Doctors and Meds

[SARGE]

Some know my story. The docs give a guy a med to fix an ailment but that med causes side effects. In my case one treats depression but causes high anxiety, therefore another pill has to be swallowed to treat that. On top of that the 2 meds may cause sleep deprivation so another med is prescribed for sleeping. Then I find out I have high blood pressure and cholesterol despite my time on the treadmill, biking and swimming. Then I take Viagra to counter-attack the other meds. for the finer things in life. Sure is Hell getting old...

[lil Jimmie]

This reminds me of a friend of mine who was on all sorts of meds and him taking one to counter the side affects of the others. After a few years of this he stopped taking all the meds and started Chelation Therapy and after a few months of it he is off most of the meds and feels far better than he has in years. I dunno if something like this would help you in your case, but it does sound like the Doc has got you on the hamster wheel.

BTW I know Lipitor was one of the meds he cussed the most cause it had so down and out with no energy.

The best meds for me is a 40-50 mile bike ride @ 25 mph with my heart rate around a 170bpm.

Edit: it's Chelation Therapy

[Force Flow]

A relative of mine was taking a series of meds something like that. One med to help treat his problem, another med to take care of the side effects, another to take care of the side effects of the second, and so on. I think he was taking 7 or 8 meds.

He didn't care much for being all doped up, so he said "I'd rather take the one pill in the morning and just throw up and be done with it, rather than feeling all doped up." So, he just took the one pill and shelved the rest.

[Yuanji]

hmm i take 1 pill to combat the side effects of another pill which is supposed to help me but the pill i took to combat the side effects has side effects.... WHY CAN"T YOU DOCTORS WITH YOUR DEGREES THINK UP OF MEDICINE THAT DOESN"T HAVE SIDE EFFECTS?? ok caps off. i really don't see how taking one med to make yourself better but actually makes you sick in a different sense would help... sarge, i've heard that oriental medicine will sometimes not have the side effects western medicine has. it also is sometimes more powerful (something to look into). Also, therapy might be something to consider as well cuz i sure would rather go to therapy like 2 times a week then to eat like 8-10 pills a day. sometimes the side effects could harm you a lot worse in the long run

[Jaggannath]

Originally Posted by Yuanji

WHY CAN"T YOU DOCTORS WITH YOUR DEGREES THINK UP OF MEDICINE THAT DOESN"T HAVE SIDE EFFECTS?? ... i really don't see how taking one med to make yourself better but actually makes you sick in a different sense would help

It's nothing to do with the doctors, synthesising drugs isn't a matter of adding ingredients to a cauldron and removing the bad bits. And taking one medicine MAY lead to other side-effects, and sometimes those side-effects are the lesser of two evils. I'm a big fan of alternatives to conventional medicines, I'd rather do something different and build my immunity rather than nuke my body

[damontgo]

yuanji- The biggest part of the problem for Medical Researchers, (not Docs) is the patients. Ever get a prescription for say, strep throat?? Nothing too harmful, just painful and inconvenient cuz you're so contagious. And what do the docs say? FINISH YOUR PRESCRIPTION. However, most people never finish their whole Rx, and sometimes, rarely, but enough that it's a problem, the virus/ bacteria being treated isn't destroyed completely, and will mutate, and will have immunity or resistance to the drug mot commonly used to treat it. As a result, drug companies have to make stronger versions of basically the same drugs... which have worse side effects. It's a vicious cycle. My dad has actually seen strep throat be lethal in his day... which is really scary if you think about how easy it is to catch. So it's really not the Doc's faults, its ours. People finish your scrips.

[SARGE]

As Jimmie said, I've got the "hamster on a wheel" effect. One does a job but causes another, so another is taken to counter that. Then both combined cause need for a sleeping pill. The 3 total cause, uh "problems" in love life so another is used to counter that. Cholesterol is going up and they suspect one of them is causing that as is a known side-effect, so another pill may be needed to lower cholesterol. So, 5 pills a day because of 1 fixing a problem. Geez.

[Dodge7]

Meds certainly can help. It is just when you start taking three types of more, with all the side effects, counter side effects, ect, you start to wonder if you would be better off d

I know there is a time with medication is needed but - An amazing number of things can be cured by avoiding sugar, and preservatives, and eating right, and drinking lots of water. That and getting enough sleep can change your whole attitude about life. I personally experienced it.

