Medication Safety

The choice to try new medication can indeed be a difficult challenge.  You want to get better, but with each new medication the challenge can get harder even possibly unhealthy. How do you consider taking a medication to help one disease, but can cause new diseases or worsen ones you already have? This may be hypertension, diabetes, asthma, or even cancer. These may be listed as adverse reactions or side effects instead of disease.  Symptoms like back pain, migraine headaches, impotence, decreased vision, and many more have also been described.

For example, the thiazide diuretics may cause an increase in cholesterol, glucose, and uric acid (causes gout). The ARBs (angiotensin receptor blockers) used for high blood pressure may lead to rebound hypertension and orthostatic hypotension. Some medicines used for treatment of hyperlipidemia list potential for hypertension and diabetes.  There may be need for additional medication to treat what these may have caused or worsened. What a conundrum if you are on all three!  Studies have shown that medication errors increase as the number of medicines increases, especially after three in those over seventy.

In addition, the high cost and availability can be a challenge as well.  Many have special offers to make it affordable should your insurance fail to do so are available. The challenge here is an extremely low income to qualify for monetary assistance. Many on Medicare and Medicaid are also ineligible for some of these costly prescription medications.  For Medicare some may be zero cost.  Prescription assistance programs are usually the only source for many who lack funds for medication.

The solution is simple.  Make medication safe and affordable. Your doctor will hopefully help you as much as possible.  If you find yourself in this dilemma, you can be offered medication that is just as effective or better within your budget.  This is similar to changing to a medicine that is intolerable for whatever reason. Compliance is key.  Too expensive with serious "side effects" is a main reason for noncompliance.

It is also important to remember good health basics such as diet, exercise, and sleep.  Food is essential.  The price of food is the highest ever.  Food is a major health problem that is often overlooked.  Food is nutrition and medicine.  It is hard to afford food and other necessary needs, on a meager limited income.  There is very little, if any, room for expensive medication.  

Look up and research medication you have been prescribed as well as the conditions for which it may be used.  Review your medical chart.  Check the website of the medication maker as well as a general web search.  Discuss all your concerns and options with your doctors and healthcare provider especially alternatives. 

You may find staying with a healthy lifestyle with safe medication for you is a sure treatment that works for you and lasts.  Maintain a healthy weight, eat healthy nutritious food, do regular consistent exercise, and get adequate sleep to help and possibly cure.  Best health!

Your Health Budget: Medication Affordability and Rising Healthcare Prices

The 2021 United States median income was about $45,760.  This amounts to about $3,813 per month.  After taxes this could be about $2542 per month for basic living expenses including rent/ mortgage; utilities; food; clothing; schooling; transportation; healthcare; insurances healthcare, home(s), car(s); and for other family necessary needs.  Ten percent of this ($254) could be just one of several medicines you take. Add more medication and it can easily become 20%. For patients below the poverty level, those with lowest average yearly salary of $18,074, especially those who are disabled or over 60 on Social Security Supplemental Income, this may be difficult.  

Patients have concerns about necessary medication, prescription or non-prescription, that they are unable to afford.  These include price, real necessity (i.e., other treatment options), and good treatment for that which it was given.  Will it control, make better, and cure their malady without side effects?  If it fails, the patient may get sicker as well as financially unstable.  

The days of patients taking everything the doctor prescribes or says are fewer.  Patients have become empowered in all ways especially with responsible self-care and health literacy.  Once diagnosed, or even prior to seeing the doctor, patients are able to immediately look it up and learn more about their condition(s), medication used for treatment, newest treatment options, specialists, special therapists, and so much more.  This helps you get the best treatment at prices that fit your budget.

Remember to discuss medication money issues with your healthcare providers.  They will be sure to help find affordable resources for you.  Also discuss, other treatments like proper nutrition and physical therapy which can done in your home.  This makes it easier and allows it to be continued more effectively.  Find what works best for you.  Best health!   

Health Budget & Savings Habit Healthy

As a new year and decade approach, take the time to review again your health bank account.  This starts with your medical condition and diagnoses.  Is everything stable?  Are you in good health?  When you look at your personal health, you can assess present condition and what the cost of your health care has been this year.  it is important to do this to see how much you spent on prevention (routine tests and doctor visit checkups, insurance, etc.) and actual treatment (home health, medication, hospitalization, holistic treatments, glasses, dental, etc,).  

