These drugs have sometimes led me to some very bad reactions and side effects. They've put me in the hospital. Many times the cure was worse than the disease.
In many cases, these drugs have been poison. They have really screwed me up.
Here's today's example: Recently, I have had a cough and I feel like I have indigestion. I've felt this way for the last three days. I guess coughing and indigestion is not uncommon for a drinking man who likes to go out with friends and enjoy life and good food....
The cough is a strange one. I had the same cough when I was a cigarette smoker. But I quit cigarettes cold almost three years ago. So you can't say my current cough is because of cigarettes.
The weirdest part is that I only have the cough when I am taking a nap in the daytime, and when I sleep face up. Really.
Really, I only have a cough when I am sleeping on the sofa face up.
I don't cough if I sleep on my side or if I am awake. Weird, eh?
I decided to go to the doctor (well, actually my wife insisted that I go). Who knows? Maybe I have a tumor or an ulcer or some other nasty growing in my tubes or lungs.
One can only hope.
Even so, I hate going to the doctor when I have a specific ailment. Here's why:
In Japan, because of the way the medical insurance system is designed, doctors get paid to see you and they get more money for dispensing drugs. The more drugs they dispense, the more money they make. Sounds like a scam (and it is) but it's still a heck of a lot better than the USA! I can go to the doctor and get a check up in Japan and medicine and be out the door for about $40 (USD).
Today, I had an X-ray, four blood tests, a heart check, and a typical doctor's check up that ran about $70. Tomorrow I will pick up the medicine that he prescribed and that will set me back another $40 so, all in all, it still blows the USA out of the water.
Did I mention that Japanese people live, on average, at least 4 years longer than Americans do (8 years for women) even though America spends much more money on health care than any western nation in the entire world.)
But darned if I don't hate the fact that the Japanese doctor wants to give me 5 different medicines for what ails me every time I go there.
He wants to give me a medicine that stops the coughing; In order to make sure the coughing medicine doesn't screw up my stomach, he wants to give me medicine for that; He also wants to prescribe a medicine to make sure that the medicine he already prescribed to stop the coughing and to protect my stomach, doesn't cause side-effects.
I've dealt with this before. One time, when I was a (legal) druggie (and before raw food) I was taking a drug that my doctor prescribed for stress. That drugs side effect caused me ( and many others) to cough uncontrollably and lose conciousness. No kidding.
I passed out several times waking up with my head resting on my computer keyboard and myself dribbling and drooling uncontrollably. What fun that was!
Yes, that drug worked well: When I am out cold and collapsed on the floor, I had very little stress.
I'm not making this up. This kind of bad side effects from drugs that doctors prescribed for me goes on and on.
After I "graduated" from rehab, I was prescribed Lithium. That was hell on wheels! Whenever I took Lithium it was like Mike Tyson punched me in the stomach! Nevertheless, the doctor insisted that I take that drug until I put my foot down and said, "No more!" I do not take Lithium at all and will not.
I don't care what the doctor says.
I wrote about this sort of nonsense before in Gout Sufferers of the World Unite!
The doctor told me that the medicine he was prescribing for me was the standard gout medicine. (Hey! I am not a doctor!) He also told me that this medicine was powerful stuff and that my body had to get used to it first so I wasn't supposed to take full dosages, but to build up to a full dosage over a two-week period.
I was to take the pills and cut them into quarters and take one quarter every day for eight days. Then, after that, cut the pills in half and then take another half every day for another eight days. Once I did that, I was to start taking one full pill every day after that. Simple. Right? Sure, but things didn't work out so well.
On December 12th, I started taking the quarter pills and increasing the dosage as the doctor prescribed. Finally, after doing this religiously every day, on December 30th, I was up to a full dosage; one pill a day in the mornings.
For New Year's we were invited by my wife parent's to stay at their house in the country. So, coincidentally, we were at their home from the 28th of December. Things were going fine, but by the evening of the 30th, my right knee started to hurt. I thought nothing of it and went to bed. The next morning I took my medicine, as usual, and, once again, by the evening I noticed that my right knee was really starting to hurt a lot.
The next morning was "Happy New Year!" We all got up and did the traditional Japanese New Year things that people here do; go to the shrine, eat rice cakes, visit family and relatives… Of course, I took my medicine again.
But darned if my right knee wasn't really hurting really badly that New Year's morning. It felt as if I had twisted my knee doing some sports but I hadn't done anything for the last few days except get out of bed. By 5 pm that night, my right knee was killing me. It had suddenly swollen up like a grapefruit and I just couldn't take the pain anymore so off to the emergency room at the local hospital I went.
It just so happens that, when I got to the hospital, there was a doctor who was a specialist on gout on duty and he attended to me. He said that what happened to me was a fairly common reaction of some people to the gout medicine I was taking. He used a syringe to pull about 200 milliliters of liquid out of my knee and gave me a bunch of painkillers. He also told me to stop taking the medicine and go back to my regular doctor and tell him what happened.
Well, a few days later, I did go back to my doctor. He told me that he wanted me to take the same medicine, but only this time, he was going to give me another medicine to prevent the side effects of the first medicine!
.....That's when I decided that there had to be a better way.....
That's when I went on a raw food diet. Today I am about 70% raw food. I feel like I am 17 years old now.
No joke. I want to and need to become 99% raw and am aiming for that goal.
At today's meeting with the doctor he told me that he needed to put a camera down my throat to see my tubes to discern exactly what is wrong. I don't have a problem with that at all. I do have a problem, though, with the 4 medicines that he was going to prescribe to me.
Look. I am the patient. He is the doctor, I have rights. So do you. Don't allow yourself to be railroaded into taking a bunch of drugs you don't want.
I told my doctor that I wasn't interested in taking this drug cocktail that he was prescribing. He backed down.
Now, I will take the one minimum drug he wants me to take before swallowing the camera. That's OK. I can live with that.
I am not a doctor but this is my body. I refuse to take drugs just because my doctor thinks that's what is best.
I've had bad side-effects and even been in the emergency room because of these drugs. I won't do that anymore.
I am the patient and I am the customer. I pay the money. So are you. Never forget that.
If my doctor cannot convince me that these drugs are the best I can do, then I don't want them. Blindly following a doctor's advice is just plain stupid. Don't do it. It's your life and your body. If your doctor cannot explain why you need a certain regime or drug, then don't take it.
I don't.
I suggest that you do the same.
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