Are you proactive regarding your healthcare?

I would love to be able to take just herbal remedies instead of all the chemicals I'm putting into my body. I'm a great believer in natural remedies.
However, for some of us with chronic conditions it is not an option.
Forty years ago, I was in intensive care and if I hadn't been pumped full of steroids, I wouldn't be here today. Herbal remedies would have had no effect.
You have to take charge of your own health, and weigh what option is the best for you against the horrible side effects of some medication.
Horses for courses.

Can I recommend this book, ‘Too Many Pills’ written by Dr James Le Fanu. It’s an excellent read, very informative, and useful. Really puts the taking of mountains of into perspective. I downloaded it to my Kindle, but it’s available in paperback form too. It’s well worth reading.

I do take two prescription drugs ( review appt with GP today) I take an oral medication for my type 2 diabetes although because it is very well controlled I have halved the dosage I was put on at diagnosis and a station again half the original dosage . I'm happy to take both , take the statin because cholesterol was raised and my father family all had a history of heart disease and diabetes increases heart risk. However I question everything new. My blood pressure was raised when I had my check ups with the nurse so new doctor wanted to put me on blood pressure tablets. I didn't want to do that so asked for 24 hour monitoring and as I thought when I went back for the results pressure absolutely normal so no medication . I wouldn't just agree to everything and would always make sure I knew what I was taking. I don't react that well to medication when I have taken opiates and antihistamines in the past have reacted badly to both so am careful with new stuff. It's your body!

Statin not station. Why does iPad change things!

Yes, we cannot rely on our GPs alone. After all they've only got a short timeframe in which to diagnosis. A GP I'd never seen before told me at a review that I should come off my tablets. This was without any checks. I paid for a second opinion from a private doctor - and he was horrified! I'd done the right thing to query it. I hated doing it but I've made a formal complaint. I could have died - it was that serious. I make a list of all my questions before I go and use Google if I need further back up. It really is a question of knowing your body. Gone are the days when we just visited our GP and waited our turn; we must take the initiative and do some preparation ourselves. Times have changed!

I know exactly what drugs I am taking and why. I query anything I am not sure about.

I have a friend, an ex nurse who has started talking about the white tablets and pink tablets. She is type 1 diabetic and leaves ordering her prescription until the last minute and if her pharmacist had to order the insulin she would be up a creek- so stupid.

As a nurse I always found it disheartening when I cam across patients who just didn't want to know how to manage their own condition and of course sadly they didn't do as well as people who made it their business to try to understand their treatment plans.

I seem to have experienced medics who are a bit too keen to 'involve the patient in their care'. Recently, at my knee replacement I was consulted on the best anaesthetics and post op pain relief. A whole host of medications and substances were mentioned. I hadn't a clue and no time to google. I couldn't possibly say and had to end up saying 'You're the doctor!'

I am of course taking full responsibility for my rehab I just don't have a knowledge of pharmacology!

I think that if you are willing to go to the lengths that you did ie; take neighbour to the docs and listen to her chat about what the doc said etc, you could easily have looked up the names of the tablets and creams to get the whole picture as to what conditions they are meant to allieve. You say you have done this research before, so why not do it for your neighbour as she seems not to have the mental capacity to retain information nor to seek out that info online?

* alleviate not allieve...oops!

I have a serious medical problem and eventually was referred to a lovely consultant who 'thinks out loud' and we can follow her decisions. My husband comes with me to appointments and actively helps me to manage my condition. Two memories are better than one when it comes to remembering what was said.

He is ex military and monitors my exercise! I was marched along the prom yesterday and when we got back to the car, he checked his watch and commented '45 minutes, maintained a good pace and not out of breath'. It's quite funny, I just enjoyed the walk.

Sorry not to have read all the posts, but surely at least the name of the medication was written on it? would it not be possible to Google it on her behalf, or did you feel that would be intrusive, perhaps?

I used to work in a hospital, and was staggered at how many patients didn’t know either the names of their drugs, or what they were for. A friend of my mother takes her statins “when she feels she needs one”!

I have to be proactive as I have a rare condition that most Doctors haven't heard of or think thhey knoww but don't. So all my referrals have been fully researched by me and then I request a referral to a specific Dr. at a specific hospital. I now travel to st Thomas' and Guys for my consults and all I use the local hospital for is blood tests etc. My Gp is great, has done his best to become knowledgeable about my condition and never argues or disagrees. I'm due to have risky surgery in October which he thinks I shouldn't have but he understands I've found the best person to perform the surgery and no I don't want to die or suffer a massive stroke while having surgery it's a risk I have to take. My sons are fully onboard as they know how much pain I'm in every day and know how much research I've put in to finding the person best suited to do the surgery. being in the dark about my prospects of survival would be completely alien to me. I ask questions all the time.

