Welcome to City-Data.com Forum!
U.S. CitiesCity-Data Forum Index
Go Back   City-Data Forum > General Forums > Retirement
 [Register]
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
View detailed profile (Advanced) or search
site with Google Custom Search

Search Forums  (Advanced)
Reply Start New Thread
 
Old 11-06-2011, 09:22 PM
 
Location: Central Florida
973 posts, read 1,699,735 times
Reputation: 1110

Advertisements

I was thinking of starting a thread similar to this one, but you beat me to it! Besides what you had written, I was thinking like what some others have already mentioned, why are so many older folks on medicines and is it due to doctors being "pill happy"?? When my friends talk, I haven't a clue what they are talking about and lately neither do I understand so many commercials on tv as I have never even HEARD of what they are touting esp when they use the acronym for it. I sometimes wonder if I am living in some sort of a bubble.

But, to answer your question, I am going to be 63 soon, and the only medicine I take is for my thyroid and a teeny dose of estrogen 2x per week, along with my vitamins (D, calcium, b12 and biotin) and fish oil. My doctor is pleased with me overall, and she is amazed that my bones are still like those of a 35 year old (and I think lifting weights has helped that immensely).

I don't think I could have prevented me taking these two meds as I can't control my thyroid that I know of nor my age!

I guess I am pretty lucky to be so healthy as it really isn't due to my genes per se as both my parents died of a heart attack, but I don't know of anyone in my family having cancer, however, I did have one uncle who had diabetes and died due to it.

So that is that...except, I do wonder if there are more seniors on meds than not and if it is mainly due to the doctors prescribing them rather than trying something natural, first. We are the generation that listened to Grace Slick sing: One pill makes you larger, and one pill, makes you small, and the ones that mother gives you, don't do anything at all....just sayin!
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message

 
Old 11-06-2011, 09:28 PM
 
Location: Boca Raton, FL
6,869 posts, read 11,175,696 times
Reputation: 10757
Smile Great info!

Quote:
Originally Posted by PKSeeks View Post
Well, if we are discussing eating - I would advise everyone to do a google search on "alkaline vs acidic" foods. Eating a balance of about 80% alkaline/20% acidic is the goal. The statement I heard that changed my eating habits was...diseases cannot exist in an alkaline environment. Extremely important.
I will look this up.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 11-06-2011, 09:37 PM
 
Location: Boca Raton, FL
6,869 posts, read 11,175,696 times
Reputation: 10757
Quote:
Originally Posted by Sagitarrius48 View Post
IBesides what you had written, I was thinking like what some others have already mentioned, why are so many older folks on medicines and is it due to doctors being "pill happy"?? When my friends talk, I haven't a clue what they are talking about and lately neither do I understand so many commercials on tv as I have never even HEARD of what they are touting esp when they use the acronym for it. I sometimes wonder if I am living in some sort of a bubble.
I feel the same. My sister has had such an education with her husband's Parkinsons - he's about 8-9 years older than her - but she is researching - he is past the point of surgery - he was such a healthy guy until 10 years ago - worked out all the time - was a fanatic about it - the last year and half has been the decline and she now has home health care (3 shifts) - very hard.

When I was growing up, my mother made most food from stratch and I don't think I had a frozen dinner until I was well into my 20's.

I do think doctors are pill happy today and often, one pill will counteract another one. I do some weight lifting also and need to increase that. I also am getting into Zumba which I love.

If a doctor were to tell me, you need to be on _______ - I would want to know if there is some way I could avoid being on it.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 11-06-2011, 09:50 PM
 
Location: Northern Wisconsin
10,379 posts, read 10,835,198 times
Reputation: 18712
I've always been pretty careful with my health. Your question about drugs is interesting. I personally have tried to stay away from medications of all kinds if possible. Its too tempting for people to just take pills to try to correct their health problems rather than make adjustments to their life. So, in the last few years I quit coffee altogether, since it was causing me so many health problems, and I recently quit ice cream. (which I love and have eaten daily for many years.) EVen if I get a cold or flu, I take only what I feel I absolutely need. I'd rather suffer a little because (IMHO) I think in many cases the side effects are worse than the benefit. (The cure is worse than the disease).
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 11-06-2011, 09:57 PM
 
Location: Boca Raton, FL
6,869 posts, read 11,175,696 times
Reputation: 10757
Smile My downfall

Quote:
Originally Posted by Prairieparson View Post
I've always been pretty careful with my health. Your question about drugs is interesting. I personally have tried to stay away from medications of all kinds if possible. Its too tempting for people to just take pills to try to correct their health problems rather than make adjustments to their life. So, in the last few years I quit coffee altogether, since it was causing me so many health problems, and I recently quit ice cream. (which I love and have eaten daily for many years.) EVen if I get a cold or flu, I take only what I feel I absolutely need. I'd rather suffer a little because (IMHO) I think in many cases the side effects are worse than the benefit. (The cure is worse than the disease).
I'm not a coffee drinker - only green tea but my downfall is ice cream - actually yogurt and some great flavored ice cream. How do you feel without the ice cream?

Recently, I had a cold. I can't even tell you how many people told me to get such and such. It only lasted 5 days so it wasn't bad.

I would rather correct it now before I have to be "on" something. My dad had to be on certain things at the end and it was terrible for him. (He had heart problems and I don't think I'm going that way - yet).
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 11-06-2011, 10:07 PM
 
Location: Texas
14,076 posts, read 20,445,188 times
Reputation: 7806
Quote:
Originally Posted by Charles View Post
Sounds like all you are doing is redefining what a "problem" is.

