Researchers have found that many patients stop taking their prescription medications far sooner than they should.

Patients who stop taking their prescription medications without clearing it with their physician first can be doing a very dangerous thing.  Cardiologist Dr. David Bailey explains that there's a reason doctors prescribe those medications -- take for instance why he prescribes Plavix for his stent patients.  "To keep the stents open, to stop blood clots in the heart.  If they stop those medications, they're at risk of the whole stent closing up.  In certain instances if you don't take the medication you can die."

Dr. Bailey says that is one study found that it took just one month for 1 out of 8 heart attack patients to quit taking the lifesaving drugs that were prescribed to them after leaving the hospital.  "It is a big deal to be compliant with medication.  So, stopping them is a real, real problem."

Nephrologist Joel Van Sickler says that it's not just heart medications, it's important to finish your full prescription.  No matter what drug you're on and especially if you're diabetic. "Fifty percent of the patients that are sitting in the dialysis chairs are there because of poorly controlled hypertension and poorly controlled diabetes."

That's a good reminder to keep your condition controlled by the medications you're being prescribed.

Even if you're experiencing side effects, don't just stop taking them; always discuss it with your physician.

The study also found that heart patients who stopped taking three proven drugs- aspirin, beta blockers and statins, were three times more likely to die during the next year than patients who stayed on the pills.