In fact, one of the things is just getting exercise, I started running, seems to give me endless energy and a positive attitude.

[SARGE]

This old fart rides 22 miles a week on a bike and uses the treadmill 4 days for 45 min. @ 4 m.p.h. Maybe I should step it up a notch?

[spyder003]

Originally Posted by SARGE

This old fart rides 22 miles a week on a bike and uses the treadmill 4 days for 45 min. @ 4 m.p.h. Maybe I should step it up a notch?

According to your profile, you're 55 years old. I would think you're doing more than enough to keep yourself in shape. More than others your age are doing, and more than most my age.

[shazam]

I was not going to reply to this thread but i think this may be of intrest to you.First let me say i am in tip top shape for my age.I walk every day. hunt, fly fish,have a wood working shop and do a little gold panning. I hit the scales at 150lbs. I am not bragging. In March I got a cold or so i thought. Went to the doc. He did not like what he was hearing. Ran some tests. Sent me to Emory University Hospital in Atlanta. To make a long story short I ended up with 4 bypasses.Now for the rest of the story. As mentioned I was in fine shape. bood pressure was low, cholesterol was 140, good cholsterol was 80. Yet my arteries where cloged up. Never had a heart attack or any heart problems.I was one of those cases where someone does everything right and everything turns out wrong. I just happen to be one of those persons that cholesterol sticks to there arteries. Now i take Lipitor ( because my liver makes to much bad cholesterol) Plavic , asprin, and fosinopril. I must me lucky because I have no side affects. Not everyone has side affects.Also i would like to say after say 55 get a check up every 6 months.Take a stress test evey year. If not for the stress test i may not be ans. this thread.

[colecifer]

Originally Posted by SARGE

This old fart rides 22 miles a week on a bike and uses the treadmill 4 days for 45 min. @ 4 m.p.h. Maybe I should step it up a notch?

Oh come on be a man, take it up to 50 m.p.h

[lil Jimmie]

Originally Posted by colecifer

Oh come on be a man, take it up to 50 m.p.h

whoa 50mph on a treadmill

[jong2k4]

This actually pretty similar to a topic for a paper I'm writing... I haven't narrowed it down yet, but I'm researching differences between medical practices in the States and around the world.

When you compare it to countries that have "better" health care systems, which is most of the stable industrial nations, the three main things that popped up in my inital research is that in our health care system, there's a lot of overmedication, an enormous chunk of our health care money (~30%) goes to administration (lots of work for hospitals to keep track of so much private insurance, lots of insurance executives to get fat salaries, lots of high paid hospital admins- even for a lot of nonprofit hospitals) compared to 1-3% in some other nations, and there's so much time and money spent on esoteric miracle cures for rare diseases that there's not enough left over to adequately treat the mundane problems that affect a large portion of the population.

Bottom line: if you want cheaper health care for the average person's ailments, the US is not the place. But if you are suffering from a rare cancer of the brain or an esoteric disorder that only 3 other people in the world have, or you like medicine, the US is the place to be.

[Jaggannath]

I honestly feel that about 20% of all money spent on medical problems could be fixed by proper diets and at least eating a modicum of healthy food... I'm no dieting fad person, I eat hot chips and chocolate, but I also drink plenty of water and eat vegetables and fruit.
Seeing a dietician would help a lot of people, if only to point out gaps in your diet. Once I leave this military academy (in 1 yr) I'm moving in with my g/f, and then I'll have a choice of my own diet. I'm really looking forwards to it

[el_novato]

Jagganath has a point. If you are not eating right...you're basically defeating the excersice regimen you follow. A co-worker has lost 15 lbs in about 1.5 months. She's been successful with the low carb diet. That may not sound like alot, but all she has changed is her diet. According to her, her excersice is very limited. So if you haven't already, look into changing your diet.

e.n.

[Dodge7]

Hey, sounds like you're on a good exericise program. In fact, I wish I was doing that good.

Man... I sure remember how much better I felt when I ran for just 30 minutes every other evening and when I quit sugar and cut my calaries to less than half. I needed a hour less sleep, was aways energetic, and yet I had a far more stressful job than I do.