Healthcare costs and coverage change as healthcare itself changes.  The biggest change for the next decade could be healthier people spending less for costly medical treatments; however, it will be patients paying more for medical services, while insurance companies pay less.  This can be quite a challenge especially for those on a limited income.  

It is as important to do a health expense checkup as it is to get a physical checkup every year.  Gather together all information for healthcare expenses in 2019.  Itemize and add up the total.  You may need at least this amount probably for 2020.  Set up a savings account at your bank,  Deposit regular to this account monthly.  Use it only for health costs.  If you have enough cash on hand equal to or more than previous year, start with that amount and try to double it by year's end.  Money you save on health can also be included. 

There is a cost for good health, but you can make it less of your cost by adhering to healthy living. Recent research has shown that non genetic factors may contribute more to disease than genes.  This means maintaining healthy habits while keeping unhealthy habits away.  Over time this in itself will help keep you healthy without overspending.  Prevention costs less than treatment, keeps you healthier and happier.  Best health!

Premarin Pandemonium Prices!

Premarin Vaginal Cream is at an all time high of $379. Insulin is at all time high of unaffordable over $100 per bottle for most people who need it.  Do no harm is the medical mantra yet harm is done each time a person has to even think about buying medication.  Unaffordable prices is hardly the answer to this deceptive dilemma. Stay in the best health you can to prevent medication dependence.  Prevention and early intervention are essential to great health.  Seek alternatives to help you heal and stay well.  

The doctor of the future will give no medicine, but will interest patients in the care of the main frame, in diet, and in the cause and prevention of disease. -Thomas Edison

Best health!


Integrate Medical Treatments
https://mypatienthandbook.blogspot.com/2017/03/medical-treatments-for-your-good-health.html

Money and Your Medication 

https://mypatienthandbook.blogspot.com/2016/09/money-and-your-medication.html

Patient Healthcare Consumers Shop Around

Today's patient healthcare consumer are more savvy and empowered than ever.  When it comes to selection of health services, they know what works best for them. Trying to afford this can be a challenge.  Healthcare shopping is limited to what health providers offer.  This leaves little room for healthcare consumers to choose what is best for them at reasonable, low, competitive prices.  Now that prices for every health service and treatment are the highest ever, the patient is expected to pay these exorbitant expenses.  Health insurance premiums have risen so high so quickly that  it has outpaced people's income which has failed to rise so high so quickly.  The choices for this type of health product are so limited in this age of company mergers which will make the choices even less.  In addition, employers who provide health insurance are requiring the employees to pay more out of their own pocket.


Shopping for medication can be quite costly as well.  The brand name versus generic medication battle is expensive as constant differences erupt over who gets to have what rights.  The healthcare consumer tries to buy what they need for sure.  If they can, they buy less needed medication and use it as needed - sparingly.  Medication that cost the most whether non-prescription or prescription are usually the first to go.  Cheaper alternatives are found as patients learn more about what good health and well-being  can be with lifestyle changes and less medication.  Food, housing, transportation, school come first in most households.  Again, health needs drop further down the list as the budget limit is approached.


For individual health care to work, the health care consumer must have more choices.  The health industry has few choices at big prices.  Unlike any other industry the consumer is unable to procure what they know they need on their own.  A doctor's order or health insurance prior authorization is required to obtain necessary tests from certain providers.  Patient healthcare consumers should be able to shop around for what is best for them - best test at best price conveniently close to their home.  Diagnostic centers are now more plentiful than ever.  You can make your own appointment at where you want to get the test; however permission from a doctor in the form of a referral or prescription is usually required.  Of course, this can delay necessary care.


Similar restrictions are seen in the doctors' offices and hospitals.  The power to purchase and make the decision for your health purchase is anyone but you - the patient!  There are few choices such as the variety available when choosing a car or an ice cream flavor.  As medical reimbursements to health providers are lowered, so will be the choices the healthcare consumer.  Patients are paying more out of their pockets for things not covered by insurance at an alarming rate - more than any time since tracking health care expenditures began!  As more medical decision making and payment is shifted to the patient, more choices are evolving.  For instance, direct primary care is giving patients the opportunity to have a direct agreement with the health care provider of their choice for medical services rendered.  This allows patient healthcare consumers (pun intended) to look for what is best for them.

