Wellness

[BirkiLady]

Interesting that this subject should come up. I was prescribed Boniva about 13 or 14 years ago by a (creepy) Rheumatologist, whom I saw for a little over a year. I took it a year following a Bone Density test. 

Last week (years late) I received a check indicating I was part of a Class Action Suit. Had no idea, but that dates and the drug made sense. I cashed the check. 

I've been with an excellent Rheumatologist who has DEXA tests run every other year. He monitors my RA and lets me decide what/if I want additional medication. During the warm summer months, I'm much better. He knows I'm aware of my own body and when/if meds are required. I'd rather not take them; it could always be worse is my opinion!

[excpa]

One PCP told me I had thinning bones and that I was going to break a hip because my bone density was so much less than a 35 year old.  Since I hadn't been a 35 year old for some years, I was hardly alarmed.  I refused the meds, too.

[dooBdoo]

           In some ways the OTC promotions (including pain relievers, vitamins/supplement/herbs, and the whole gamut) can be worse, or at least as bad, since they don't have the same restrictions and regulations RX meds have to abide by.   It still comes down to doing our best to find reliable, trustworthy actual experts, do our due diligence in researching and looking at all educated and knowledgeable opinions, being insightful and sensitive to and in tune with our own needs, and interacting with professionals face-to-face in our real life.    They know us, our histories and perhaps family histories, our individual needs...   and if, heaven forbid, we find ourselves at the hospital or the emergency department, they will be there...  the internet website experts (including us posters with our silly names😜) won't be there.

[Mary Bailey]

@grandma2pkmh@151949I meant after the results they would want me take Rx for osteopenia, that's what I won't take. Sorry for the confusion. 

[LilacTree]

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@blueroses47 wrote:

I agree 100%.

I had one of those scans some years back.  When I was prescribed medication, and I researched all the potential problems (which are not that uncommon), I opted not to take it.  Too scarey. 

I also work out religiously with weights because of benefits. 

A friend of a friend who has taken those meds for years has now developed the serious jaw problem that is a possible side effect.  She will need surgery to save her jaw, but can't have it until the medication is out of her system which will take about 3 months (she got the yearly shot, which from what I read is the worse choice for the very reason that it stays in your system, and should problems arise, you're stuck with it.)

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@blueroses47

So true, so very, very true.  They think it's a selling point that you only have to take something once a year . . . actually it's a horror if you have negative side effects, because one can stop taking a pill, but once that injected med is in your system, it stays there with no way to get it out!!  I'll bet the med was Reclast, which was suggested to me for osteoporosis and I said "no way!!"  Doc ignored me after that.

I feel sorry for that poor woman whose jaw will probably never be the same.  Hopefully, it will not travel to other areas before it dissipates.

[LilacTree]

@Annabellethecat66

Annabelle, the last time I was at my gastro doc's office (I've been seeing him for well over 30 years and knew him as a friend and client of the CPA firm I worked for before I needed him for health reasons) . . . anyway, he admitted to me that anything we could try from now on would just be "throwing spaghetti at the wall."

He also said his own wife has the opinion that "a patient comes in and you just give him or her a pill."  Doctors know, they just don't usually admit it.  Most of them wouldn't take the meds they prescribe themselves or give them to their families.

I had a standing appointment with him which I cancelled.  I told the girl I was going to North Jersey and didn't know when I'd be back.  I'll think about seeing him again before I make another appointment.  I do like him and it's not his fault I'm untreatable, but I refuse to be a guinea pig at this age.  Most of the things that are wrong with me are the result of meds I have taken and still take because tapering off is just wishful thinking.

I also agreed to try Linzess and he prescribed it.  When my daughter went to pick it up, she was told my medical insurance does not cover Linzess and the cost to me would be $200.  She refused it, of course.

When I called the doctor's office to see if he could intervene (because I'm always told they can do that) what I received instead was a script for Zantac (available over the counter and which I have taken many times) with 996 refills.  I am not joking.  I would have to live another 80 years to use up that many pills.  I called the pharmacist to ask if that was a typo and he said no, that it represents a "lifetime dosage," but they have to use numbers, so they use 996. 

Oh, by the way, the other med he prescribed was "Amitiza," which can rarely (uh huh) cause fainting and possibly a coma after the first dose!  I'll die naturally, thank you.

[riley1]

My DH had a couple of treatments with Reclast. He stopped taking it many years ago but what a nightmare now. He recently went to an oral surgeon to have a tooth removed and when she saw that on his chart she showed him a book of what it does to the bones in your mouth.

She did remove the tooth, however, he was on medication longer than normal and she called him every day to check on his progress for the first week. After that he had to see her for a checkup every week for a month.

[Jinlei]

Wish the powers that be would remove all the drug commercials.  Maybe their OUTRAGEOUS prices would go done then!  They are ripping us off right and left with the cost these medications.

[LilacTree]

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@riley1 wrote:

My DH had a couple of treatments with Reclast. He stopped taking it many years ago but what a nightmare now. He recently went to an oral surgeon to have a tooth removed and when she saw that on his chart she showed him a book of what it does to the bones in your mouth.

She did remove the tooth, however, he was on medication longer than normal and she called him every day to check on his progress for the first week. After that he had to see her for a checkup every week for a month.

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@riley1

Yes, it's bad stuff.  I'm glad he's okay.

[Trinity11]

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@dooBdoo wrote:

           In some ways the OTC promotions (including pain relievers, vitamins/supplement/herbs, and the whole gamut) can be worse, or at least as bad, since they don't have the same restrictions and regulations RX meds have to abide by.   It still comes down to doing our best to find reliable, trustworthy actual experts, do our due diligence in researching and looking at all educated and knowledgeable opinions, being insightful and sensitive to and in tune with our own needs, and interacting with professionals face-to-face in our real life.    They know us, our histories and perhaps family histories, our individual needs...   and if, heaven forbid, we find ourselves at the hospital or the emergency department, they will be there...  the internet website experts (including us posters with our silly names😜) won't be there.

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@dooBdoo, well said. I often read a general feeling of mistrust of physicians in general here. I would have become septic on Saturday without a wonderful ER doc who treated me immediately for a severe kidney infection. Without some of these meds available today, I would be long gone...