From September, Polish seniors will have free medications. Not all, but only those who are 75 years old, and not all, but those that will go to the list of the Ministry of Health. It seems absurd that prescriptions for them will be written by family doctors and nurses, and specialists such as geriatricians will not be able to do so. Today, every seventh Polish pensioner gives up treatment because the prescribed funds are too expensive. You save yourself with cheaper supplements. As a result, he spends an average of PLN 150 a month on them, twice as much as an average Pole. Retirees consume too much medication, often with dangerous interactions.
Every year we buy and take more and more drugs. According to PharmaExpert data, in 2014 the pharmacy market achieved the best result in history, with revenues of nearly 28,5 billion. And it is estimated that last year we spent at least two billion more on pills, pills and syrups. First aid kits in Polish homes are swelling, among others due to our susceptibility to ubiquitous advertising of drugs (pharmaceutical companies are the second largest advertiser in Poland, after chain stores and supermarkets) and belief in the existence of a perfect medicine that will easily, quickly and painlessly heal our ailments. Which faith has dire consequences.
– On Christmas, my mother “borrowed” my hypertension medicine without my knowledge. She decided that it was better than hers, because a doctor from Warsaw gave it to me – 44-year-old Beata remembers with horror how she drove her mother, pouring through her hands, to the hospital in Bydgoszcz, where her gastric lavage was performed. The doctor said this was not the first patient to try drugs from another family member. There were also those who poisoned themselves by increasing the doses of drugs, because they thought that they were too weak.
The patient knows better
Poles swallow tablets like candy. “Pink for hypertension, the big ones for back pain, and the little long ones when I can’t fall asleep” – such descriptions are often heard in doctor’s offices.
– Patients very often do not remember the names of drugs they buy without a prescription. Apparently, they often use them on an ad hoc basis and do not pay much attention to them, says Grzegorz Juszczyk, MD, PhD, director of the Health Education Office of the LUX MED Group. Among our other sins, he mentions the failure to read the information leaflets attached to the medicines and … reluctance to buy medicines prescribed by a doctor. – Patients sometimes have less confidence in them than in over-the-counter medicines, as they focus on describing rare side effects that result from many drug studies. Which is strange for us, because we believe that the treatment of such a complicated mechanism as the human body is better left to professionals.
According to the research company IMS, in 2014 we bought 680 million packages of over-the-counter drugs. That’s an average of 17 per head. Why do we prefer to be treated with drugs bought on the Internet, discount stores and supermarkets (where they are cheaper than in pharmacies)?
“We believe that over-the-counter drugs are milder and less harmful. We believe that what the doctor prescribes may interfere with our body more deeply. The drug from the gas station seems to be less invasive – explains Dr. Konrad Maj, social psychologist at the SWPS University in Warsaw.
We forget that no drug is completely safe. For example, paracetamol, which Poles swallow, is the main cause of poisoning undertaken for suicide in Great Britain. In Poland, last year inadvertently exceeding the allowable daily dose was the cause of fatal liver and kidney failure in a 63-year-old who did not suffer from any serious diseases.
– Paracetamol in too high doses can seriously damage the liver. And the chronic use of anti-inflammatory drugs containing ibuprofen or acetylsalicylic acid may lead to gastric ulcer disease – warns Juszczyk. – Even vitamins can be overdosed, which may adversely affect the activity of the immune system.
There is no time for disease
– I was dying of the root pain, but I had to come to work. Every quarter of an hour I was lying on the floor next to the desk because I was getting faint – 38-year-old Adam works in an advertising agency. – We laugh that the boss will only accept the dismissal if the tram has his hands cut off. But they too should grow back in a week at most.
There are more bosses like this one of Adam. We go on sick leave less and less, more and more often, instead of getting sick, we fight it by taking pills and drinking syrups. The ones bought without a prescription, because we don’t have time to see a doctor.
– We are still a very busy society. We look at the West with jealousy that people have so much there and we are trying to catch up with various shortages, so we do not want to waste a minute – assesses Konrad Maj. – We don’t have time to get sick, we want to get back on our feet quickly. When we neglect our health, diet or we have too little exercise, we look for pharmaceuticals that will “fix” us in a flash.
