Join Early Retirement Today
Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
Old 11-27-2014, 06:55 AM   #81
Recycles dryer sheets
Tandemlovers's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 151
Despite the somewhat sensationalized title, I found this book to be a very useful read:

http://www.amazon.com/Are-Your-Presc...pr_product_top

The author is a pharmacist who began a side business evaluating the drug regimens of the
people coming into his pharmacy.

From the Amazon website:

You most certainly know someone whose life depends on the prescription drugs they take: it may be your husband, who takes sleeping pills to counteract the anxiety his heart medications cause him, or it may be your aging father, who takes upwards of twenty pills a day for everything from arthritis to high blood pressure. But we’ve all read the headlines: prescription drugs can kill you. If that’s the case, why are so many Americans, particularly those sixty and older, given so many pills, with no regard to how they interact with one another?

Fifth-generation pharmacist Armon B. Neel, Jr., is on a mission to help patients understand how the medications they take can affect them—for better or worse. As a consulting pharmacist, he visits hospitals and nursing homes daily and counsels patients on how their prescriptions may be interacting dangerously with one another, and how they can reduce the number of medications they’re taking. Armon’s recommendations have been estimated to save $2.5 million a year in health-care costs, and more important, he’s saved thousands of lives. In 2010, the American Society of Consultant Pharmacists gave Armon its annual achievement award. The organization then announced that Neel so personified excellence in the field that the award would be renamed for him.


Sent from my iPad using Early Retirement Forum
Tandemlovers is offline   Reply With Quote
Join the #1 Early Retirement and Financial Independence Forum Today - It's Totally Free!

Are you planning to be financially independent as early as possible so you can live life on your own terms? Discuss successful investing strategies, asset allocation models, tax strategies and other related topics in our online forum community. Our members range from young folks just starting their journey to financial independence, military retirees and even multimillionaires. No matter where you fit in you'll find that Early-Retirement.org is a great community to join. Best of all it's totally FREE!

You are currently viewing our boards as a guest so you have limited access to our community. Please take the time to register and you will gain a lot of great new features including; the ability to participate in discussions, network with our members, see fewer ads, upload photographs, create a retirement blog, send private messages and so much, much more!

Old 11-27-2014, 11:35 AM   #82
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso)
Give me a forum ...
athena53's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 2014
Posts: 7,326
Quote:
Originally Posted by harley View Post
Totally anecdotally, and of no real value to anyone else, I stopped taking my Zocor on the 22nd when I posted last. Today I'm feeling wonderful. Most of my muscle pain has gone away, and I'm lifting things with less effort than before. The only thing that still hurts is my thumb, and I just hit it with a hammer today, so it doesn't count.

Can it really be that simple? Does the effect, assuming it even was the statin, go away so fast?
I can't remember how quickly my tendonitis went away after I ditched the Prevastatin. I think the pain level was down within a few days but it took maybe a couple of months to have 95% of the pain gone. Even now if I overwork my elbow joints I can feel twinges. My Dad, OTOH, has been on statins for decades with no problems.

It doesn't hurt to have a healthy skepticism and do research. Artificial hormones were supposed to be the key to eternal youth for post-menopausal women. Too bad they increased the rate of breast cancer. Bone density supplements were the next big thing. Well, except they make you a poor candidate for dental implants because you can get osteonecrosis in your jawbones. Just recently, a study found that women taking them had a high incidence of femur fractures from mundane activities such as walking down steps. I'll just keep bicycling to keep my bones strong and put up with the occasional hot flash, TYVM.
athena53 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 11-27-2014, 11:46 AM   #83
Moderator Emeritus
Bestwifeever's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 2007
Posts: 17,773
I suggested to DH that he discuss stopping statins with his cardiologist because DH was driving me crazy with his most unpeaceful sleep--flailing around wildly every couple of night, making me nervous that I would wake up with a black eye, besides worrying about the much more ominous conditions that cause sleep disturbance. I had read there could be a link to statins:
Quote:
Multi-methodological approaches using different algorithms and databases strongly suggest that statin use is associated with an increased risk for sleep disturbances including insomnia.
Association of statin use with sleep disturbances: data mining of a... - PubMed - NCBI

Since he stopped using statins about eight months ago, he no longer is running or punching bad guys--or me--in his sleep. Ever. (He also had prostrate reduction surgery in the summer so no more potty trips at night, so he could also be sleeping more soundly as a result). Peace is wonderful.
__________________
“Would you like an adventure now, or would you like to have your tea first?” J.M. Barrie, Peter Pan
Bestwifeever is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 11-27-2014, 01:25 PM   #84
Full time employment: Posting here.
 
