My generation'which is to say, the pillbox generation'came of age during the 1990s. The number of adults who were taking five or more prescription drugs doubled in that decade; the use of medications for depression and cholesterol more than tripled. If pills had once been used from time to time to curb a headache or stifle an infection, now they were a daily ritual for tens of millions of Americans. Popping meds, whether by catapult or tweezers, became the norm. For the past five years, the nation's shots have multiplied to levels never seen before. Injected medications were once unusual, and mostly limited to diabetics who needed insulin. Now millions of diabetics use syringes of Ozempic, and millions of other people are on Mounjaro for weight loss. In 2025, some 12 percent of all U.S. adults partook of these injections or others in their class. GLP-1 shots were so commonplace last year that they accounted for about 7 percent of all prescriptions in America. Even this is just the...
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