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I just want to add something really important onto this. ALWAYS READ EVERYTHING YOU CAN ABOUT DRUGS YOU ARE PRESCRIBED! Sorry for all caps, but it is super im

I just want to add something really important onto this. ALWAYS READ EVERYTHING YOU CAN ABOUT DRUGS YOU ARE PRESCRIBED! Sorry for all caps, but it is super important. Not that your dad is in the wrong, lots of people have justified (to a degree) trust in their doctors. However doctors are people and just by that alone aren't perfect. A few years ago my doctor prescribed me an antibiotic for an ongoing illness I had. I read the entire pamphlet for it and did some reading online about it. All before taking it. Turns out it can cause seizures if it interacts with polypropylene glycol, one of the main ingredients in e-cig juice, which I use daily. I had told my doctor I use an e-cig. Really I cannot stress how important it is to be knowledgeable about the drugs you are taking.

ekianjo 10y ago
i agree with your advice. but on japan for example drugs are given ouT of their package with no info whatsoever about side effects and all. just like candies. what do you do with that?
- annnnd 10y ago
  Interesting... So you just have to trust your doctor, no matter what? Does doctor explain the reasoning behind giving you the pills?
  - ekianjo 10y ago
    hardly. consultation including prescription is five minutes tops.
annnnd 10y ago
This! I view doctors more and more like any other service provider. Their goals (removing symptoms / being on time for next appointment / staying within budget / maybe even prescribing drugs I get commission on) are not necessarily aligned with mine: identifying and removing the root cause for disease. So the decisions I make are my own, but I take the input from doctors and try to do as much research as possible. Needless to say, I don't take prescription drugs unless strictly necessary. Once you view your GP as a mechanic, you can make much better decisions. Sure, their "cars" are more complex, but the role they play is similar. If you want your body to function well, you are responsible for it, not the doctors. They just help you out.
- nojvek 10y ago
  I 100% agree with this. Doctors in America are hopelessly bad for what they charge. The system is built on rent seeking behavior. If I don't treat it immediately then the patient will come back again and I can charge him/her a subscription. Health care in America is very inefficient. Mostly because of insurance lobbying and govt that can't make a firm long term decision. I would love to see most common problems be self diagniosable with kits and AI.
neutralid 10y ago
Especially if you're taking multiple types of medicine, know their interactions. There may be a specific sequence of consumption that you should use otherwise side effects get amplified, e.g., NSAIDs.
dbbolton 10y ago
>ALWAYS READ EVERYTHING YOU CAN ABOUT DRUGS YOU ARE PRESCRIBED! I'm not trying to undermine your point entirely, but there is a flip side. I can't tell you how many times I have seen a patient start a medication, then come back to the office within 48 hours because they coincidentally have every side effect that is listed in the pharmacy's information sheet or that they looked up online. The vast majority of these side effects are benign, present with next to no pertinent physical exam findings, and can't be definitively tied to the new med (like upset stomach, fatigue, headache, etc.). Then they will start listing that medication as one of their "allergies", and if the nurse/doctor documenting doesn't dutifully probe what type of "allergic reaction" they had, they may end up not being prescribed that med in the future when it really is the drug of choice. A little nausea is a small price to pay if it kills a potentially life-threatening infection. Also, I'm skeptical about the seizure risk. The thing about side effects is that they are supposed to be stratified according to risk. Doctors are typically aware of these risks, but patients aren't. So if your drug is listed as causing "headache, nausea, and seizures", there may have only been one patient out of millions who had a seizure while 50% experienced headache, yet the handout probably won't tell you that. But even if it is a notable risk, I would be surprised if the propylene glycol you inhale from an e-cig could accumulate to a high enough level in the bloodstream to cause drug interactions, although I admit adequate research on the subject is lacking. My advice would be trust your doctor first. If you don't trust your doctor, start seeing a doctor that you do trust. Then if you have a significant adverse reaction to a medication, talk to your doctor about it. Quite often they know something that you are not going to find by spending a few minutes on the internet. As a side note, a good history includes asking about many habits. A lot of healthcare providers are guilty of simply asking "Do you smoke, drink, or use drugs?", but ideally the smoking aspect should be phrased as "Do you use any tobacco or nicotine products?". Patients usually won't read your mind and volunteer that kind of information. They will tend to give yes/no answers, so direct and specific questions are important.
- throwaway729 10y ago
  > yet the handout probably won't tell you that. That seems like a major problem. Is there any reason that more detailed information can't be included? Mathematical literacy may be a problem, but that doesn't mean that there aren't millions upon millions of mathematically and scientifically literate consumers who could use this information effectively.