As more choice and less restrictions occur, patients will have more choices as they should.  You can empower your health with less stress and frustration as a smart healthcare consumer.  Shop around until you find the health services that fit your needs and budget.   Best health!

More Money Saving Medical Tips

Save Your Money on Your Health

Saving money is healthy and good way to promote good health and wellness. Health prices are escalating more rapidly than prices of other services right now.  There are some things you can do to help avert financial stress. This can include:

·       Shop around for best care and prices.  Your insurance company may cover a diagnostic test with partial payment. This may be higher than the actual charge if you pay yourself.  Call places in your area that offer the same test to check for prices that are cheaper and fit your budget.  If your health insurance deductible is a hefty $6,000 or more, this may fail to be attained.  Paying out of pocket may come out less expensive than $6,000.

·       Cook at home.  Home cooked meals are healthier and cheaper.  You can get more meals from unprepared and uncooked grocery items.  The average cost of one restaurant meal without drinks is about $30.  The grocery equivalent would be two or more good, healthy meals cooked to your taste and perfection.

·       Use cheaper non-prescription medication.  There are many over the counter medication that can do the same as more expensive, newer drugs.  Many of these were prescription medication at one time.  They may be safer as well since they have been in use for a longer time, and been proven effective.

·       Exercise at home.  Create your own exercise plan.  Use exercises you learned in school physical education classes.  Simple stretching, arm rolls, jumping jacks, deep knee bends, sit-ups, and more.  Walking and running on land or in the pool are good aerobic activities.  Exercise can also be done in bed and in a chair.

·       Read more.  The cost to read is better health, more knowledge, and more information of your choice.  The actual cost of reading material can be as free as you make it using the library and Internet.

·       Develop a home entertainment program.  Your choices of your interests have proven to be healthier.  There is less stress over programs and their content.  If it must include television, make your own library with your preferred DVDs and TV sticks that attach to the television.  This works on your schedule. It is free of thoughtless commercial time, unpleasant images, and loud opinions that take away from a program’s content.  Cutting the cable cord can be healthy and good for wellness as well as a big money saver.

·       Take more staycation.  Vacations at home and nearer to home can be much healthier, cheaper, and less stressful.

·       Try to buy mainly that which is necessary leaving the desired for another time when extra money is available.  Reward yourself every now and then, but stay within your means.

·       Save consistently.

For more ways to save money check out “10 Money Saving Medical Tips” http://bit.ly/1Gt4f8I .  Best health!

Money and Your Medication

The 2015 United States median income was $56,516.  This is $4719  a month.  After taxes this is approximately $3140 for basic living expense including rent/ mortgage, utilities, food, clothing, healthcare, insurances (home. car, health, etc.), transportation, taxes, and miscellaneous.  Ten percent, $314, could be the price of one medicine you need.  If one of your medication cost this much it is one-tenth of your income.  If you are one other medication , you could be paying as much as 20% just for medication. 
Are you having concerns that your $314-a-month medicine your doctor just prescribed is unaffordable? Is it worth it to overextend your budget?  Can you really afford it?  Do you really need it?  What else must you think about cutting back on?  These are just a few of the thoughts that run through a patient's mind when faced with the dilemma of high prescription prices.  A bigger concern is if the medicine will work and make them better.  If it does not they are possibly sicker plus out of money to pay for the medicine and treatments that do work.


Long gone are the days when patients take everything the doctor gives them or says to them as the final say.  Patients have become more empowered in all ways, but especially with health information.  Once diagnosed you can look up almost everything on your diagnosis including medicine side effects, new treatment options, and even an actual surgical procedures. Multiple treatment options are available that may work better than just prescription or non-prescription medication at much less cost.


When you get that expensive over-your-budget medication, discuss it with your doctor before you get price shell shock at the pharmacy counter.  Many doctors have access to medication prices, and may be able to prescribe something affordable within your budget that will help you.  If you have access to Internet while at your appointment, you can look it up via your local pharmacies website, and/or drug price check websites.  Discuss this and other alternative integrative treatment options with your doctor to find what works best for you and your pocketbook.  Best health!

