Returning

Hello to everyone. I apologize for the long delay. I have been out of commission for a long time due to medication interactions which were life-threatening. I have now become something of an expert on this subject, and I may even write a book about the experience. I am continuing to research the issue, but so far I have come to the conclusion that there is an epidemic out there created by the careless prescribing of pharmaceuticals, often multiple drugs at a time, which themselves cause illness.

I was finally forced to take my health care into my own hands by essentially refusing to accept further medication prescriptions after several of them caused serious side effects, including loss of motor coordination, dizziness, anxiety, inability to drive, over-sedation etc. I would advise anyone being given a new drug to research it first before just blindly following a doctor's orders. Obviously you have to do a careful risk/benefit analysis. Public Citizen's Worst Pills/Best Pills is a good place to start. This non-profit organization has lobbied tirelessly to get dangerous drugs recalled, and they post current warnings long before the FDA acts to remove them from the marketplace.

Many medical professionals these days are so utterly tied into the pharmaceutical industry both financially and because of their training, that they are rarely willing to think outside the box in terms of more holistic health care options. They are quite cavalier about side effects, often insisting that "all" medicines have side effects and implying that you just have to put up with them. That's fine if they are minor in nature, but if they are causing serious difficulties, you need to evaluate for yourself whether or not to continue the treatment. It also turns out that older adults are much more likely to suffer these kinds of complications than younger people because the drugs do not clear from their systems as fast.

Although I haven't abandoned prescription drugs altogether, I am now down to only two. I was actually told by one doctor whose practice consisted entirely of prescribing medications, that many of his patients are on as many as 30 different drugs at a time!

I would welcome hearing of my readers experiences with this problem. Since it happened to me, almost everyone I mention it to has a horror story of their own or a close acquaintance related to this issue.