The excessive and inappropriate use of medications, resulting in duplicate prescriptions and adverse drug interactions. Polypharmacy is often a result of lack of coordination among health-care providers.
prescription of multiple drugs to an excessive degree (this term is generally used in a negative tone) usually because the first medication is not optimized; may cause side-effects of its own that could be mistaken for a disorder or disease, leading to further over-medication
combinations of medicinal plants, formulated to gain synergistic effects.
The concurrent use of multiple medications by one patient.
The term polypharmacy generally refers to the use of multiple medications by a patient. The term is used when too many forms of medication are used by a patient, more drugs are prescribed than clinically warranted,Fulton MM, Allen ER. Polypharmacy in the elderly: a literature review.