Chronic Non-Malignant Pain Opiate Options

You got pain?  Take a pill to ease the strain.  Chronic nonmalignant pain affects everyone.  It can be a major cause of personal and family distress.  In addition to the pain of pain many live with secondary effects such as depression which leads to family chaos, work absenteeism, and decrease in activities of daily living to the point of depression.  Prescription medication like nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs include ibuprofen, naproxen, celebrex and more) and opiates (oxycodone, hydrocodone, codeine, morphine and more) are the gold standard for acute and chronic pain management.  Once you have seen the doctor you are most likely to get one or both of these depending on the etiology of the pain.  Once the cause of the pain is found and treated the need for pain medication may cease.  If this fails to work, the pain meds continue.  This can be a hazard to your health.

In 2012 there were about 183,000 deaths worldwide.  In 2014 there were over 47,000 lethal drug overdoses making it the leading cause of accidental death in the United States (2012 statistics: United Kingdom: 3,200, South America/Latin America/ Caribbean: 7300, European Union: 6100, Oceania: 1900).   This exceeds the number of deaths in road accidents in most countries. Research from studies done in 2013 revealed that opioid analgesics were the primary cause of most drug overdoses in the United States.  Over three-quarters of these deaths were accidental or unintentional.  Opioids (75%) were the most common drug followed by benzodiazepines, antidepressants, and antipsychotics.  Prescription pain relievers accounted for over 18,000 overdose deaths.  Misuse of these medications often leads to illicit heroin use.  Why?  It is easier to get and less expensive than prescription opioids even though the rate of prescribing opioids has almost tripled since 1994.  This has increased the mortality rate from overdosing over 400% in women and over 200% in men from 1999 to 2010.

Pain can be managed in ways that use less prescription pain medicine.  The pill may be the easiest way and is usually the first thing a patient is offered.  There are many options to finding relief while decreasing your risk of opiate dependence or overdose. Your doctor can do the following:

• advise on other treatments and refer to appropriate specialists
• discuss risks, side effects, etc of prescription pain drugs
• educate, provide resources for education on the diseases, pain management (articles, books, videos, agencies like Partnership for Drug Free America)
• prescription drug monitoring (doctor-patient contract, drug tests)
• use of non medicinal treatment
• identify risky drug use patterns
• require visits for refills
• referral to pain management specialist
• behavioral therapy consult

Opioid dependence and overdose can be prevented.  Using opioids responsibly is the patient’s responsibility.  It is up to you to recognize what these types of drugs can do to you.  Relief of pain is the objective; however, the addictive potential must be taken into consideration.  It is important to get a correct diagnosis of the pain as there is probably non opiate treatment that can make it tolerable or resolve it totally.  Make opiates the option instead of the treatment of choice.  Best health!

Personalized Precision Medicine

As we look forward to medical breakthroughs of the future, precision medicine becomes more of a reality in your medical care. Precision medicine uses treatment and intervention based on a person’s genetic and non-genetic (e.g. lifestyle, environment).  Unlike the present but ever changing protocols for wellness and disease management that are used on everyone, precision medicine is individualized just for you.  It will be your own prescription for staying well and treating your ailments. 

The basis of precision medicine is genomics.  Sequencing of your genome is done.  This molecular process identifies normal and abnormal genes.  Genomic mutations are studied and tested for different characteristics.  The results of this testing allows for prevention, diagnosis, and treatment based on your molecule makeup within your genes that have been influenced by family history, lifestyle, and environment.  DNA analysis of your genes in addition to a thorough history and physical will help your doctor determine what you have and what health risks may be present.  This information will then be used for further diagnosis and treatment.  Prevention of conditions that you are prone to develop may be less likely to develop if at all.

Precision medicine has become prevalent in drug treatment as well as disease diagnosis.  Clinical pharmacogenetics makes use of patient’s genetic data as a guide for drug therapy.  This information can then help your doctor pick the right medication for you. Pharmacogenetic information for blood thinners like coumadin and clopidogrel can be helpful in choosing which will work best for you with least complications.  Neonatal (newborn) diabetes and mature onset diabetes of the young (MODY) are rare causes of diabetes.  The cause of these types of diabetes is from an inherited mutation of one gene (monogenic).  Genetic testing can make the correct diagnosis that would otherwise be missed or misdiagnosed.  Some cancers have specific gene mutations that can be detected and treated successfully based on this information.  Drugs are made to target these and eradicate the cancer.

