If you walk into my mom’s kitchen, you might be overwhelmed with the amount of pill bottles she has sitting there. They are all legal prescriptions, but there are more than perhaps you would think one person could need. She had a bad back for a long time, and instead of suggesting surgery for her, her doctor just threw more and more pills at her. She just kept getting worse, and the pills never really helped her. Finally we realized what was going on, and sent her to see a different doctor.
The number of pill bottles she has is much less now, thanks to her new doctor. He immediately weaned her off of some of the pills, and gave her three months to get down to just three a day. After she did that, she went in for back surgery. If you look at her stash of pill bottles now, you will notice that she still has more than you would think a person could need, but most of them she no longer takes. She leaves them there as a reminder of what can happen in you have a bad doctor.
The pill bottles were a concern for a long time, and that wasn’t even just about her. My daughter was drawn to them, as if she knew there was something in there that could hurt her. She was really good about never touching them, even though she couldn’t reach them anyway. I had nightmares about her climbing up to get the pill bottles, but she never did. If she ever tried to get into them, no one has said anything to me about it.
When I visit my mom, I do look through her pill bottles to make sure she’s not taking things she no longer needs. The first doctor really messed her up, and even though the specialist got her off many of the pills, I fear her new family doctor may cause her to fall back into the same over medicated trap. So far, everything seems good, and she’s taking the minimum she needs as her back heals. If you have a family member that seems to have more pill bottles than socks, take a good look at what they are taking, why they are taking it, and how long they have been on that particular medication. Not all doctors know what they are doing, and you may find that you have to do something about it.
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