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Originally Posted by hope2soon
as a pharmacist I will give you my unscientific view of patients. By far the healthiest patients I see are the ones on the fewest medications. I have seen 90 year olds who look great and people who are 65 look like they have one foot in the grave. While genetics is certainly a factor, there is also attitude. Some patients want a medication prescribed for everything. Instead of making lifestyle changes they want a pill. A great example is Prevacid--thousands of people were put on that mediation for stomach upset when they may have been better off losing weight or modifying habits. The patients I consider healthier, avoid taking medications unless absolutely necessary. They realize they all come with side effects. As people age, the risk of side effects increase yet the doctors feel pressured to prescribe something or the patients don't feel like they got what they came for. Also, in the litigious atmosphere they are in, the doctors feel they have to prescribe meds to cya (cover their a#$%). I have more and more respect for the doctor my mother had in her senior years who asked her if she was going to take something if he prescribed it and if she said no, he didn't order it. Myself, when I look for a doctor, I look for one who doesn't prescribe a lot of meds.
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I do agree with you almost entirely. Twenty pounds weight loss and Prilosec may be out the door and hypertension medication too....One pill too many or one pill too few can kill you...over time. Only a very good physician can make that call for me. Some medication are life savers and prolong our lives and some are at best borderline with dangerous side effects.
I read what Billethekid wrote and it does worry me that people who don't have the money are not seeing the doctor as often as they should and probably not unless they are sick and do not get the screening tests that would divert something developing into a far more serious situation.
I also think that some people turn to the quicker and easier fix of supplements and natural medication because of the lack of funds and fear of doctors...SOMETIMES.
I think that taking a lot of untested and unproven supplements and holistic cures is dangerous. I think a healthy diet, exercise, good companions, keeping up with medical issues, seeing your doctor..and dentist regularly and taking their advice is a good common sense approach.
We have to realize too that just as the pharmaceutical manufacturers make a lot of money, so do the people who manufacture supplements.
No one can tell us seniors what to do. We will do what we all think best of course. And everyone has a different idea on that.
I just wish you all health and happiness.
