Quote:
Originally Posted by gomoho
I believe the "geriatric question" is legitimate and have never seen it addressed in all the blah, blah, blah that has been in he Daily Sun.
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Several years ago, when my aunt was still living, I was visiting her in south florida and she asked me if I wanted to go with her to her doctors appointment. I gladly agreed to go. While we were in the waiting room we started a conversation and she started telling me how expensive her medications were ($500.00 per month). I asked, "how many medications are you taking?", and she said, "6". I was amazed to hear that.
I told her that each drug is tested separately for safety. But when you take several drugs in combination, it can be risky. There's usually a risk for liver or kidney failure, especially for an older person. And I asked her to ask her doctor if there might be a way to cut down. And she said, "Oh, he's a GOOD doctor and I trust him, he wouldn't give me anything that would hurt me. So that was the end of that conversation.
A few years later, she suffered kidney failure. When your kidneys fail, you're not allowed to take any drugs at all. And one of the drugs she had been taking was a cancer drug. So, without the cancer drug, the cancer came back and it wasn't long before she died.
This is what happens when people say, "Oh, I trust my doctor!" And they won't even consider alternatives. Her son was and still is a doctor of pharmacy living in another state. I even asked her to check with her son but she said she didn't want to bother him.
I think there would be a lot less kidney and liver failure for seniors if they were in the care of geriatricians, not to mention other conditions that may come about from drug interactions.