Questions you should ask.

When you visit your doctor, do you sit and wait for him/her to ask you a barrage of questions?

Or do you do all the asking?

Do you write down questions before your visit, so that you don't forget anything?

Or do you have complete faith in the fact that your doctor knows exactly what he is doing and will indeed do the right thing by you?

Considering that your doctor sees approximately 40 patients each day, for a maximum of 15 minutes (I'm being generous) each, and considering that he has approximately 500 patients on his books (am I being conservative?) - do you really believe that he can know your body well enough to make an informed, educated decision about what you really need?
These are the sorts of questions that you should ask your doctor:

• "When was the last time that you refreshed your skills?"  Doctors who graduated more than 20 yrs ago are 48% less likely to stay up-to-date on developments and are equally unaware of current treatment guidelines.  They will continue to prescribe medication that has been proven ineffective or dangerous.
• "What is that?"  Poor handwriting is responsible for 61% of medication errors and more than a million patient injuries each year.  If you can't read the prescription, chances are the pharmacist can't either.
• "Do I really need this test?"  Doctors often adhere to the 'better safe than sorry' philosophy and order tests to protect themselves in case of law suits.  Harvard researchers found that 16% of all prostate cancer screenings are unnecessary.  80% of PSA are false positives and thousands of men undergo needless biopsies each year.  Also, British researchers say that the radiation from CT scans causes an estimated 5695 cases of cancer each year.
• "What is the name of this drug and how will this drug help me?" 
• "How long before I should expect to see results?"
• "What are the primary short term side effects?"
• "Does it have any long term side effects?"
• "Do you monitor this medication?  Are there any specific tests that you run to help monitor it?"
• "How will I know when to either stop taking this medication or change the dose?"
• "Why have you chosen this particular medication over others?"

They're just a few questions to ask.  You can bet your bottom dollar that the doctor won't know the answer to some of those questions and will have to check his computer screen a number of times.

Recently, a friend of mine discovered that he was given a dangerous medication for his condition, and was rushed to hospital in the middle of the night, because his Dr had forgotten that he was treating him for a specific cancer and gave him something that reacted badly with his cancer medication.

It's up to you to take control of your own health.  Ask the right questions and try to educate yourself about your condition.

There is so much information on line and if you're not sure if you can trust that information, then write it down and ask your doctor or a nutritionist or naturopathic practitioner.  Trust your instincts.

*If you type into google 'medicines safety update Australia' it gives you pages and pages of information about all the different drugs and their updates.*

For example - a common diabetic drug has been linked to heart failure, oedema and bladder cancer.  This information is not provided to you, but is provided to your doctor, who has been advised to 'administer with care'.

And this shows how much more dangerous paracetamol is and the warnings that had to be corrected on their labels.

Proton Pump Inhibitors, which are taken for GERD and stomach ulcers, are one of the most widely used classes of drugs in Australia.  130 million prescriptions have been issued since 1992, yet these drugs reduce bone density and patients are experiencing fractures in the spine, wrists, ankles and hips.  They also cause chronic magnesium deficiencies (which explains reduced bone density).  PPIs are only supposed to be taken for a period of weeks, yet Drs are not monitoring and most people are on them for 6 months to a year, before Drs take any action, if at all.

You know that I could go on and on, but I think you get the drift.

Something else that you should consider is that when a generic brand is available for your issued prescription, generics do not have to be tested for safety.  Once a drug has been passed by the Australian authority, any changes to that drug and any generic brands that are produced, flow straight to the consumer without the requirements of testing.  (I know right?  Who knew?)

Generic brands may also have different information about side effects on their information sheet.

You can read all about it here.  In particular, the last paragraph under the section 'prescription drug regulation'.

To finish on a lighter note, a photo from my favourite cactus plant which burst into flower after the recent rains ..

.. and something for a giggle ..

Nite all.