Thousands of disease genes and genetic tests have been discovered since the Human Genome Project of 2003.  As costs go down and precision medicine improves, personalized medicine will get more precise.  Prevention instead of treatment will be more likely.  Genetic tests and treatments for the individual will be precisely what the doctor orders for you.  Best health!

Family Health: Allergy vs. Adverse Reaction

Do you know the difference between an allergy and adverse reaction?  When taking medication of any type, prescription or non-prescription, reactions from a single or multiple drugs may occur.  An allergic reaction usually involves allergy symptoms which may include difficulty breathing, hives, and itching.  Adverse reactions may include this and much more essentially indicating your body is unable to tolerate the medicine.

It is important that your health care team is aware of any reactions to medication you have taken.  When asked about allergies be sure to include adverse reactions as well.  It is also important to note any drug-drug and drug-food interactions you may have experienced.  Medication in the same drug class are often offered as alternatives. These can also be adversely tolerated.

Be aware of your medication history and include it in your medical history.  Share this with all of your healthcare providers.  This will assure that you will be unlikely to be prescribed anything that may cause an allergic or adverse reaction.  Best health!

How You Can Save on Health Costs

Rising health care costs are one of the biggest reasons many people refrain from getting medical care when they need it.  Medical care costs deter many from doing what is best for their health. The following suggestions will help you spend your health dollars more wisely.

1. Eat proper foods. This is more healthy and less expensive especially if dining out or ordering in is eliminated.  Deleting junk food reduces expenses as well.  Home cooking is better for you and less costly.
2. Keep weight stable. It is the healthy thing to do. This will save on grocery and clothing expenses as well as long term savings on medical expenses.
3. Get prescription medicines in bulk quantity of 100 versus thirty day supply especially if you are paying outright. Buy nonprescription medication in bulk when on sale. You will be amazed at your savings when you buy a six to twelve month supply on sale. This tip is also effective for emergency preparedness.
4. Talk with your doctor by phone, fax, and email to save on the cost of an office visit payment. Just think about the number of office visits you have been to where all you did was talk (after waiting for a long while). This will save your time and money.
5. Monitor blood pressure at home.  Call in, email, or fax your readings to your health care providers. Many doctors will discover that your blood pressure is actually stable when the stress of the doctor's white coat is absent. For diabetics, a home glucometer is very useful for monitoring blood sugar.
6. Maintain healthy lifestyle changes long term.
7. Do routine health maintenance check-ups and testing.  Prevention and early detection have proven cost effective and good for overall health.

Invest in your most important asset - YOU. Maintaining your good health is one of the best ways to prosper into longevity.  Best health!

Family Health: Guide Yourself to Quality Healthcare

Consumer demand, new drugs and medical technologies, litigation, higher insurance premiums, and other factors have all been fueling rising healthcare costs. At the same time, many patients justifiably feel that medical services have become increasingly impersonal. Too often, quality attention from the proverbial family doctor has been replaced by the “assembly line” approach of faceless bureaucracies. How is a patient to successfully navigate this modern maze of providers, specialists, insurers, and so forth and at the same time get the attention they need to maintain personal (not to mention financial) health? 

Patient Handbook to Medical Care: Your Personal Health Guide
offers an overview of the healthcare system from a different point of view and advises patients on how they can take their health into their own hands by becoming both informed and proactive.

As Dr. Richardson eloquently puts it:

In our society we are accustomed to taking a doctor’s word on the state of our medical condition and treatment whether or not we understand it and either without asking any questions or without getting adequate answers to the questions we might pose. Today that might not be a healthy situation. It is necessary to be informed to get the most from your health plan and to get the best medical care from the medical resources available in the healthcare system. By reading this book, you will find out how to take charge of your most important asset—you.

This philosophical perspective is that the patient, insofar as it is possible, needs to take charge of his or her health care self care. 

The book is structured in a logical, reader-friendly manner, providing overviews of all the major topics related to healthcare, from effective record keeping to obtaining quality health coverage.

The first step toward taking charge of your health is keeping accurate medical records and a medical diary. Patients are offered a detailed overview of how their doctor visit should go educating readers about all the various aspects of a routine physical or checkup.  Patients will recognize whether they are receiving quality, comprehensive care, and will know what they should be getting.  The core philosophy is that knowledge offers patients more health options and better health.  Subsequent chapters educate patients about the importance of preventive checkups, common medical tests, the various kinds of doctors and specialists, and healthcare quality.

