overmedicating
Too many pills
Overmedicating is giving or taking too much medication—either excessive doses or too many different drugs.
The term often appears in discussions of elderly care, where patients accumulate prescriptions from multiple doctors: The nursing home was overmedicating residents to keep them docile.
It also describes unnecessary pharmaceutical intervention: We're overmedicating children for normal behavior.
Unintended treatment consequences
- adverse reactionsUnwanted responses to treatment
- complicationsDifficulties that emerge unexpectedly
- liver damageHarm to detoxifying organ
- kidney damageInjury to filtration organs
falls · cognitive impairment · iatrogenic · hospitalization · malpractice · overtreatment · superinfection
Substances altering each other's effects
- contraindicationsReasons to avoid treatment
- elderly patientsAged persons under care
- simplificationMaking something less complex
Compulsive substance reliance
- habituationDiminished reaction over time
- withdrawalAct of taking away
- toleranceWillingness to accept difference
- cravingPowerful urge to have
substance abuse · physical dependence · psychological dependence · compulsion · reliance · detoxification · rehabilitation · enabler
Capacity to cause harm
- poisoningHarmful substance exposure
- lethal doseAmount causing death
- cardiac arrestAbrupt cessation of circulation
- comaUnwakeable unconsciousness
unconsciousness · emergency · hospitalization · fatalities · antidote · naloxone · organ failure · activated charcoal
Ongoing observation of something
- informed consentPermission given with understanding
- watchful waitingMonitoring before acting
- conservative treatmentNon-surgical medical management
- second opinionAdditional expert consultation
risk-benefit analysis · patient education · minimally invasive
side effects
Unintended treatment consequences
- adverse reactionsUnwanted responses to treatment
- complicationsDifficulties that emerge unexpectedly
- liver damageHarm to detoxifying organ
kidney damage · falls · cognitive impairment · iatrogenic · hospitalization · malpractice · overtreatment · superinfection
drug interactions
Substances altering each other's effects
- contraindicationsReasons to avoid treatment
- elderly patientsAged persons under care
- simplificationMaking something less complex
addiction
Compulsive substance reliance
- habituationDiminished reaction over time
- withdrawalAct of taking away
- toleranceWillingness to accept difference
craving · substance abuse · physical dependence · psychological dependence · compulsion · reliance · detoxification · rehabilitation · enabler · codependency
toxicity
Capacity to cause harm
- poisoningHarmful substance exposure
- lethal doseAmount causing death
- cardiac arrestAbrupt cessation of circulation
coma · unconsciousness · emergency · hospitalization · fatalities · antidote · naloxone · organ failure · activated charcoal · serotonin syndrome
monitoring
Ongoing observation of something
- informed consentPermission given with understanding
- watchful waitingMonitoring before acting
- conservative treatmentNon-surgical medical management
second opinion · risk-benefit analysis · patient education · minimally invasive
- overdoingoverdoing, overindulging, overkill, excess, overreacting
- harmful copingself-harm, self-injury, self-sabotage, self-destruction, substance abuse
- Psychiatry Critiqueanti-psychiatry, overdiagnosis, involuntary treatment, involuntary commitment, patient rights
overmedicatingwatchful waiting
Monitoring before acting
conservative treatment · holistic treatment · natural healing · talk therapy