You know more than your doctor (and 1000s of other doctors) know?
I know enough to know my kidney's and liver are not going to function well with a cocktail of chemicals continually circulating in my blood.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 11-07-2011, 02:16 AM
GLS
 
1,985 posts, read 5,362,947 times
Reputation: 2472
Quote:
Originally Posted by PKSeeks View Post
I stopped taking my statin once because I had lost my extra 30 lbs and thought I didn't need them anymore. My doctor asked me why I stopped and I told him...he told me that my weight had nothing to do with it - that my high cholesterol was heriditary. I had no idea.
Your post is an example of why healthcare professionals go ballistic whenever complex medical issues are bandied about on the internet. Most doctors simply read the post, shrug and move on. Since sound patient education is an essential component to promoting good health, let me try to help.

First, your doctor may be correct because he has access to your family history. Although hypercholesterolemia may indeed be caused by poor diet high in fats, your diagnosis may be familial hypercholesterolemia in which the LDL receptor mutation is genetic. Diagnostic accuracy can be further compromised when cholesterol levels are elevated due to diabetes or hypothyroidism.

Second, you were quick to make the assumption that the "statin" was being used for cholesterol. Maybe., but was the elevation your "total cholesterol"? Just the low-density lipoprotein? or Increased triglycerides, in which case maybe you had hypertriglyceridemia?

I could go on and make this worse by telling you that familial hypercholesterolemia is more appropriately termed Type 11a hyperlipoproteinemia, but that is not my purpose. I only wanted to illustrate that medicine is complex enough that you cannot generalize from other people's experiences. In addition, you need medical training to distinguish fact from fiction.

Weight loss (in moderation), a low fat diet, and exercise are commendable.
However, please don't use anecdotal stories from internet strangers to determine your treatment regimen. Regardless of etiology, untreated high lipid levels can lead to fat plaques in the arteries, eventually resulting in narrowing and occlusion. The inevitable tissue ischemia can cause stroke, vision loss, chest pain, etc.

Finally, I commend your interest in seeking answers about this important health issue. But quit taking advice from people who are anti-drug, and who have already made an opinion about one treatment modality in our armamentarium, without any objectivity. Address your questions to your physician. If he/she doesn't answer them to your satisfaction, press for a more thorough explanation. If you still get a rushed or inadequate answer, get another doc. Be persistent. Some of us still care and we spend our entire lives studying with the goal of helping you.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 11-07-2011, 04:44 AM
 
Location: Central Florida
973 posts, read 1,699,735 times
Reputation: 1110
Quote:
Originally Posted by Bette View Post
I feel the same. My sister has had such an education with her husband's Parkinsons - he's about 8-9 years older than her - but she is researching - he is past the point of surgery - he was such a healthy guy until 10 years ago - worked out all the time - was a fanatic about it - the last year and half has been the decline and she now has home health care (3 shifts) - very hard.

When I was growing up, my mother made most food from stratch and I don't think I had a frozen dinner until I was well into my 20's.

I do think doctors are pill happy today and often, one pill will counteract another one. I do some weight lifting also and need to increase that. I also am getting into Zumba which I love.

If a doctor were to tell me, you need to be on _______ - I would want to know if there is some way I could avoid being on it.

But often I wonder if it is US who ask the doctors for the pills first as a "quick fix", and they will accommodate us. It just seems like some things can be fixed without meds; but this does not mean that I am one to NOT follow doctors orders if the meds will save my life as some diseases/ problems just require them. However, I do wonder how we ever got to this state with so many people needing them. And is it just our country?? Don't have time to research this....but wondering.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 11-07-2011, 05:58 AM
 
Location: Texas
14,076 posts, read 20,445,188 times
Reputation: 7806
Quote:
Originally Posted by Sagitarrius48 View Post
But often I wonder if it is US who ask the doctors for the pills first as a "quick fix", and they will accommodate us. It just seems like some things can be fixed without meds; but this does not mean that I am one to NOT follow doctors orders if the meds will save my life as some diseases/ problems just require them. However, I do wonder how we ever got to this state with so many people needing them. And is it just our country?? Don't have time to research this....but wondering.
Need? I'm not at all sure a good bit of that "need" isn't a result of the pharmaceutical companies creating a drug first, then finding a "need" for it by creating a new definition of illness.

After all, anybody could string together a random list of symptoms and call it a new disease or condition. If you have a drug which treats some of those symptoms, it would be in your financial interest to promote it as an answer to your newly defined illness or condition. You'd market that by creating a demand for the product by advertising it, relying on your customer's fear of death to lead them to "ask your doctor about it."
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 11-07-2011, 09:12 AM
 
28,803 posts, read 47,480,102 times
Reputation: 37905
We have been taking Epicor for years and we seldom have colds or the flu. What I do find is that it takes a real humdinger to get to me so when I am sick - I'm sick!!

But they don't seem to last as long as for others.

Scroll down to "Accidental Discovery" on this page. Pretty cool story.
About EpiCor

This company has consistently had the best prices I can find and their shipping is fast.
Results for epicor - Better Health International

We order two of these, and shipping is free.
Epicor 500 mg 150 caps by Healthy Origins
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.

Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.


Reply
Please update this thread with any new information or opinions. This open thread is still read by thousands of people, so we encourage all additional points of view.

Quick Reply
Message:


Over $104,000 in prizes was already given out to active posters on our forum and additional giveaways are planned!

Go Back   City-Data Forum > General Forums > Retirement
Similar Threads

All times are GMT -6.

© 2005-2024, Advameg, Inc. · Please obey Forum Rules · Terms of Use and Privacy Policy · Bug Bounty

City-Data.com - Contact Us - Archive 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37 - Top