Patient Handbook to Medical Care: Your Personal Health Guide is essential knowledge in an easy-to-assimilate large print format bound paperback book (adjustable print on e-books). Readers will walk away from the book with a much clearer idea of what to expect from the healthcare system, and what to do to ensure the preservation of their own health.  Best health!

Your Choice: Medication or Food?

As health care costs rise everyone is looking for ways to save and cut costs. Recent studies and polls reveal that many are foregoing their medicine for other necessities of life like food and shelter.  Patient compliance has dropped to a new low.  Patients are taking their medication as needed when their budget allows.  This means less to none on a daily basis. Many are finding this indeed saves money, and possibly affects their health outcome minimally.

As food is the sustenance of life, many are making healthier choices.  This helps their medical maladies as well.  For hypertension and diabetes proper food choices can often alleviate the need for “stronger” treatment with medication. As more patients learn about dietary management and adhere to it, they find that they can indeed save money.

Talk to your healthcare provider if you are noncompliant with your medication because of the cost, or side effects that may cause other conditions requiring more medication, more money.  Be sure to get formal diet and nutrition counseling.  This will help make the right choices when you shop for food.  Contrary to popular myth, healthy food is actually affordable.  Shop smart to save your money and your health!     

High Blood Pressure Home Remedies

Treating hypertension with lifestyle changes that promte good habits is key to staying 120/80, the normal blood pressure reading. Of course, maintainimg healthy weight for your height, eating the right foods, regular exercise, limited alcohol intake, avoidance of cigarettes and severe stress help. If these things fail to keep you 120/80 then you will need blood pressure medication prescribed by your primary care physician or cardiologist.

Many regimens start with a diuretic ("water pill") either alone or combined with any other medication groups like beta blockers, angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitors, calcium channel blockers, and more. Many of these have lots of side effects as well as create new medical problems (e.g. diuretics can cause loss of potasssium resulting in cramping, heart rhythm abnormalities; beta blockers can cause bradycardia, exacerbate asthma, COPD). When used in combination this can worsen. Home remedies may offer healthier and safer treatment.

Some high blood pressure home treatments include:
- honey and onion juice in equal amounts equal to 2 teaspoons daily
- garlic clove daily
- foods: fruits esp banannas, oranges, apples, watermelon. papaya; fish (less
red meat; vegetables especially carrots, spinach; whole grains; low fat
- apple cider vinegar 2 tablespoons daily
- aloe vera
- tea (black, green, hibiscus)
- coconut water ("noelani")

Many of these remedies also help other maladies, but more importantly they are natural, wholesome and inexpensive requiring no prescription. Remember to also halt the salt!

Best health!

Nootropic Neurological Nonsense - Limitless?

Are you looking for mind bending treatment that will make you smarter as well as more mentally and physically efficient?  The neurochemical nootropics, the so-called "smart drugs", are finally getting the recognition they deserve. Though medical evidence is inconclusive, these drugs supposedly improve every aspect of mental cognition including memory, concentration, acuity allowing for smarter, quicker human function.  It sounds like a sure bet for anyone with Alzheimer's disease, ADD, and just pure laziness. They are commonly taken to keep one alert, increase energy, improve memory, and to decrease mental decline in aging.

So why is your doctor failing to offer you such a great "pick-me-up" medication?  Considered both a natruceutical dietary herbal supplement and recreational drug may make it difficult for your doctor to prescribe it for you.  But who needs a prescription? Premium prices for bulk amounts are available for the consumer patient to buy on line, and in specialty stores.  For instance $25 will buy you 120 of Piracetam's mega 800 mg capsules, or 60 tablets of BrainAlert with it's 24 "natural" ingredients (far too many for one pill, some toxic). Designer versions of nootropics are available also.  These are usually more recreationally formulated with less exact ingredients.

Side effects and adverse reactions including drug addiction may occur especially if the drug is withdrawn after long term use.  For this reason alone, doctors may be hesitant to prescribe it; however, it is easily available elsewhere.   The off-label recreational use of nootropics can be especially dangerous if addiction occurs.  You may be and feel "superpowered" until the drug wears off and withdrawal sets in if you lack more pills.

