Overdrugged with prescriptions to handle side effects

Using Viagra to treat one of the side effects of Prozac was the subject of an e-Alert I sent you last month (“Laugh Lines” 1/22/03). In response I received this personal recollection from an HSI member named Vicki:

“I know that doctors have prescribed medicines to ‘treat’ side effects of previous medications for many years. When my Grandmother moved closer to her daughter, they went over the medicines that she was taking at the time. They discovered only 2 of the 10 or 12 prescriptions were for original problems. All the others were to treat the side effects of those 2! I can recall a large lazy-Susan devoted only to the salt, pepper and medicines that my grandparents took when I was a child. I’m willing to bet that many of those medicines were for treating side effects of the other prescriptions. That was 30 years ago. Just thought you’d like to know that this is not a new problem.”

I wonder how many lazy-Susans there are out there, filled to the edges with drugs that have been prescribed to treat the side effects of other pharmaceuticals? I’m afraid the answer is “too many.”

Another HSI member recently wrote with a question we receive with some frequency. This comes from L.D.E.:

“How do you find the right doctor that combines conventional and alternative approaches? My cholesterol was above 300 this last June. But my Doctor didn’t test me for any of the other different markers for heart disease identified in your newsletter. It seems it’s time to change. I don’t have the time to teach him.”

If your doctor isn’t receptive to treatments involving vitamins, herbs, or other alternative methods that you may want to explore, you can locate physicians who are trained and knowledgeable about complementary medicine by contacting The American College for Advancement in Medicine, at their web site: acam.org. In fact, I’m visiting a new doctor I found through ACAM next week.

To Your Good Health,

Jenny Thompson
Health Sciences Institute