Documentary: The Doctor Who Gave Up Drugs

Last night I watched a documentary on BBC iPlayer about a doctor, Chris Van Tulken, who sets up an experiment to attempt to stop giving patients prescriptions. I started to become really engaged with the psychology behind the patients attitude towards taking prescription drugs and pain killers at a level that they were unaware was extremely dangerous.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b07w532p/the-doctor-who-gave-up-drugs-episode-1

One of the most important issues raised in this documentary was the scare of antibiotic resistance beginning to become a serious problem in the medical industry. This is a really terrifying concept that isn't currently a main news item (partly because nothing terrible has yet happened in terms of antibiotics becoming resistant) but something that urgently needs to be addressed to the public.

Then a little lightbulb lit up in my head saying, 'could I use this as a research question?!' Possibly! I'm not going to make any brash decisions yet but it's something I feel I can really sink my teeth into as I find it so interesting.

Facts I found out:

• The NHS hands out 1 billion prescriptions per year
• 1 in 5 people in Blackpool take antidepressants
• In a lifetime, a healthy person could take up to 100,000 pills
• Half of the NHS budget is spent on GP surgeries
• Overuse of medicine is one of the most serious health issues
• Prescriptions for pain killers have cone up by 50% in the last decade
• No.1 cause of liver injury is paracetamol
• Antibiotic resistance- vital for treating and preventing bacterial infections-we have used them so much that they have evolved to become resistant
• Superbugs will kill 10 million people by 2050
• 9/10 GP's feel pressurised to prescribe antibiotics
• 5 million people in the UK take antidepressants

Patient Case Studies

Sarah

• Age 24
• Single mother to a 1 year old
• Lost brother and father to suicide
• Suffers with anxiety and depression
• Has been taking antidepressants for 8 years
• Home environment, complete unorganised mess e.g. empty drinks bottles laying around, late brothers stuff shoved into one room unsorted
• Enjoyed swimming in her youth
• Experiment:Wild swimming; freezing cold water sends the body into shock, then releases endorphins creating sensations of euphoria
• Sarah used these swims as an alternative therapy. Exercise, and cold water shocks are natural antidepressants. Practiced twice a week she was able to take control of her mental wellbeing and slowly ween off the antidepressants.

Wendy

• Fifties
• Chronic shoulder pain for 20 years
• Been taking dangerous amounts of strong pain medication for 20 years
• Not been committed to physiotherapy practice
• Experiment: Placebo pain chart; recording when she has pain, medication she takes and whether it if effective or not.
• Result: The pain relief was often psychological
• Wendy then committed to practicing her physiotherapy exercises and stopped taking painkillers with such a carefree attitude.

Ideas?

• Study further into prescription drug addiction
• Think about visual methods to educate the public about this issue
• Look more into alternative therapies rather than pharmaceutical prescriptions