Upgrading your body and mind with smart pills can be productive or destructive. Can this nootropic neurological nonsense be "limitless"?

NOTE: For more context and perspective watch the brilliant film Limitless which shows how a writer achieves success and riches using nootropics.

Know Your Medication Names - Brand & Generic

Please welcome, guest blogger, Ellen Richter for this post. Know your medication!

If you take a brand-name drug, you should learn all the other names for the drug. I cared for a patient last month who had been taking Plavix for a mini-stroke since 2001. He knew that he should never stop taking the drug, so when he was hospitalized, he asked his nurse what medications his doctor ordered. She told him baby aspirin and clopidogrel. He never heard of clopidogrel so he called his wife & had her bring in his Plavix. He thought the hospital wasn't giving it to him! Every day, he silently took his own Plavix without telling the staff and then was given the daily dose, in generic form, by the nurses! If only he knew the different names for his drugs! He assumed the generic clopidogrel was a new pill the doctor had started him on!

Ellen Richter, RN, CLNC is a legal nurse consultant and founder of South Florida Legal Nurse Consultant Service, specializing in medical record review.
http://www.findlegalnurse.com/index.html

Medication Mimics Disease

Medication mimics disease. Medication mimics disease. Medication mimics disease. This is one of the first medical pearls I learned in medical school. Tried an true. Time and again I have found it to be truer than I would like to believe.

I first wrote about this last year as my father was recovering from heart bypass surgery. Click the following link to read the blog on this after you finish reading this one, http://bit.ly/Dsr8H. I have experienced this myself and this time I know it is the medication that caused my recent asthma attacks.

When you are on more than one medication, it is hard to tell if it is the medication or another illness. In an effort to treat one problem, you develop another that makes you feel worse than what you have been treated for.

I was so pleased to see my blood pressure responding to about the fifth medicine my doctors had tried without success. Finally, the "magic" medication was working! After a few daily doses of this 24 hour, long acting, slow release pill, I started getting short of breath and wheezing. The asthma flareup was not responding to regular use of inhalers.

I could see no other cause for my asthma, so I decided to stop the blood pressure med. After two days the asthma attacks became less frequent, but remained. I went back to my medicine cabinet, and figured it must be another new med. I decided to read the drug information for side effects. Quite naturally, I trusted my doctors would know this was a side effect, and not give it to me since I have asthma (or not?). I read up on the side effects of yet another muscle relaxant "sample" my doctor had issued me. All my doctors missed this, and instead chose to give more med for the asthma.

I took matters into my own hands again, and stopped the other medication. After two days these 24 hour, long acting, "magic" meds were out of my system the asthma was gone, and I started feeling a lot better!

Medication mimics disease. Yes, it does. This was only one lesson learned. As I blogged before (http://bit.ly/r1snG), you should be reading the same information as your doctor on your medication and side effects. Well, if your doctor is not reading it, what are you going to do? Read it yourself, or get someone to read it to you!

You would like to think your doctor knows, but they don't especially if they are giving out new medication samples routinely. Second lesson, doctors are so eager to try new meds and to satisfy the drug reps that give them. This means they may get a financial incentive or some other "prize", and they will get more free samples.

Third lesson, we as patients are so eager to see results and feel better that we do as prescribed. We would like to know our doctor would "do no harm". Doctors hardly have or take the time to read about new medication. They just give it out, and if they pray, pray for the best.

Finally, once daily long acting medication sounds convenient. it is, but once you take it it lingers in your body longer. The side effects are continuous. When you have more than one medication, and more than one long acting, you can get a new disease or severe exacerbation of another.

Look out for yourself. Read up on your medicines before you take them. Check with your pharmacist who may be of some help (my pharmacist was unaware like my docs). Talk with others who may take the same. I would say call the drug company, but am hesitant to say if they would own up to whatever side effects you may be having.

Medication mimics disease. When in doubt, start with medication adjustment. Discuss it with your doctor, if you are able to get them before you succumb to another disease caused by medication.

Best, safe health to all!


