Weinstein routinely counsels customers about their drug regimens. Often, by looking carefully at what medicines they're taking and for what conditions, he can suggest better alternatives. Sometimes a newer drug with multiple actions can be substituted for two or more older drugs. Or a medicine that causes a bad side effect can often be exchanged for one that doesn't, so the patient no longer needs another drug to treat the side effect. Weinstein estimates that he can help cut the number of drugs a patient is taking as much as 50 percent of the time.
Therapy changes as time goes on.
But sometimes less is better. Seniors and the Chronically Ill Polypharmacy is more commonly seen in older people, who tend to have more chronic conditions that call for drug treatment. Persons aged 65 and older constitute approximately 13 percent of the U.S. population, but they take about one-third of all prescribed drugs. Nursing home residents typically take more. Statistically, if you take six different drugs, you have an 80 percent chance of at least one drug-drug interaction.