ekianjo 10y ago

i agree with your advice. but on japan for example drugs are given ouT of their package with no info whatsoever about side effects and all. just like candies. what do you do with that?

annnnd 10y ago
Interesting... So you just have to trust your doctor, no matter what? Does doctor explain the reasoning behind giving you the pills?
- ekianjo 10y ago
  hardly. consultation including prescription is five minutes tops.

annnnd 10y ago

This! I view doctors more and more like any other service provider. Their goals (removing symptoms / being on time for next appointment / staying within budget / maybe even prescribing drugs I get commission on) are not necessarily aligned with mine: identifying and removing the root cause for disease. So the decisions I make are my own, but I take the input from doctors and try to do as much research as possible. Needless to say, I don't take prescription drugs unless strictly necessary. Once you view your GP as a mechanic, you can make much better decisions. Sure, their "cars" are more complex, but the role they play is similar. If you want your body to function well, you are responsible for it, not the doctors. They just help you out.

nojvek 10y ago
I 100% agree with this. Doctors in America are hopelessly bad for what they charge. The system is built on rent seeking behavior. If I don't treat it immediately then the patient will come back again and I can charge him/her a subscription. Health care in America is very inefficient. Mostly because of insurance lobbying and govt that can't make a firm long term decision. I would love to see most common problems be self diagniosable with kits and AI.

neutralid 10y ago

Especially if you're taking multiple types of medicine, know their interactions. There may be a specific sequence of consumption that you should use otherwise side effects get amplified, e.g., NSAIDs.

dbbolton 10y ago

>ALWAYS READ EVERYTHING YOU CAN ABOUT DRUGS YOU ARE PRESCRIBED! I'm not trying to undermine your point entirely, but there is a flip side. I can't tell you how many times I have seen a patient start a medication, then come back to the office within 48 hours because they coincidentally have every side effect that is listed in the pharmacy's information sheet or that they looked up online. The vast majority of these side effects are benign, present with next to no pertinent physical exam findings, and can't be definitively tied to the new med (like upset stomach, fatigue, headache, etc.). Then they will start listing that medication as one of their "allergies", and if the nurse/doctor documenting doesn't dutifully probe what type of "allergic reaction" they had, they may end up not being prescribed that med in the future when it really is the drug of choice. A little nausea is a small price to pay if it kills a potentially life-threatening infection. Also, I'm skeptical about the seizure risk. The thing about side effects is that they are supposed to be stratified according to risk. Doctors are typically aware of these risks, but patients aren't. So if your drug is listed as causing "headache, nausea, and seizures", there may have only been one patient out of millions who had a seizure while 50% experienced headache, yet the handout probably won't tell you that. But even if it is a notable risk, I would be surprised if the propylene glycol you inhale from an e-cig could accumulate to a high enough level in the bloodstream to cause drug interactions, although I admit adequate research on the subject is lacking. My advice would be trust your doctor first. If you don't trust your doctor, start seeing a doctor that you do trust. Then if you have a significant adverse reaction to a medication, talk to your doctor about it. Quite often they know something that you are not going to find by spending a few minutes on the internet. As a side note, a good history includes asking about many habits. A lot of healthcare providers are guilty of simply asking "Do you smoke, drink, or use drugs?", but ideally the smoking aspect should be phrased as "Do you use any tobacco or nicotine products?". Patients usually won't read your mind and volunteer that kind of information. They will tend to give yes/no answers, so direct and specific questions are important.

throwaway729 10y ago
> yet the handout probably won't tell you that. That seems like a major problem. Is there any reason that more detailed information can't be included? Mathematical literacy may be a problem, but that doesn't mean that there aren't millions upon millions of mathematically and scientifically literate consumers who could use this information effectively.