I was sad to read about the fact that earlier in the year the lovely Ronnie Corbett had been diagnosed with depression, after having been ill over Christmas.  Apparently he had had a knee operation before Christmas, and then collapsed in a restaurant due to low blood pressure.  This had the effect of making him feel quite anxious and fragile, so his GP sent him to a psychiatrist at the Priory in London.  It was actually found that the medication that he was on was causing him these symptoms, and happily the psychiatrist found little that was wrong with Ronnie that couldn’t be sorted out by an adjustment of his medication and some rest.

Very often I see people who are on a whole cocktail of different drugs, and whilst I acknowledge the fact that some of these may be absolutely necessary for certain conditions and in fact keeping the person alive, I do feel that in some cases GPs have a tendency to dish out drugs when they are not really needed.  My brother works as an ENT specialist, and he could not understand why he was having more and more people (particularly the elderly) presenting with nose bleeds.  He then realised it was because many of them were being prescribed aspirin and/or warfarin and so there was an increased tendency to bleed more easily.

There have been wonderful advances in drug therapy, particularly when it comes to life-threatening illnesses like cancer or indeed devastating life-limiting conditions such as alzheimers.  It is evident that research and funding into these types of drugs should be encouraged, and the drugs themselves should be readily available to those who need them, but I do wonder about the wisdom of GPs doling out drugs, when maybe (given further examination and advice on the patient’s lifestyle, diet and circumstances) they are not strictly necessary.

It is rare that I have a client who is taking no medication at all, and some are taking drugs to counteract the side effects of the other drugs they are taking.  Surely, this is a ridiculous situation?

You may have particular views on this issue – I would very much welcome your comments.  Please do email me on wendy@wendychalk.co.uk.

Best wishes,
Wendy