Too much medication could cause problems - Atlanta News, Weather, Traffic, and Sports | FOX 5

You take a pill for your heart, and another for your allergies. You take one more to sleep. It may not sound like much, but that combination of prescriptions, over-the-counter medications, supplements and vitamins, can cause problems you might not expect.

Medication can relieve symptoms and prevent problems. It can be a lifesaver for some people. But the more drugs you are on, the higher your risk of side effects and dangerous drug interactions. One expert says we really need to take a hard look at the drugs we're taking.

How many pills do you take each day? If the answer is more than a handful, Griffin Consulting Pharmacist Armon Neel, author of the book, "Are Your Prescriptions Killing You?" says you may be taking too much.

"If you're on four or five drugs, then the sixth is treating something those 4 or 5 are doing. Not the disease," said Neel.

Neel works with patients, many of them seniors, trying to cut back on the number of medications they're taking. He says, often the drugs can cause more problems than they solve.
     
For example, he says if you're having new side effects or issues you didn't have before you started taking a drug, that's a red flag.

"These things might not happen the next day, either, sometimes these things might have to take the drug for a year before you start developing side effects from it," advised Neel.

There are other warning signs, too. You have multiple prescriptions from different doctors, and at different pharmacies. Another red flag is if you find yourself taking more than the recommended dose for longer than you should.

Neel says watch the over-the-counter medications, too, especially those that contain acetaminophen and ibuprofen in large amounts. They can cause liver damage.

"So many people think, ‘Well, if you can buy it without a prescription, it's not going to hurt you,'" said Neel.

Neel says people need to remember over-the-counter drugs and supplements are drugs. They can cause side effects and drug interactions. So, if you tally up what you're taking, count them. He's consulted with many seniors, and he says they're usually taking anywhere from 12 to 20 medications.