Women and Drugs: One Size Does Not Fit All

Imagine going to a store to buy a pair of shoes and discovering the store only carries one size.

"One size fits all" is common in the drug industry, with the same dosage often recommended for everyone. This prescribing mentality is beyond absurd - it's dangerous, even deadly.

Legal - and lethal

Adverse drug reactions (ADRs) are a significant, often overlooked cause of death and debility. I'm not talking about illicit drugs or prescription errors but adverse reactions to pharmaceutical drugs taken exactly as prescribed. And that is precisely the problem.

According to Jay S. Cohen, MD, in his excellent and thoroughly researched book, Over Dose: The Case Against the Drug Companies, three-quarters of all ADRs are a consequence of the "usual doses" recommended by drug manufacturers.

Women Beware

Women suffer unduly from this "one size fits all" policy. It's not just because of their smaller body size. Research has shown there are basic biochemical differences in how men and women metabolize drugs and that, in general, women are more sensitive to drug effects than men. In fact, eight of the 10 prescription drugs that were withdrawn from the US market between 1997 and 2001 for safety reasons posed greater health risks for women than for men.

Older women are at particularly heightened risk of ADRs, because seniors simply can't process drugs as efficiently as younger people. Drugs build up to higher concentrations in their bodies and take longer to be eliminated. Yet the pharmaceutical companies don't bother to recommend varying doses based on age and sex for of many drugs based on age or sex. And if they don't recommend them, physicians are unlikely to prescribe the varying doses.

Start Low, Go Slow

The simplest way to avoid prescription drug side-effects is to avoid prescription drugs. For many of the conditions for which conventional physicians readily pull out the prescription pad - high cholesterol, hypertension, arthritis, and depression - a healthy diet, targeted nutritional supplements, and positive lifestyle changes usually do the job. The only side-effect of these natural interventions is a greatly enhanced quality of life.

That said, that prescription drugs are sometimes unavoidable. If you do need to take a drug, you can reduce your risk of side-effects by following one simple rule: Start with the lowest possible dose and, if necessary, increase it gradually. Most side-effects occur with the first dose of a new medication or when the dose is increased, so pay particular attention when starting a new drug or upping a dose. This "start low, go slow" approach minimizes the risk and severity of side-effects.