Re: things that make me feel old
 

Now you come to mention it , that is true, my parents have known a lot of people who have died recently, some of them were 80+ but not one of them died of `old age` every one of them had this, that or the other........:confused:

Re: things that make me feel old
 

Your so right kate, I only wish I could do without medication but I can't, I have always looked into the drugs I'm prescribed, I read up about them and look at the side effects or the interaction with other drugs, some drugs boost the effect of other drugs and some reduce the effectiveness. Thanks to mike I now have a copy of Mims, which also tells you the cost of drugs too, which is very interesting to say the least. Only this morning of Breakfast TV they were describing a new drug which has five preventative effects, but the only trouble with it is actually getting a drugs company to manufacture it, because its so cheap to produce and no profit in it:rolleyes:

Re: things that make me feel old
 

They say that this polypill has no side effects, but then they would say that wouldn't they?
Lots of drugs have been marketed with a loud trumpeting of the phrase'no side effects'.....but then who have they tested it on? What research criteria did they use?

Many of todays drugs are given to women when they were only tested on men.....scientists now know that this was wrong and that women react very differently than men to drugs.

The Doctor prescribes a pill, which needs another pill to control the side effects of the first pill(even if the side effect is something fairly innocuous...like, say constipation...it will still affect the quality of your life) and before you know where you are you are queueing up for your carrier bag of medicines that you never thought you needed...because you were a healthy 42 year old.

Thank you, but no thank you!

Re: things that make me feel old
 

Mass medication of the over 50s :eek:
Am I the only one who doubts this is well intended?
Our health service masks symptoms with drugs that cause more symptoms which need more drugs - a downward spiral to an early death.
I have recently read a book 'Never Be Sick Again' by Raymond Francis
He talks sense
YouTube - Preview of interview with Raymond Francis

Re: things that make me feel old
 

my aunty becoming a grandma since she is only 3 years older than me !! :eek::eek::eek:

Re: things that make me feel old
 

In all fairness every drug you take has a side effect
Its about risk assesment
The drug companies do finance that research and assesment too
If this wasn't done there wouldnt be medication available to us
Its hugely important for quality and maintainance of life
The studies taken seriously are double blind and ongoing for many years so they 'hold water'
They employ medical practitioners for balanced input and feedback
Drug companies really cannot afford a 'disaster' They are a business, Yes, a commercial company, Yes.
They fill a Need

Re: things that make me feel old
 

Oh and I spend hours researching preventative medicine, implimenting health promotion and battering Health organisations with letters, attending meeting to push a proposal forward just to get funding to impliment care and prevent illness
people then find something to complain about and it holds back progress. We are so very privileged here and we forget to be Grateful!
I Know for a fact! Most of you wouldnt be here now if it werent just for ie. penicillin! and the drug companies research and improve that into variable formats for us all...then profit, create jobs, and spend...

Re: things that make me feel old
 

I for one am thankful for penicillin Susie, well I was that is. I found out in January that I am now resistant to it, which was a bit of a knockback, especially when I was told I had a Staff infection which was treatable with Erythromycin, wonderful I though, you see I'm allergic to it, so they had to come up with an alternative

Re: things that make me feel old
 

My gut was damaged by antibiotics (caused e-coli/pseudomembranous colitis).- My ability to absorb nutrients is impaired.
This problem was further exaggerated by prescription antacid meds.

The health problems I now have are a direct result of prescription drugs.

I have no faith whatsoever in our health service's ability to 'cure' me or to 'protect' me from further health problems.

PS http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/3856289.stm

Re: things that make me feel old
 

they had a major disaster susie- "Thalidomide"

Re: things that make me feel old
 

I cannot take penicillin, and the allergy to it could have cost me my life.
Susie, I do take on board what you are saying.......but there are many people within government who influence the decisions about our healthcare without true regard for the needs of individuals.

And the drug companies do make vast amounts of money regardless of the fact that there have been numerous disastrous marketings of what were thought to be 'safe' medicines(think thalidomide, think the hormones that were originally given in pregnancy to prevent miscarriage......and the subsequent vaginal cancers in those young women)......and while I accept that they are in business to make money.....I don't think that the way forward is to bamboozle the ageing population into thinking that life cannot be acceptable without the intervention of the medical profession and the introduction of mass medication.

Another thought occured to me. If you do take the polypill(which won't be marketed for maybe another 5 or10 years....they are still doing tests on it.....on the Indian population apparently) and you have a reaction/side effect.......how will you know which component of this 'magic pill' is responsible for it?

We could be doing so much more to make the lives of the older/elderly population more comfortable/more pleasant, and perhaps even more productive by other means that just making sure they live longer.......you should add life to years, not years to life.(The Oxford Handbook of Clinical Medicine)

Re: things that make me feel old
 

I agree with all you have said Margaret P- but wish to add-
I am becoming convinced that we are seeing the beginning of a deliberate policy to mass medicate the population to suit their ends, not ours.
It is time that people realise that doctors are the puppets of the pharmacutical companies.

Re: things that make me feel old
 

Margaret, that is what I was alluding to without actually saying it.

Re: things that make me feel old
 

Susie, I want to be responsible for my own health status.......by doing the things that I feel are right for me.....not smoking, living a moderate life, staying active......not taking drugs recreational or prescribed.
I don't want to take a 'one size fits all potion'....or to have medical personnel advising me how to live my life.

I do not wish to stop true progress in medicine.......but I don't want to be used by the pharmaceutical industry to boost their already healthy profits.

Re: things that make me feel old
 

I wish to amend my post#39
I had C-diff, not e-coli - both have similar effects - severe diarrheoa and vomiting, dehydration, and sometimes death.
Pseudomembranous colitis - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The use of broad-spectrum antibiotics such as clindamycin and cephalosporins causes the normal bacterial flora of the bowel to be altered. In particular, when the antibiotic kills off other, competing bacteria in the intestine, any bacteria remaining will have less competition for space and nutrients there. The net effect is to permit much more extensive growth than normal of certain bacteria. Clostridium difficile is one such type of bacterium. In addition to proliferating in the bowel, the C. diff also elaborates a toxin. It is this toxin that is responsible for the diarrhea which characterizes pseudomembranous colitis.In most cases a patient presenting with pseudomembranous colitis has recently been on antibiotics. Antibiotics disturb the normal bowel bacterial flora. Clindamycin is the antibiotic classically associated with this disorder, but any antibiotic can cause the condition