions are easier and unhealthy choices are harder, but we can't even agree to tax sugar. So we won't make policy changes anytime soon, and individually many of us will fail to make healthier choi…

Sugar is taxed, it's why we have hi-fructose corn-syrup.

Sugar is taxed only in a few localities, but is subsidized federally.

Re: Too many people take too many pills

#76

Post by amanaplanacanal »

omginternets wrote: post #49
asdfman123 wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’ll tell you what your doctor might not be telling you: - 30 minutes of cardio, 3x a week is a bare minimum. The more cardio the better, so consider endurance sports. - Resistance training is necessary too, and can be done at home with no equipment - Get at least 10 minutes of sunlight right after you get up or right after the sun comes rises, even if it’s cloudy, if possible - Don’t drink more than 2 drinks in a da…

> The more cardio the better, so consider endurance sports. The research vehemently disagrees with you, especially if you’re a woman.

I’ve never heard anyone claim that less exercise is better. Can you point to the research that “vehemently disagrees”?

Re: Too many people take too many pills

#77

Post by amanaplanacanal »

inglor_cz wrote: post #68
eli_gottlieb wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm being real. Lots of people work 10-12 hours a day. How are they supposed to shop and cook for only fresh and healthy food, as well as do 30 minutes of rigorous cardio per day, in the remaining four hours a day when they're not asleep? What if they have family obligations?

In the developing world, where highly processed food is usually too expensive for a normal family to live on, people cook regularly. Like, every day. How come? They certainly don't work any fewer hours than Westerners do.

I bet most families have an unemployed adult that cooks. Grandma or older child or some such.

Re: Too many people take too many pills

#78

Post by eastof »

Moissanite wrote: post #45
asdfman123 wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’ll tell you what your doctor might not be telling you: - 30 minutes of cardio, 3x a week is a bare minimum. The more cardio the better, so consider endurance sports. - Resistance training is necessary too, and can be done at home with no equipment - Get at least 10 minutes of sunlight right after you get up or right after the sun comes rises, even if it’s cloudy, if possible - Don’t drink more than 2 drinks in a da…

> Don’t drink more than 2 drinks in a day Just to clarify, because this one tripped me up: you specifically mean alcohol, right?

In american english "drinks" is a common colloquialism for alcoholic drinks. You should definitely drink more water than that with your cardio haha.

Re: Too many people take too many pills

#79

Post by Zircom »

doodlesdev wrote: post #60
birdyrooster wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Who are you to say that spending your millions is foolish this way or that way? We all end up as dirt. Why not live eccentrically and take risks? It makes for a good story which you have conveniently cast as horrible. I bet that story is plenty interesting and worthwhile as is yours.

You clearly never met anyone with BPD.

When you say BPD are you referring to borderline or bipolar? Because borderline is usually treated with therapy as the first-line treatment, while meds are definitely the norm and most effective for bipolar.

OPs description of his friend ruining his life by not taking his meds seems more like bipolar.

Re: Too many people take too many pills

#80

Post by [deleted] »

saltcured wrote: post #56
manuel_w wrote: post #37

Slightly related: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16252372 I noticed that taking pain-killers is a very common thing in american TV shows. The main protagonist (male hero) gets hurt, goes to the bathroom, hastily pours a handful of pills into his hand and pops them into the mouth. Not one, but a hand full of pills, cleary too many. I've seen it so much, I'm starting to wonder if it's a TV trope. I'm wondering if…

I think this can be one of several subvariants. A version of the drug habit/self abuse trope that used to be demonstrated with late nights alone with booze bottles in some depressing living room. A blazing modern signal that the protagonist is hurt but continues anyway, to distinguish him from some impervious Superman or unfeeling Terminator clone. The writers are mildly concerned about the plot discontinuity and rus…

[deleted]
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