Now I will be the first to admit I am not a big fan of prescription medicines.
Sure at times they are necessary. But every time you get a prescription during your latest visit to the doctor, chances are you've just increased your risk of possible side effects. The amount of people who in the double-digit millions that live through unexplained maladies every single day, so many often never really knowing why they seem to feel so lousy. Test after test and visit after visit to their doctor always seems to reveal no clues to any kind of problem. And yet, the medical society itself has actually gave this a "Pet Name". What do they call it? The drug cascade.
The Drug Cascade: What Is It?
Prescription drugs can not always be relied on to correct some of the common concerns for every possible condition in all individuals. Each medication is a collection of different compounds, many often man-made. Many of these can lead to different symptoms in different patients. Why, you may ask?
The biggest reason for this inconsistency; not every patient is taking the same combination of drugs.
Trial and error therefore becomes the biggest deciding factor for many groups of medications and different therapy regimens. A doctor often doesn't even know whether it can produce the desired outcome without an entire list of serious side effects.
Often, when some kind of unusual circumstance does arise, your doctor will prescribe another medication to attack the new side effects. This ever-growing cascade of drugs being used to offset another drug ends up having many patients taking up to 5 or more prescribed medications just to reduce the effects of another. Although side effects can be minimal for some people in certain situations, current statistics by the federal Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality is estimating approximating 2 million times per year, in hospitals alone, a patient can be impacted by a negative drug side effect. To date, in the United States alone, accidental fatalities due to drug reactions is considered the fourth leading cause of death, following behind heart disease, cancer and stroke.
You must realize though, that figure is just a small blip on the radar screen considering it does not factor in the millions and millions of people who every day plan a visit to their personal physician with a list of unusual symptoms which may, or may not, end up being diagnosed as a medication side effect.
How To Reduce Your Risk
Every patient must learn to speak up and become your own doctor. Most appointments last for just a few minutes. A doctor can not always decide in those few minutes of conversation an exact and correct diagnosis. If you are questioning some unusual symptoms after adding a new medication, take these observations to your doctor and ask for your own peace of mind.
To help insure your possible future health and to prevent major complications, incorporate these into your next visit to the doctor or pharmacy.
Report the problem and your observations to the doctor.Give a detailed description, the time it started, length of time it lasts and anything else that was pertinent which you observed.
Prepare a list of all of your medications, supplements, herbs or homeopathic drugs and cross-check this information with either your doctor or a pharmacist. In many areas now and with some insurance companies, you can actually contact them and they have consulting firms that will check this information for you.
Remember though, this list must be all-inconclusive. Even those eyedrops, vitamins and supplements, cough or cold tablets, creams and rubs; each of these are a natural or chemically-derived compound. Therefore every one of them must be on your list.
Ask your doctor if he can recommend any lifestyle changes first before you accept another prescription. If he/she doesn't know, get a second opinion somewhere else.
Ask for a prescription for an older drug. Many of these have been around for a long time so they have already stood the test of safety and effectiveness. Many new medications, the reason for all the recalls, situations arise after the drugs approval and complications are found which weren't explored before release to the market.
Never stop a prescribed drug though without first talking to your doctor. Some drugs can actually be harmful to your health with complete withdrawal.
In recent years, especially the organizations, pharmacists and physicians which work closely with the elderly, they realize new side effects are probably a reaction and so this is their first priority. Trying to prove otherwise is the first line of defense before another new prescription is added to the patient's current regimen.
So, before you accept that latest new prescription from your physician, use a little brain-power, open your mouth and ask questions. Let your physician know that one more drug is not necessarily your first choice for a new line of treatment. If you aren't satisfied with the response you get, it's time to get up and politely mention you would prefer to check if you have any other options as your first line of defense.
Myself, as I initially stated, my first move is to leave conventional medicine and check with an alternative practitioner. Holistic medicine has been very successful for me, often without the use of prescription medicines.
Yes, with alternative therapies, you are the master controller of your therapy. They do not believe in pharmaceuticals as the first line of defense in many situations unless emergency care is warranted. But an ultimate cure, over just a masking of symptoms which is common in conventional medicine, is worth its weight in gold to me. If I can cure the condition, I never have to worry about it again, hypothetically speaking.
