Concerns About Medical Practices When Prescribing Medications

jubilant · ‎06-10-2010

I have been talking to people and asking questions about medications they are taking. I am asking myself some questions, too. From these discussions, I am learning that doctors are prescribing some common and not so common prescriptions for medical "problems"......even though their patients show normal ranges in blood tests. Many of these patients are quite young. If the tests are moderately normal or low normal. or even what they call "stable", they "need to get started on these medications NOW".....so say the doctors.

Why not give your body the chance to "recupe" on it's own? The body is miraculous and many times it will, given the chance, heal itself. I could go into a long list of things that have recently happen to me and other people I know. Here's just one example........

A woman I know whose age is about 50 just got put on cholesterol medicine. I asked her if her cholesterol was high. She said no????? She is having body aches already. They have changed what our "ideal" cholesterols should be and they keep changing what a normal blood pressure is. You can take them your last weeks bp's and if 2 or 3 are slightly off...they want to up you meds. I mean, really???? Pain can cause a rise in bp's. They don't even bother to ask that question. I'm sorry....I just can't go along with some of this stuff. Especially when DH and I are sitting in the waiting room and out comes a pharmaceutical sales rep pushing his little information and sample cart with one hand and carrying a big food tray in the other hand with what appeared to be leftovers from delicious looking, full course, lunches from some fancy delicatessin the rep provided (sorry for that run on sentence") Then I go in for my appointment and am told "you have to take this pill...you have no other options". Then they say, "remember what your surgery was like at 68...think what that would be like at 78"!

Anyway, it is on my records, "patient is not willing to take this medicine".....which, by the way...has only been out a very few years (2 or 3 I think) and is (with insurance help) $8000 a year! GRRRRR. I am hearing more and more stories like this and I don't like it. Rant over!

sweetee2 · ‎06-21-2015

There is nonething wrong with being proactive with your health care. I remember when I had open heart surgery. They kept kept insisting I take pain medication and of course it kept knocking me out, so they would try a different one and it would knock and I'd throw up.. Well after 7 days they said I should be going home and my hubby said well stop giving her pain meds she would. So when I was able to leave they gave me prescription for pain meds that I could only fill at the hospital pharmacy. Go figure.

shopperqvc · ‎03-10-2010

The medical profession is harming itself by handing out a pill for everything. You can't donate blood if you are taking a statin, at least that's what I was told by the local Red Cross when I tried to donate. The need for donated blood is great, and with so many people taking statins they can't help out.

My doctor prescribed Plavix the one time I went to see him, and when I asked him why, his answer was "because of your age". I told him I have been getting older ever since I was born, and I didn't need an old fogey pill. If he could give me a reason to take it, I would but just to take a pill because I'm getting older, I'll pass. If a test shows I need a medicine, I will take it.

Alison Wonderland · ‎02-05-2018

Are you a medical doctor?

Have you reviewed the medical studies that showed the use of cholesterol medication preventatively has VASTLY decreased a person's chance of a heart attack or stroke? Heart disease is the number one killer of both men and women. One in every four deaths in the US is due to heart disease.

millieshops · ‎03-09-2010

I'm in the school that says there are risks if we take drugs and risks if we don't. And we can always find stories to back what we personally want to believe.

I have the opposite cholesteral story - after years and years of low cholesteral even though I know I was eating poorly, me numbers went up and wouldn't give in to diet and exersize. So I started with medication and after maybe 10 years, my doctor recommended we stop it (and also to go without the BP med I'd been taking for years and years.)

And so we tried that procedure. In less than a year, I ended up in the emergency room with a massive nosebleed which probably prevented a stroke and went back on that med. A few months later, we did carotic sonograms and found a partially blocked carotid and I went back on a statin.

I now weigh much much less than I did 2 years ago, exersize more every day than I did in a week(?) when I was 30 - and none of the doctors ever talk to me about reducing meds again. I'm going along with that!

My only idea for others is to keep in mind that there is not a life without risks. The individual stories are interesting, but as mine does they address one specific body that may not say a thing that fits another.

Tinkrbl44 · ‎08-23-2010

@jubilant wrote:
I have been talking to people and asking questions about medications they are taking. I am asking myself some questions, too. From these discussions, I am learning that  doctors are prescribing some common and not so common prescriptions for  medical "problems"......even though their patients show normal ranges in blood tests. Many of these patients are quite young. If  the tests are moderately normal or low normal. or even what they call "stable", they "need to get started on them NOW"!

