Medicine Can Make You Sick

For weeks my colleague felt cramping and was not feeling very strong but chose to ignore these signs and kept up with her work and life. One evening the pain was excruciating and she found herself in the Emergency Room. After tests and scans her physician asked her how much she drinks because her liver had all the signs of sclerosis of the liver.

My colleague does not drink.. Surgery was scheduled while they looked for the source of her problem. The conclusion was that the medication, Lamisil, my colleague was taking for 18 months for a foot fungus was the suspected culprit because liver damage is one of the side effects. Her physician did not know she had started the prescription.

Somewhere along the line in my medical and health writing I learned that every medication has side effects. Studying the elderly I learned that many were taking a medication to counter act another medication they absolutely needed. When my mother started taking medications I quickly learned I had to ask her physician about the side effects of those medications because she was not going to say a word and suffer whatever it took.

Here are five tips that can help you control your medications.

1. Ask your physician to go through all the prescription drugs you take to make sure one drug is not interfering with another.

During the last 10 to 15 years I learned that very few physicians have the time or the resources to examine all of the medications their patients are taking, even those that are prescribed by other physicians such as a dermatologist, or gynecologist, This needs to be done on a regular basis because a prescription from one doctor could be inhibiting a medication from another physician

Recent research could show newer medications that are just as effective but have fewer side effects. Many doctors do not have the time to keep updated on all the medications although that is usually their intent when they read the medical journals over the week ends.

2. List all your prescriptions in one source, one drugstore. A pharmacist is often the person who discovers your medications are interfering one another.

3. Consider taking a generic drug first. It will cost you less. Doctors often prescribe the most current medication which is also the most expensive. There is usually a generic available for most diseases.

4. If you have a new prescription that involves 2 or 3 new medications, take only one new medication at a time to see how your system will tolerate its effects. Then gradually add the next and the next.

5. You are the captain of your ship. Your physician cannot help you if you do not provide all the information. That means listing all the supplements you take and how much there is of each ingredient. You may be surprised at the amount you are taking of one vitamin or one herb when you add up everything. Besides, there are supplements that interfere with medications and that can cause only havoc.

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