Polypharmacy is an interesting concept but a dangerous practise. Let's just clarify what the term means before considering the dangers.

Polypharmacy describes the situation where a person is prescribed multiple different drugs (or pharmaceutical agents) simultaneously. Ordinarily it is regarded negatively. Generally speaking it is something best avoided.

Taking a single medicine can actually introduce more than one chemical into the body, as some medications contain more than one. Of course, taking just one drug that contains just one chemical is a risk in itself and wise prescribers are well aware of this and make a careful risk versus benefit assessment before authorizing any prescription.

Wise prescribers however, are becoming rarer every day it seems. Far too many people find themselves prescibed one drug on top of another until they are consuming several together.

This polypharmacy is simply madness because there is no way any prescriber can know the nature, extent or likely outcomes of taking what amounts to a chemical soup. How the chemicals will interact and what effects the new chemical mixture will have are not known.

Well, that's not entirely true actually. The fact is many drug interactions are well documented and an astute prescriber will either be aware of them or will consult the documentation before prescribing a dangerous combination.

But what if your prescriber is not so astute? Or perhaps this prescriber is too busy or distracted or can't access the documentation or for some other reason simply doesn't consider or become aware of the interaction possibility. Perhaps the prescriber is never made aware of some existing medication. In such cases you may simply be out of luck.

So far we have only considered prescribed drugs. The fact is an enormous quantity of non-prescription pharmaceuticals are also taken regularly, or from time to time, by many people. These may never be reported to the prescriber but they certainly add extra chemicals into the mix.

It is important to remember that when new drugs are being trialed before approval for regular marketing and use, they are not tested invitro (in the laboratory) or invivo (in people) for every possible combination with other drugs. That would simply be impossible.

As a consequence, it is accepted that interactions will arise and when they are recognized, or are suspected, they are reported so they can be added to the documentation I mentioned above. That system has been in use for many years.

Any intelligent person can see that it is a pretty frightening system. It is surely unusual to find a "safety system" with danger so securely built in! Effectively, everyone taking medication is part of an ongoing experiment in which they may be part of "acceptable losses". Do you not think this is dangerous? Of course it is.

In practice I have encountered a great many people who present quite unwell, chronically or acutely and sometimes quite seriously, whose real problem is the polypharmacy they are taking. On suspension of all medication they usually make a marked and sometime quite rapid improvement.

It is important to be aware of the possibility of some form of interaction whenever you are taking any medication. Even if only taking one prescribed drug, you may also occasionally also take a non-prescribed medication.

All medicines, including alternatives to pharmaceuticals, need to be considered. The Herb Health Guide lists several Herb Safety Guidelines, for instance, including some known herb - drug interactions.

Ultimately you are responsible for your own wellbeing. Try to keep the dangers of polypharmacy in mind so you can avoid the risk. If you are prescribed more than one drug to be taken together, talk it over with your prescriber, who should be only too willing to discuss your concerns.