Join Date: Nov 2008
Posts: 728
I take preventative drugs as prescribed by my Doctor. People live longer today because of preventative drugs. A good diet heavy in protein,veggies and excercise help as well. I see no reason to stop taking what my Doc recommends.
jerome len is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 11-27-2014, 06:55 PM   #85
Moderator
sengsational's Avatar
 
Join Date: Oct 2010
Posts: 10,656
Quote:
Originally Posted by jerome len View Post
I take preventative drugs as prescribed by my Doctor. People live longer today because of preventative drugs. A good diet heavy in protein,veggies and excercise help as well. I see no reason to stop taking what my Doc recommends.
That's the same perspective my FIL had. We were picking in the garden one summer and he complained about his leg muscles when he stood up (he never complains). I told him to stop that statin, and he said "what about my numbers" (meaning cholesterol). It would be different if the numbers actually correlated with disease or with life span, but they don't. I said great numbers mean nothing if you're dead. He didn't listen to me.

He was literally in a wheel chair before he quit taking the statin.
sengsational is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 11-28-2014, 04:15 PM   #86
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
 
Join Date: Feb 2014
Posts: 3,054
Did "The Man" start this thread?

Just for the record I am not on drugs, (at least not right now).
jim584672 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 11-28-2014, 04:22 PM   #87
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Badger's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov 2008
Posts: 3,395
I've been taking some nasty pain meds for the past 5 years. Don't like the dependence/addiction potential so I don't take them like prescribed and live with the nerve damage peripheral neuropathy effects much of the time. I wish there were an alternative but Florida doesn't participate in that at the moment.

Cheers!
Badger is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 11-29-2014, 09:35 AM   #88
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso)
Give me a forum ...
kcowan's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jul 2006
Location: Pacific latitude 20/49
Posts: 7,677
Send a message via Skype™ to kcowan
We were forced to shop for new doctor when our existing one of 15+ years died of a massive heart attack. He knew us well-enough after that time. He was a year younger than me.

When we finally got a new one, we had to do a baseline assessment and we were quick to favour lifestyle changes over meds. For every med, we read up on the adverse consequences so that we do not get on the symptom pharma train. It seems to be working after two years.

And to OP, good luck with aging. My Dad never took anything beyond an occasional aspirin until he died at age 95 (of complications from a broken hip). But I must have inherited lots from Mom (who died at 57 from complications arising from breast cancer). Currently taking 4 meds a day.
__________________
For the fun of it...Keith
kcowan is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-12-2015, 08:52 AM   #89
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso)
Give me a forum ...
Chuckanut's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2011
Location: West of the Mississippi
Posts: 17,173
I have come to the conclusion that due to the drug companies having invented so many new drugs in the last two decades, that there is hardly a healthy person left on the planet.
__________________
Comparison is the thief of joy

The worst decisions are usually made in times of anger and impatience.
Chuckanut is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-12-2015, 09:46 AM   #90
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
 
Join Date: Feb 2013
Location: Toronto
Posts: 3,320
A healthy skepticism of Big Pharma is wise as expressed by many above. That said, there are some conditions for which some drugs produce very good results. Due diligence and a thoughtful MD are important.
6miths is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-12-2015, 12:39 PM   #91
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso)
Give me a forum ...
Amethyst's Avatar
 
Join Date: Dec 2008
Posts: 12,598
It's to the point where if you go to a doctor or dentist, they ask you what meds you're on, and you say "none," they look at you funny and say "Are you SURE?"

Because obviously, you must be losing your memory and forgetting to take your meds!
__________________
If you understood everything I say, you'd be me ~ Miles Davis
'There is only one success – to be able to spend your life in your own way.’ Christopher Morley.
Even a blind clock finds an acorn twice a day.
Amethyst is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-12-2015, 12:42 PM   #92
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
 
Join Date: Apr 2005
Location: Midwest
Posts: 2,962
Quote:
Because obviously, you must be losing your memory and forgetting to take your meds!
Statins among many others actually cause memory loss.
razztazz is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-12-2015, 01:58 PM   #93
Moderator Emeritus
aja8888's Avatar
 
Join Date: Apr 2011
Location: Conroe, Texas
Posts: 18,645
I take one small beta blocker for BP control, although I probably don't need it anymore since I lost 40 pounds and I'm back to my normal weight.

I do take a vitamin and small aspirin each day, if I remember. But at 72, my memory is not as good as it used to be. Cholesterol is always normal range, no other ailments (so far).
__________________
*********Go Astros!*********
aja8888 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-12-2015, 02:11 PM   #94
Recycles dryer sheets
Sea Kayaker's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2009
Location: Vancouver/Gulf Islands/Baja
Posts: 479
Nada. And with the lifestyle change I've installed since retiring, I don't expect (or hope) to have to take anything for decades yet.
__________________
Retired at 42... the world is my oyster, and I am now in the process of shucking the hell out of it.
Sea Kayaker is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-12-2015, 04:35 PM   #95
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
John Galt III's Avatar
 
Join Date: Oct 2008
Posts: 2,782
In my twenties a doctor told me I had an inguinal hernia and needed an operation. I went to another doctor for a second opinion and he said nope, you may have a weakening in the inguinal area but you definitely do not need an operation, and can continue to lift heavy things. Now in my sixties, no hernia.