    Why not give your body the chance to "recup" on it's own? The body is miraculous and many times it will, given the chance, heal itself. I could go into a long list of things that have recently happen to me and other people I know. Here's just one example........

A woman I know whose age is about 50 just got put on cholesterol medicine. I asked her if her cholesterol was high. She said no????? She is having body aches already. They have changed what our "ideal" cholesterols should be and they keep changing what a normal blood pressure is. You can take them your last weeks bp's and if 2 or 3 are slightly off...they want to up you meds. I mean, really???? Pain can cause a rise in bp's. They don't even bother to ask that question. I'm sorry....I just can't go along with some of this stuff. Especially when DH and I are sitting in the waiting room and out comes a pharmaceutical sales rep pushing his little information and sample cart with one hand and carrying a big food tray in the other hand with what appeared to be leftovers from delicious looking, full course, lunches from some fancy delicatessin the rep provided (sorry for that run on sentence") Then I go in for my appointment and am told "you have to take this pill...you have no other options". Then they say, "remember what your surgery was like at 68...think what that would be like at 78"!

Anyway, it is on my records, "patient is not willing to take this medicine".....which, by the way...has only been out a very few years (2 or 3 I think) and is (with insurance help) $8000 a year! GRRRRR. I am hearing more and more stories like this and I don't like it. Rant over!

@jubilant

Honestly, I get your point, but pharmaceutical reps have been calling on doctors for .... um .... since forever, I guess. So what?

I doubt anyone diagnosed with cancer is going to take your advice and "just let their body heal itself". In many cases, sorry, it just doesn't work that way!

You probably also don't have the benefit of most medical histories, so a patient's new prescription may be based on a steady increase of something bad for the past five years or so .... or a hereditary condition that's now showing up in testing.

It's up to THE PATIENT to be their own health advocate and discuss all treatment options with their physicians. You can always do research on your own, or get a scond opinion.

in some cases, and for some people, a physician being proactive is a good thing ....

Tinkrbl44 · ‎08-23-2010

@Alison Wonderland wrote:
Are you a medical doctor?

Have you reviewed the medical studies that showed the use of cholesterol medication preventatively has VASTLY decreased a person's chance of a heart attack or stroke?

@Alison Wonderland @jubilant

Clearly, the OP didn't know this.

A friend of mine was prescribed an anti-depressant when she wasn't depressed ...... turns out, it greatly helped reduce her chronic pain. Often we don't know the whole story when it comes to another person's medical history.

Nightowlz · ‎03-11-2010

It's a bunch of BS IMO.

They change what the normal should be so they can put more people on Big Pharma Drugs.

I have already told my doctor I'm going by what the levels on blood pressure, cholesterol etc used to be not by the changes they keep making.

I'm the patient I have a right to decide if I want to take what you are prescribing. Just because the doctor says I need it does mean I have to take it.

All I can say is good luck telling your doctor you won't take it. I have had doctors tell me to find a new doctor because I won't do as they say.

It's my body.

IMO the more Big Pharma drugs you take the more you will have to take & the more problems you have had. I have seen it.

I'm hypothyroid so I take NP Thyroid. If I did not have that I would never go to the doctor.

By the way all these doctors prescribe the new drugs which cost a lot more money. All you have to do if you need the drug is tell your doctor you will take a drug that has been out on the market for years with a history plus a lower price tag. Don't let them tell you there is not such drug. Most likely there is.

phoenixbrd · ‎03-27-2010

All prescribed meds have side effects....was consistently in the ER years ago due to the blood pressure med Lisinopril. Now I always investigate and review alternatives and my lifestyle before turning to any medication suggested. Just like finances, I don't care how credentialed the financial planner or MD, we must be our own advocates.

Yesterday I attended a class on weight management at Kaiser. I was horrified at the information given by the registered dietitian and her constant proclamation that this is "based on scientific evidence" (maybe 50 years ago and very biased). What a hoot and pathetic.

blackhole99 · ‎08-22-2013

The doctors IMO are not trying to harm people by prescribing for them. I am not suspicious when the doc suggests something that may improve my health and help me live longer. Let's face it, few people lived to be 100 or even 70 before all this great pharmacology. Most docs anymore will not order heavy duty pain meds unless you are in the hospital and you certainly don't go home on those meds. I know many people are sensitive to meds, especially statins and certain pain meds, but I have to wonder if it's really the meds. or the stigma attached to the meds, whatever that may be.