Patients have become accustom to taking one drug or another in an effort to ease a multitude of symptoms. Dr. O’Toole reminds patients who are considering plastic surgery that they must disclose all medications currently being taken. Some medications could lead to increased risks and complications when combined with surgery and the medications prescribed afterwards. Patients who have undergone procedures that include tightening the muscles like abdominoplasty or breast augmentation are typically prescribed muscle relaxants along with narcotic pain medication. following surgery These medications combined are typically adequate for managing post surgical discomfort. However, if patients are actively taking medications that are not designed to be used with the medication prescribed following surgery there can complications. These days it is very unusual for patients to be free from prescription medication on a regular basis. According to The Los Angeles Times, U.S. doctors are too quick to reach for their prescription pads, according to a new report urging them to think more about side effects and non-drug alternatives.
“Instead of the latest and greatest, we want fewer and more time-tested drugs,” said Dr. Gordon Schiff, associate director of the Center for Patient Safety Research and Practice at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, a non-profit organization that studies ways to improve safe practices in healthcare.
“We are really trying to promote a different way of thinking about practicing,” added Schiff, whose report appears in the Archives of Internal Medicine.
Nearly half of all Americans have used at least one prescription drug in the past month, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and experts say overprescribing is rampant.
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