By J.L. Richardson, MD, family medicine doctor, patient, patient advocate, and author of the award winning Patient Handbook to Medical Care: Your Personal Health Guide.

www.mypatienthandbook.com/
www.blogtalkradio.com/drjfpmd
www.twitter.com/MD4U

Sicker from Med or Illness

You just had that coronary heart bypass, and you have been prescribed several new medication pertaining to that and other conditions that popped up during your hospitalization for the surgery. You go to see specialists for these new diagnoses, and you get more medication. So you have over ten different medications to take now. You thought you would be getting along much better by now, but something is just not right. Are your conditions getting worse?

You may think that you are getting worse from the illness, but could it be the medicine? You decide to get out the Physician's Desk Reference (PDR) and the Internet to research the medication you are taking. Upon discharge from the hospital you received information sheets about each medicine, but the information seems so scanty. Sure enough, you are right.

The PDR and Internet gives details about side effects and drug interactions you had no idea could occur. You wonder why the doctor didn't tell you one of the drugs could cause blindness, fatal lung disease, hepatitis, hyper- and hypothyroidism, loss of appetite, anorexia, constipation, worsening of the condition for which it has been given, etc., etc. As you read further you find this drug should not be used with two other medications you have been prescribed.

You no longer have to wonder why your recovery has been slower than expected, and why you feel so bad. You have been overmedicated! Here you were thinking you were getting sicker from your diagnoses and surgery.

Take the time to read about medicines you are prescribed. You may find that you are not as sick as you thought you were. Overmedication can easily mimic as well as bring on symptoms of many disease conditions, and make you feel worse than that for which you are being treated.

by J.L. Richardson, MD, family practice doctor, patient advocate, and author of Patient Handbook to Medical Care: Your Personal Health Guide, a Writers Digest International Self- Published Book Award winner.

www.mypatienthandbook.com/
www.blogtalkradio.com/drjfpmd
www.twitter.com/MD4U

Medication Information for Patients

Should patients receive the same information about medication that doctors get? YES!


The information from the drug company that comes with the medication should be given to the patient. After all the patient is the one taking the medicine. The benefits and the risks should be readily available; however, this is very seldom the case. Most of the time the doctor has not read this information, and does not give it to the patient. There is usually a lot to read. There is so much to read that most drug companies use extremely small print on a 10 foot long sliver of paper to tell about the drug. Fortunately, this information is now available on the Internet drug company web sites.

How many doctors or pharmacists even get to the last page of "patient counseling information"? If there is specific patient information, why is it at the end? Why is there information "for doctors only"? Why is the patient information so different from the doctor information?

Medication errors occur far too frequently to leave the patient out. Medication awareness for patients should be as important as diagnosis and treatment. Full disclosure of the good, bad and ugly effects of medication should be available to anyone who wants to know about it - especially the one taking it.


By J.L. Richardson, MD, family medicine doctor, patient, patient advocate, and author of the award winning Patient Handbook to Medical Care: Your Personal Health Guide.

www.mypatienthandbook.com
www.blogtalkradio.com/drjfpmd - book excerpts read by author.
www.twitter.com/drjfpmd

Drug Prices Cheaper With Coupons?

This week my doctor gave me samples (about 4 to be exact) of a new medication he thought would benefit me. He also gave me a coupon for up to $30 off with the written prescription he gave me. On this coupon your patient information must be disclosed. There is space for your name, address, and a check box "if payment to pharmacy".

I call it a coupon. The drug company calls it a copay assistance card. If by chance, your pharmacy does not accept the copay card it instructs you to complete the personal information and mail it in with your pharmacy receipt (cost to mail another 43 cents).

There are all sorts of codes listed on the card in a small box. What does this mean? It seems like some secret tagging process.

I have two issues with this - the privacy afforded patients by HIPAA , and the copay card itself. If you get "up to $30 off", that can only mean that the medication is at least $29.99. This is an average amount for any monthly supply of meds as far as I am concerned.

Thank you, but no thank you, doc. Did it ever dawn on you that I may not be able to fit this in my already tight medical budget? I would have appreciated more samples especially if you have prescribed it to help me. Even information about the drug would have been welcome.

I was turned down for more samples even after shouting down the hall that this seemed unaffordable. I was denied the time to even think about asking for written drug information. Makes you go hmmm....


J.L. Richardson, M.D. is author of the award winning (soon to be NY Times bestseller), Patient Handbook to Medical Care: Your Personal Health Guide.

http://mypatienthandbook.com/