That experience, and others like it, have got me leery of any *new* doctor. Currently I probably should see a urologist about something but am scared that I will once again be told I need an operation I don't really need, get all stressed out, get a second opinion, etc. I've been using the internet to read reviews of urologists (I don't currently have a urologist) but am not sure these review websites are accurate. When and if I go to a urologist I will feel like I am rolling the dice and hoping for the best. Guess that's how it is for most of us. BTW , my gp automatically recommended a urology group that is affiliated with his hospital. The websites gave the urology group an average rating and the specific urologist he wanted me to see had some truly awful comments made about him, as well as some glowing praise.

Concerning drugs, I resist my gp every year about going on statins, but gladly accepted his advice to keep using PPI's for acid reflux. I've been on synthroid for decades (ironically two doctors I was seeing at the time said I did not need synthroid, but one humored me with a blood test, revealing that I was in serious need of it. A nurse acquaintance had urged me to get my thyroid levels checked)
John Galt III is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-12-2015, 06:58 PM   #96
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso)
Give me a forum ...
 
Join Date: Dec 2014
Location: Huntsville, AL/Helen, GA
Posts: 6,002
I'm diabetic and need to take certain medicines. I take only what's absolutely required.

My wife is on a bunch of meds. She's lost 20 lbs., and is now a ball of energy. Thankfully she's been able to get off some of the meds she's had to take in the past.

Sometimes all it takes is losing 10% of one's weight to greatly improve the need for medicines.
Bamaman is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-12-2015, 09:47 PM   #97
Recycles dryer sheets
 
Join Date: Aug 2014
Location: Western Canada
Posts: 393
Nothing legal.
__________________
I'm not crazy. Honest, the judge had me tested.
Rick_Head is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-12-2015, 10:00 PM   #98
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso)
Give me a forum ...
 
Join Date: Jan 2006
Posts: 5,342
Nothing FDA approved.
aaronc879 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-13-2015, 05:48 AM   #99
Recycles dryer sheets
emerytura's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 2014
Location: Far Hills
Posts: 51
I take hypertension medicine, the lowest dosage for past 10 years, started at 45. I am not overweight and eat very healthy. My blood pressure with medicine is at normal range. I have try many times to stop taking it but everytime after few weeks not taking it my blood pressure will be to high. My doctor told me that I am in danger of getting stroke if I do that. I was told I am stuck with one pill a day to the rest of my life. There is high risk of stroke on my father side, and my father had 3 strokes already, so I know what can happen to me if I refuse to take this medicine.
emerytura is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-13-2015, 07:00 AM   #100
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso)
Give me a forum ...
MRG's Avatar
 
Join Date: Apr 2013
Posts: 11,078
Quote:
Originally Posted by Bamaman View Post
I'm diabetic and need to take certain medicines. I take only what's absolutely required.

My wife is on a bunch of meds. She's lost 20 lbs., and is now a ball of energy. Thankfully she's been able to get off some of the meds she's had to take in the past.

Sometimes all it takes is losing 10% of one's weight to greatly improve the need for medicines.
I agree, DW has a similar situation. She's lost about 15% of her body weight and dropped the dosage on many meds, some by 66.6%.

I've dropped about the same percentage and life is a whole lot different. About 1/2 of the meds I was on, I no longer have a need for. I stopped snoring, have more energy, better mood, the list keeps getting longer .

I see my M.D. next week, by my records I've dropped 10% of my total body weight since I saw him 12 weeks ago. He knew I had planned on losing some weight, we hadn't yet discussed my final goal. Pretty sure he'll be talking about it.
MRG is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply


Currently Active Users Viewing This Thread: 1 (0 members and 1 guests)
 
Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Trackbacks are Off
Pingbacks are Off
Refbacks are Off


Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
Cholesterol Drugs - what they're not telling you... HawkeyeNFO Health and Early Retirement 72 07-17-2013 08:29 PM
What do you think of America's "war on drugs" ? Bram Other topics 43 03-28-2008 01:32 PM
Prescription drugs Martha Other topics 4 11-01-2005 10:27 AM
Prescription Drugs from Canada fln FIRE and Money 6 01-30-2005 04:07 PM
Sex, Drugs, and Rock 'n Roll haha Life after FIRE 1 04-04-2004 07:42 AM

» Quick Links

 
All times are GMT -6. The time now is 11:14 PM.
 
Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.8 Beta 1
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.