.
.
Sure at times they are necessary. But every time you get a prescription during your latest visit to the doctor, chances are you've just increased your risk of possible side effects. The amount of people who in the double-digit millions that live through unexplained maladies every single day, so many often never really knowing why they seem to feel so lousy. Test after test and visit after visit to their doctor always seems to reveal no clues to any kind of problem. And yet, the medical society itself has actually gave this a "Pet Name". What do they call it? The drug cascade.
The Drug Cascade: What Is It?
Prescription drugs can not always be relied on to correct some of the common concerns for every possible condition in all individuals. Each medication is a collection of different compounds, many often man-made. Many of these can lead to different symptoms in different patients. Why, you may ask?
The biggest reason for this inconsistency; not every patient is taking the same combination of drugs.
Trial and error therefore becomes the biggest deciding factor for many groups of medications and different therapy regimens. A doctor often doesn't even know whether it can produce the desired outcome without an entire list of serious side effects.
Often, when some kind of unusual circumstance does arise, your doctor will prescribe another medication to attack the new side effects. This ever-growing cascade of drugs being used to offset another drug ends up having many patients taking up to 5 or more prescribed medications just to reduce the effects of another. Although side effects can be minimal for some people in certain situations, current statistics by the federal Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality is estimating approximating 2 million times per year, in hospitals alone, a patient can be impacted by a negative drug side effect. To date, in the United States alone, accidental fatalities due to drug reactions is considered the fourth leading cause of death, following behind heart disease, cancer and stroke.
You must realize though, that figure is just a small blip on the radar screen considering it does not factor in the millions and millions of people who every day plan a visit to their personal physician with a list of unusual symptoms which may, or may not, end up being diagnosed as a medication side effect.
How To Reduce Your Risk
Every patient must learn to speak up and become your own doctor. Most appointments last for just a few minutes. A doctor can not always decide in those few minutes of conversation an exact and correct diagnosis. If you are questioning some unusual symptoms after adding a new medication, take these observations to your doctor and ask for your own peace of mind.
To help insure your possible future health and to prevent major complications, incorporate these into your next visit to the doctor or pharmacy.
Report the problem and your observations to the doctor.Give a detailed description, the time it started, length of time it lasts and anything else that was pertinent which you observed.
Prepare a list of all of your medications, supplements, herbs or homeopathic drugs and cross-check this information with either your doctor or a pharmacist. In many areas now and with some insurance companies, you can actually contact them and they have consulting firms that will check this information for you.
Remember though, this list must be all-inconclusive. Even those eyedrops, vitamins and supplements, cough or cold tablets, creams and rubs; each of these are a natural or chemically-derived compound. Therefore every one of them must be on your list.
Ask your doctor if he can recommend any lifestyle changes first before you accept another prescription. If he/she doesn't know, get a second opinion somewhere else.
Ask for a prescription for an older drug. Many of these have been around for a long time so they have already stood the test of safety and effectiveness. Many new medications, the reason for all the recalls, situations arise after the drugs approval and complications are found which weren't explored before release to the market.
Never stop a prescribed drug though without first talking to your doctor. Some drugs can actually be harmful to your health with complete withdrawal.
In recent years, especially the organizations, pharmacists and physicians which work closely with the elderly, they realize new side effects are probably a reaction and so this is their first priority. Trying to prove otherwise is the first line of defense before another new prescription is added to the patient's current regimen.
So, before you accept that latest new prescription from your physician, use a little brain-power, open your mouth and ask questions. Let your physician know that one more drug is not necessarily your first choice for a new line of treatment. If you aren't satisfied with the response you get, it's time to get up and politely mention you would prefer to check if you have any other options as your first line of defense.
Myself, as I initially stated, my first move is to leave conventional medicine and check with an alternative practitioner. Holistic medicine has been very successful for me, often without the use of prescription medicines.
Yes, with alternative therapies, you are the master controller of your therapy. They do not believe in pharmaceuticals as the first line of defense in many situations unless emergency care is warranted. But an ultimate cure, over just a masking of symptoms which is common in conventional medicine, is worth its weight in gold to me. If I can cure the condition, I never have to worry about it again, hypothetically speaking.
.
.
No comments:
Post a Comment