In my 10 years of being a nurse mostly for the elderly, but also for younger patients as well, too many patients simply accept what the doctor tells them without any critical overlay of thinking.
First, doctors are human beings. They have had a great deal of schooling, true, but they don’t know you, not even one zillionth as good as you know you.
When we go to the doctor and he decides that you “NEED” a particular medication… start with these simple questions:
- Why is he prescribing the medication?
- What symptoms were you experiencing?
- Was there alternative options available to address the symptoms?
- What are the possible side effects? (you need to do your own risk/reward analysis here)
These are just few questions we need to ask before we “just listen (blindly)” to the doctor and start the medication.
Medications do save lives and I am completely on board taking medications but only after we do a due diligence.
I can tell you from EXPERIENCE in my own life that the parameters that most doctors use as a prescription guide are a guideline at best.
Let me try and explain what I mean:
As we age our bodies change and with that, the parameters should follow suit to what the patient’s baseline might be.
One thing I have noticed as I have gotten older is that my temperature runs lower than the “normal perimeters” at 97.0 and so when my temperature 99, that means that I am actually running a fever. I have seen over and over that as we age our core temperature changes.
What is your normal?
Cholesterol parameters are a big deal these days.
The acceptable cholesterol perimeters have recently changed. The acceptable numbers were lowered, which means that the doctors started prescribing statin drugs hand over fist to comply with the new lower parameters.
WHO decides what the acceptable cholesterol level should be? Its not who you think it would be and its not changed based on data. (Do some research here – you’ll be amazed)
Statin drugs have terrible side effects, some are not reversible after you stop taking them.
There are many alternatives that are available. By alternatives, this means much more than popping something in your mouth! (Exercise, diet – which means maybe NOT popping something in your mouth, fish oil, fiber, oatmeal (yuk) )
Ask the questions and DEMAND answers.
I have some things that Marlan and I use to control cholesterol and will be happy to share if your interested. I’ll put more and more of these over on my “shop corner” that my dear husband has setup for me: Sheris Shopping Corner
Blood pressure parameters are set by whom?
All of the sudden we all need to fit that HIGHLY generic mold.
That is not the way to live our life. We need to have data that we collect with our own bodies and symptoms. Again as we age things change, so if we are being proactive and managing our health, we will know when a blood pressure med makes since. ( I will be posting a how to monitor and collect data for our doctors appointments) Blood pressure can vary day to day and so its important to have DATA.
These are just a few things I will be discussing at length as I continue with my teaching series on better health. If you have any questions, please email me and I will be happy to do my best to find you the answer. Also please feel free to share with your friends and family that are currently taking medications.