According to PharmaExpert data, the highest sales of over-the-counter drugs are those for colds, dermocosmetics, digestive and painkillers. The former are also among the most advertised drugs (according to Nielsen Audience Measurement in 2014, Nurofen, Theraflu and Otrivin are among the top three recalms).
– Patients diagnose themselves, thanks to information from the Internet or advertisements, on the basis of a single symptom. And they reach for a drug that minimizes this symptom. And this is very dangerous, because it is often a harbinger of a serious illness – says Grzegorz Juszczyk. – As a result, for many weeks they take, for example, advertised preparations for the so-called smoker’s cough. Meanwhile, it may be the first symptom of a serious respiratory disease, and its inhibition and suppression delays diagnosis.
Some of the doctors’ ads are downright terrifying. – We can see in the ad that a sudden, severe headache combined with dizziness and visual field disturbances can be relieved with an over-the-counter medication and everything will be great. It will not, because such a symptom should be consulted with a doctor quickly, as it can be a very serious neurological problem.
A pill for old age
Several years ago, we entered the pharmacy with a specific matter to be dealt with. Today we often look there for scouts.
– More and more people visit pharmacies to see what’s new in them. Are there any other supplements, or are there interesting promotions? Until recently, it was a place visited rather due to the obligation to obtain the necessary medicine – says Grzegorz Juszczyk.
Pharmacies are a favorite destination for walks, especially among seniors. According to the TNS research from 2013, the elderly spend on average about PLN 150 a month on drugs, which is twice as much as the average Pole. And although in 2015 13,4 percent. retirees dropped out of treatment because drug prices were too high, according to geriatricians, seniors consume far too much medication, which results in negative drug interactions.
– The story with the hospital has taught us nothing. He still collects drugs and exchanges them with his neighbors – Beata cleans up the medicine cabinet each time she visits her parents. “I take away anything their doctor hasn’t prescribed that is not aspirin, headache remedies, or stomach drops. Recently, I threw away parasite pills and commandeered five packages of vitamin C, which my mother gave my father four times a day, with each meal.
– In talks of older people, treatment is one of the dominant topics, often there is even an auction who has a more serious disease, what doctor he has been with and what medications he takes. There is nothing strange in this, because seniors get sick more, but it is a pity that they rarely mention topics such as a healthy diet or physical activity – says psychologist Konrad Maj. – Perhaps because we still believe that grandfather and grandmother should only rest in the armchair, and the improvement of their health can only be achieved through pharmacology, and not, for example, by going to the swimming pool or running.
When you are 70, it is easier to take a pill, which the nice lady on the TV said would cure the burning in the esophagus, than to give up your favorite fried liver.
– Changing eating and living habits is a big effort. It is very difficult for older people to implement such changes, absorbing a tablet of a certain color is easier than remodeling life – adds Konrad Maj. But not only seniors are looking for salvation in pharmacology, especially in the widely advertised one.
– In the culture of the Far East, a lot is said about the balance of body and spirit, the role of meditation and inner peace, and natural medicine is cultivated. The West, in turn, strongly emphasizes the role of positive thinking and physical activity, explains Konrad Maj. – We do not have a model that would be an alternative to drug injection. Health prophylaxis, understood as physical activity or a healthy diet, still fails. Fortunately, this is slowly changing, also among seniors who, for example, approved Nordic walking as a sport “acceptable” at their age.
Perhaps the situation could be improved by a campaign to make Poles aware that medicines are not candies and that literally all of them have some side effects for the body.
– A warning strip could be introduced on the packaging of over-the-counter drugs, such as on cigarette boxes – Grzegorz Juszczyk dreams. – That, for example, painkillers can be taken 2-3 days without consulting a doctor, decongestants and nasal mucosa preparations for 5 days. This is information from the leaflets, but their patients usually do not read. The point is not to run to the doctor immediately with every headache, but if the pain returns and occurs quite often, a visit to the doctor will help more than constantly taking painkillers.