Deprescribing: How to Safely Reduce Unnecessary Medications

When you take too many pills, it’s not always helping—it might be hurting. Deprescribing, the planned process of reducing or stopping medications that are no longer needed or may be causing harm. Also known as medication reduction, it’s not about quitting drugs cold turkey. It’s about working with your doctor to untangle a web of prescriptions that may have piled up over years—some still useful, many no longer needed. This isn’t just for older adults. Anyone on five or more medications—called polypharmacy, the use of multiple medications at the same time, often leading to increased risk of side effects and interactions—should ask if every pill still has a purpose.

Think about it: you start one drug for high blood pressure, then another for acid reflux, then a sleep aid, then a painkiller, then a supplement your friend swore by. Each one makes sense alone. Together? They can cause dizziness, falls, kidney stress, or even confusion. Studies show that nearly 1 in 3 seniors takes at least one drug that could be safely stopped. And it’s not just age—chronic conditions, multiple doctors, and lack of coordination mean many people keep taking pills long after they’ve outlived their benefit. Drug interactions, when two or more medications affect each other’s action in the body, often increasing side effects or reducing effectiveness are one of the top reasons deprescribing saves lives. For example, stopping a sedative that’s making you drowsy might eliminate the need for a fall-prevention device. Stopping an old antibiotic you’ve been taking "just in case" could prevent yeast infections or gut damage.

Deprescribing isn’t a one-time event. It’s a conversation. Your doctor doesn’t need to guess what you’re taking—you need to bring a full list, including supplements and over-the-counter meds. They’ll look at your health goals, your risks, and your daily life. Maybe you’re not walking much anymore, so that bone drug isn’t helping. Maybe your stomach issues cleared up, but you’re still taking the acid reducer and getting headaches from it. The goal isn’t to cut pills for the sake of cutting them—it’s to simplify your routine, reduce side effects, and get back your energy. And it works. People who’ve gone through deprescribing report better sleep, fewer falls, clearer thinking, and less stomach upset.

Below, you’ll find real-world guides on how to spot when a drug might be doing more harm than good, how to talk to your provider without sounding skeptical, and how to handle situations where stopping one med affects another—like how stopping a PPI can change how your heart drug works, or how magnesium can block bone meds if timing’s off. These aren’t theoretical ideas. They’re lessons from patients who’ve been there, pharmacists who’ve seen the mistakes, and doctors who’ve learned the hard way that more pills don’t always mean better health. You don’t need to be a medical expert to ask the right questions. You just need to know what to look for—and you’re already on the right track.