Seek Attention: Even a Prescribed Drug Can Cause Permanent Damage

The National Football League has grown to be the biggest sports league in America, firmly overtaking baseball, basketball, and hockey. Kids everywhere grow up playing the sport, and the Super Bowl is usually the most watched television of the year. Millions of Americans skip church and other activities to watch nearly ten hours of football every Sunday, with three more hours on Monday and some Thursdays.

But the road to massive popularity has been paved with the broken bodies and minds of many of the sport’s best players. First there were concussion lawsuits as the public became more and more aware of the dangers of head trauma. Now former players are suing the league and its teams because the teams, along with the team doctors, pushed the players to take massive amounts of painkillers to stay on the field. These players are suffering the consequences years later, with physical addiction and long-term health consequences as a result of the pills and injections they received.

Stories like this are often found in national headlines, but team doctors are not the only medical professionals who push people to take damaging medications. All over the country, doctors prescribe unnecessary pain pills, leading people to addiction, heart problems, and other medical conditions. These people suffer in silence, because there are no famous names to draw attention to their plight.

If your doctor prescribes you or a loved one a new medication and you are unsure of the necessity of the medication, make sure you:

• Research the medication, including whether or not it is addictive, and whether or not it causes side effects.
• If you are not comfortable with the side effects listed after you have done your research, ask your doctor about alternatives.
• Seek a second opinion if you still are not comfortable and the doctor insists you take the medication anyway.

Unfortunately, many of us take medications for years before we discover the side effects that it already caused, or could be causing. When even NFL players, some of the biggest and strongest men in the world, fall victim to this, it’s simple to see how easy it is for the rest of us to go down that same road.

If you or a loved one has been injured by or become addicted to prescribed medication, never hesitate to contact a lawyer who can help you pay for the treatment you need to overcome these obstacles.