Doctors say not taking meds can often be the best ‘treatment’ of all

You know how all those drug ads always end up by advising you to “ask your doctor” if a certain drug is “right for you”?

Well, how about doing the opposite? That is, asking your doctor if you would be better off taking nothing at all?

Not one single pill. Nada.

Actually, there’s a name for that. It’s called “clinical inertia.”

Now, the standard definition of that is when a doctor doesn’t start or “intensify therapy when indicated.”

But a commentary in JAMA offered another perspective. It called clinical inertia “a safeguard” for the heavy-handed “drug-intensive” style of medicine.

Imagine that! A major medical journal even suggesting saying ‘no’ to drugs. And that doing nothing in some instances might be an actual “safeguard” against using them to treat a problem.

It even offers some examples of why this might be a better approach.

For example, the “aggressive lowering of blood glucose levels” has “minor benefits” in preventing heart attacks for those with type 2 diabetes. And it does nothing to prevent stroke, death from heart disease, blindness or renal failure.

And in a clinical trial, the death rate from all causes was actually 22 percent higher in a group given intensive therapy than in one taking the standard kind.

In another trial, getting systolic blood pressure below 130 in patients with diabetes and heart disease was associated with a 15 to 20 percent higher risk of death from all causes compared with those whose pressure was under 140.

In other words, getting treatment in many instances could make you a lot more likely to die early.

So if you’re currently on a number of pharmaceuticals, what’s the best way to get off of some, or all of them?

Public Citizen suggests you have a “brown bag” appointment with your doctor.

Bring him every drug you’re currently taking and ask which ones you can eliminate. And the group suggests that you regularly have that talk with your doctor — every three to six months.

And for drugs such as sleeping pills, tranquilizers and antidepressants, they recommend reviewing them even more frequently.

Because no drug, Rx or OTC should ever be taken unless it’s absolutely necessary.

Source:

“Clinical inertia as a clinical safeguard” JAMA, jama.jamanetwork.com