Wellness

[jubilant]

@Cakers3

Thanks, Cakers.  I'm glad you have great doctors.

[Catiele]

I do have health issues and I know what I will do and what I won’t do. Have a cardiologist and my primary care doctor. Last winter I had bronchitis. Took an antibiotic and prednisone. The side effects of the meds are I can’t taste or smell. Of course my doctor realizes this. I can taste strong foods. You would think I would be thin———not.

[Sooner]

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@Tinkrbl44 wrote:

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@Sooner wrote:

Medicine is a business.  Once you get old enough and you have ANY sympton you are immediately a patient:   On the treadmill until you die or they kill you.

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@Sooner

Really?   Pretty much everything is a business .....  at least all products and services, but obviously there is a lot more.   So what?  That's the global economy.

A LOT of medications now improve our quality of life. 

That shouldn't make one suspicious.  If you don't want to take a prescribed medication, don't take it.  The next person may be very grateful for relief received from that prescribed medication, and not see it as a treadmill at all.  Some people actually care a great deal about maintaining good health, and work with their doctors to do so.

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Oh thank you for enlightening me!  You really took that to heart didn't you?  LOL!

[BalletBabe]

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@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 these medications 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!  

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okay , here is my rant.   My Dr had me running in every 6 months for the past 15 years.   I finally said last time, I am taking no special meds that you should need this fasting blood work.   I just told him, I am done.  I will do it once a year.   I saw my Dr in March 2017.  Told him the next time I came in that I would be on medicare.  He then got all bubbly and said then you need a welcome to medicare visit.   I said no I don't .  You did my labs and everything is fine.  BP good, weight good, never smoked, never drank and keep very active.    Girl told me but the Dr will be graded,  but what about my rights???  I got roped into the welcome to medicare visit.  It was supposed to be a 6 month follow up,   I was not happy.   I got a call from a thing called well med and she said your Dr wanted us to get you in for a diabetes test and a bunch of others she mentioned.   

I said  look, I am healthy, I am not doing head to toe physicals.  Not doing anymore more of this wellnes stuff.  If I have issues with my heart I would go to a good cardiologist.  If is a gyno issue , I would go to a gyno.  family Dr.'s have made to many issues with GP's so OI am  done. 

Now they say we can come to your house.  I said listen carefully.  I am on a do not call list---That means don't call me again.  I told her no one is coming into my home.    It is getting me really angry.  I did find out one thing, the more tests the Dr orderd, he gets more money for your care for the year.   Just wrong ..This is America, not a third world country.   I also told them so far this years appoints are as follows.   2 Dr visits,  getting blood drawn, mammogram, I had a eye appointment about a month ago,   I had to back to get my glasses an wait for them to make my  glasses and serum they make with your blood.   Oh and lets not forget the 2 dentist stuff.    Too many appoinments are taking to much of my time.   I am done.  If the call one more time< my phone will be removed

[Tinkrbl44]

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@Sooner wrote:

---

@Tinkrbl44 wrote:

---

@Sooner wrote:

Medicine is a business.  Once you get old enough and you have ANY sympton you are immediately a patient:   On the treadmill until you die or they kill you.

---

@Sooner

Really?   Pretty much everything is a business .....  at least all products and services, but obviously there is a lot more.   So what?  That's the global economy.

A LOT of medications now improve our quality of life. 

That shouldn't make one suspicious.  If you don't want to take a prescribed medication, don't take it.  The next person may be very grateful for relief received from that prescribed medication, and not see it as a treadmill at all.  Some people actually care a great deal about maintaining good health, and work with their doctors to do so.

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Oh thank you for enlightening me!  You really took that to heart didn't you?  LOL!

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@Sooner

Uh, no I didn't take it to heart .....  just took your words at face value.    Did you not mean what you wrote?

[jubilant]

I am surprised that more people didn't gasp at the cost of $8000 a year to take "my only option" medication???? Without my insurance it would be $14,000 a year!    I had one cardiologist tell me that there would be a lot of people not taking Repatha for that reason alone.  I can't help but wonder how many here would pay that kind of money for a medication that definitely lowers cholesterol and shows promise but is not a home run yet.  Just curious how others feel????

Next week I will be  going to a new primary care facility that has just opened (It's an IU medical facility). It's only about a 15 min. drive, too!  It is a team based approach to primary care.  It will be a physician, a PA, and 17 other staff members dedicated to a team approach for their patients.  It sounds like my cup of tea. It's a 10'000 square ft. facility with 17 rooms.   I am hoping and praying that this will be a good match for me.  They are definitely medical but they also take a holistic approach to preventive and well-being to get a person as well as they can be. My cardiologist told me that while exercise and eating right can go a long way, without the medicine, they will never be able to get me to a 70 cholesterol....which is where they want me.  How do we know if we don't try? Even if I can get it to 170, that would sure be a lot better than where I am now.  To me that kind of talk and that low of a number is pushing people to take pills and let the pill do it all....yet another gripe of mine this week!

[cherry]

@jubilant as much as it is, it isn't the worst amount I have heard...medicine is very expensive..good luck

[jubilant]

@cherry

Thank you, cherry.  It's not that we couldn't afford it....we could (although we would have to really tighten the budget). I know they are still tweaking the doses.  It really comes in shot form (like diabetics take).  They started with one shot a month and people were having considerable pain at the injection site. They now divide the dose up into two different shots and my cardio doctor tells me are getting much better results.  There are many reasons I want to wait.....things like that being just one of them. I did tell the doctor not now, but I might reconsider at some point .  He doesn't want me to wait that long but my gut tells me I'm doing the right thing at this time.      

[CelticCrafter]

I'm not one that believes in a lot of pills to fix everything.

Take this to fix A but then that causes B so here's a pill can fix that and it's like a rolling stone gathering moss.

However if three medical professionals told me the same thing it would be time to rethink my decision...

[Teddie]

@jubilant  There is another topic started here in Wellness where @angelpuppy1 is also concerned about drug use. I very much share your feelings.  I have shared this book before.  I have heard a great deal about it but have not read it, as I haven't had this issue yet.  I watched the author speak about this topic and felt that this should be something those with questionable cholesterol look into. You don't need all this extra stress.  I think it might make you feel better.