When I was in my mid-thirties I had a full blown stroke. I weighed in at 9st... so not overweight... I had two kids 5 and 18 months...and did NOT smoke. I was in a London hospital for couple of weeks. My blood pressure was 110/70 at time of stroke. It came out of the blue! On being discharged I have never felt so miserable , defeated and dejected. I had been given a mountain of pills to swallow and when I asked my G.P what they were for I was told they were for blood pressure... heart!!... breathing... you name it they come up with it!! The beta-blockers were the worst... I couldnt function as a wife or mother and my mum had to take time from her life to look after me and my kids. After six weeks I threw the lots down the toilet and flushed it!! It was either that or flush my life down the toilet. My mum was frantic ...so worried for me but I said I couldn't live like it especially as I'd been told it was 'for life The medics were panicking over me ... They didn't know why it had happened and just threw every pill they could at me. Many doctors have tried especially since I hit 50 to put me back on this barrage of pills. I will not live like it! I take a pill for my stomach problem because I know why I take it and also the consequences of NOT taking it! That's it for me now. I will never swallow another pill unless it is catergorically stated WHY I need it and the consequences of NOT taking it. I'm 67 and I've never felt fitter since my twenties. I do have arthritis in quite a few joints but swimming and walking help me to stay mobile. Painkillers when ABSOLUTELY necessary.

My friend's elderly mother was taking various prescribed drugs for ages. Her GP retired, and the new one called in all the elderly patients for a 'medication check.' After consulting her, and her medical records, he declared, "You don't need that, or that, or that!" She is now on minimal medication, and her mental alertness and general health have improved.
As for me - I question anything my GP wants to put me on, and have resisted his efforts to take statins. My heart, cholesterol levels and blood pressure are all fine. He once grumbled that "The graveyard is full of people like you!" but I am almost 79, medication free, fairly fit and active, and a darn sight healthier than most of my contemporaries.
I would rather drop dead of a heart-attack anyway, than moulder away from dementia in a nursing home!

The problem is people perceive the NHS as being free so often don't finish taking their pills or understand what the pills are for which doctors prescribe. There's also no cure for stupidity, I'm afraid. It's also about time people were fined for no show appointments as it costs the NHS millions every year.
If everyone had to leave a £20 deposit when they registered with a doctor then this could be taken for a missed appointment and the patient would have to replace it before they could make another one. Again, before a hospital appointment a larger one off deposit should be required to ensure people keep their appointments. This would have to apply to everyone carte blanche. Just one/two less packets of fags would cover it and it might help to focus people's minds on the cost of healthcare!! Anyone not on this register of 'depositees' will be instantly shown as a health tourist and required to produce a credit card!

From the OP last paragraph - my late mother was very much of the era that you don’t ask questions of professional peoplle bank managers, teachers and alike but doctors especially.

Over the years I never knew what she was hospitalised for, just a vague a problem with my foot or an operation for women’s problems or even more vaguely a big operation. If I asked my dad he would say if your mother wants you to know she will tell you. She did tell other members of the family, but if I asked them they would say the see as my dad.

I found it so infuriating as you need to give your family medical history for many things insurance, anything medical, I just guessed in the end. The implications of this secrecy has been at times detrimental to my health as on more than one occasion I have been told one of your parents must have suffered from this...

She died suffering from dementia and throat cancer and those two illnesses I have definite confirmation of.

She never understood the implications of not telling me, sad.

My daughter is a doctor. She is not a god, she is a very hardworking, stressed exhausted human being who does her best for her patients. But she does not know everything especially if patients are not forthcoming and she would agree that being proactive about your own health is essential.

On occasion, I check things on the Mayo Clinic's website. When I tell my GP 'and other docs "I saw it on the MC website" they usually have nothing negative to say. Plus, the site gives sensible comments on alternative medicine, not bashing it out of hand.

I absolutely agree you question and check everything. After a recent cholesterol test I was advised to take statins. Before I agreed to take them, and I was quite willing to do so, I asked my GP what difference taking them and reducing my cholesterol to the approved level would make to my risk of a heart attack or stroke.

It turned out that my risk of a stroke or heart attack was so low for my age, even with highish cholesterol, that taking statins would make a difference of less than 3%. I decided not to take them.

MaryDoll, you must have a forgiving nature. I'm horrified at GPs who don't revue medications and treatments. The medical centre I attend has recently employed its own in-house pharmacist who advised me that the pills I'd been prescribed by doctors for years were not a good idea. I discontinued those pills with no evil effect whatsoever.

I regularly google my medications and my aches and pains. This morning I bought three health- related items from Amazon, which I had googled about sans any advice from the GP.

Regarding blood pressure meds. You should take them more or less as prescribed. Although most of us would rather drop dead than endure the fatigue that these pills often cause, it's not dropping dead that is the problem. The problem is long term disability from stroke, unless you control surges in blood pressure.

Mawbroon. It appears your friend could do with some back up. Her son does not appear to be of much help. You say you took her to the doctor? were you in on the GP visit. ? or only the provider of transport.? With a persons permission, and you don't have to be their carer, you can be present and ask questions of the GP that will assist a patient who may be finding it difficult to understand for them selves what their prescription is for.
I think the world 'general' speaks for itself.? We are frequently directed to 'consultants' who are specialists in a certain field that our general P's have but a limited amount of knowledge of and I would not depend on the internet for self diagnosis and cure as we may be taking a substance that will do more harm than good.