Do You Really Need That Pill?: How to Avoid Side Effects, Interactions, and Other Dangers of Overmedication

A silent epidemic is imperiling our health: overmedication. Learn: how to discuss concerns about too many medications with healthcare providers, simple ways to make positive lifestyle changes, and when to consider alternative healing approaches.

Today, one-third of all adults take two or more prescription drugs, and half of all seniors take more than five daily. This book—the first of its kind—tackles the epidemic overuse of prescription drugs.

The first half of the book describes the dangers of taking too many drugs, including drug-drug interactions, medication errors, unintentional overdoses, unnecessary medications, made-up illnesses (“restless leg syndrome”), and side effects that actually mimic a new illness.

The second half discusses the benefits and harms caused by many of the most popular drugs used to treat diseases, such as high blood pressure, diabetes, high cholesterol, acid reflux, depression, and pain. It tells which drugs are really needed and whether or not they cause side effects.

Combining stories of those who have suffered ill effects from taking too many drugs with data from cutting-edge medical findings, Do You Really Need That Pill? helps readers realize they can choose different solutions to their health problems.

Jennifer Jacobs, MD, MPH is a family practice physician specializing in holistic medicine. She is also a clinical assistant professor in epidemiology at the University of Washington School of Public Health and Community Medicine. She has served on the advisory board of the NIH Office of Alternative Medicine, co-founded the special interest group of the American Public Health Association on Complementary and Alternative Health Practices, and served as an advisory board member of the monthly magazine Natural Health.

David L. Katz, MD, MPH, FACPM, FACP, FACLM, earned his BA degree from Dartmouth College; his MD from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine; and his MPH from the Yale University School of Public Health. He is the founding director of Yale University’s Yale-Griffin Prevention Research Center, immediate past president of the American College of Lifestyle Medicine, and founder/president of the True Health Initiative.