Health Tips - Drug Side Effects
The number of drugs available is in the hundreds. Those hundreds have multiple brand names and variations. No medical doctor or pharmacist could possibly remember all the side effects of all those drugs.
As most patients are on multiple prescriptions, this presents a much larger problem. While no doctor could remember all the side effects for one prescription, no person anywhere can even look up the effects of combining two or more prescriptions. There is simply no such research about chemical interactions between two prescriptions. Basically, taking two or more drugs, you are on your own. You are the experiment!
It is important to remember this when your MD is pushing drugs in your direction. Even if they mean well, if two or more drugs are involved, your MD cannot promise you will not have a weird interaction. That type of research is just not done! Considering again how many drugs there are, it really may not be possible.
Here are my key suggestions:
- Before you swallow your next pill or use a hormone cream, look up several sources to see what possible side effects you might have from that drug.
- Realize that those side effects are real possibilities, or they wouldn’t be listed. Do not disregard them as “not going to happen to me”.
- Realize that you and only you are 100% responsible for what you swallow.
- If you have two conditions for which you need more than one prescription, please read the Manage your Health section for help on how to manage by your statistics.
- Research natural cures and successes for your conditions, such as you will find here. For most conditions, natural remedies do exist.
Read my other health tips about drugs, prescription and otherwise.
Know before you swallow!
Dr. Anita Mary Pepi DC
May 4, 2011