out of the mouths of docs, +
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tweeter Offline
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Caution  out of the mouths of docs, +
1. This was said during a short talk with a smart doc I know fairly well, re my lack of tolerance for medications in general. It has become more serious in this time of med-resistant microbes, some of which are the result of over-prescribing of antibiotics, etc.

I was asked if I had anything at home for severe allergic reactions. The ailment in question was a minor one. The only thing I could come up with was anaphylaxis as a reason for such extremes, a condition I've never experienced. I asked and the doc nodded sheepishly. I replied that I didn't, adding that the treatment could be f*t*l in my case, and got an affirmative nod. I let this doc know that I would never take medications with high risk factors, because I'm a poor candidate for a subsequent good quality of life.

That makes me increasingly untreatable for even some routine ailments. That is, until there is a change in orientation by those developing meds. wtf!

In order to avoid litigation, docs will put their patients at risk in every possible way. But there's more to it than that. In recent years, docs do not have alternative pharmaceutical means, and drug development sometimes goes on a risky wild goose chase, rather than being willing to accept that humanity is not cured by drugs alone.
Also to be considered is the perceived cost ineffectiveness of developing truly new treatments, to be offered to the public at reasonable cost, that insurance companies running medical care, will pay for. The insurance companies control this, and get into diagnostics.

As govt. funding for basic research dried up, the void was picked up by pharmacological companies. There's a lot going on which is politically and economically driven. Also due to the fundamental greed, indifference, and hurtful pride of sectors of humanity that we depend upon. The sad thing is that many docs feel as helpless as we do. The access that is so highly spoken of is an illusion.

2. When I required post-surgical pain med to take with me for short-term use (not more than a week), I had allergies or other sensitivities to the commonly prescribed. Vicodin gave relief, then pain (headache, muscle pain) shortly after. I was told I could take it and take something else for the pain the Vicodin caused. I told the doc he was nuts.
After a trip to the ER, I was given a small scrip for the morphine pills I had requested to begin with. The reason for original refusal was this med is constipating. True. That can be gotten around. There's more to this story, but not to the point of it.


The point I'm making is patient beware. The docs parrot what they're told to say, though some remain uncomfortable with this and will admit to it, while still holding to the party line. What choice do they have? There's nothing else available, because it's not worth the cost and time (time is money) to develop truly new products and produce them reliably. Just as there's pressure to keep our energy sources as is as long as there's money to be made, and it's less expensive to do that than to develop and build the substructure to produce acceptable alternatives. No money? There's been trillions wasted otherwise.

It's bad enough with cheaper generics (sometimes because of inferior production standards, or ingredients, even packaging) that can lack across the board equivalence. With the emergence of biosimilars, stalled as that is, it could become even more of an open season. (See Wall Street Journal, Biotech Drugs Still Won't Copy. Feb. 2013. By Weaver, Whalen, & Rockoff.)

tweeter
"Even the very emptiest of the emptiest
Has a false bottom, a false bottom."
(This post was last modified: 03-21-2013, 03:57 PM by tweeter.)
03-21-2013, 03:52 PM
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