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Drugs... Drugs... and more Drugs - when is it ever FEWER Drugs

Many people are on laundry lists of drugs so long that it's amazing there aren't some nasty cross drug complications...  or...  maybe there are???  While certain cross drug interactions are known, there is no way that even doctors can be sure of how a group of six, ten, or more drugs will work together in any individual.  I think that's why they try to vary only one single drug at a time...

But... when do doctors start tapering people OFF of drugs.  I've heard (again anecdotal, sorry) of people changing their lives by whatever method, and slowly weaning themselves off of drugs... drugs that doctors said they needed, but, after they have stopped, it is clear they were no longer required.

Have many people had doctors take them OFF of a drug?  Have you gone off them yourself?  I don't mean a short term type drug that you might take for an infection or specific disease, I'm talking about something like Advair, Linisopril, Metforamen, etc - drugs that are used for specific situations that, over time, change in an individuals body...

And, if you have done this, what have been the short and long term affects if any?

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that may be true
but today when you are prescribe something it is entered onto a computer and the computer flags up conflicts of drug taken then the prescribing doctor will weigh these factor up an may decide a diffrent route for treatment or carry on with lower doses

computers are not falable and may not be programed for a certain combination of drugs

should report problems to the doctor or pharacit through the yellow card scheme
I've encountered this, not for myself, but for my mom. She lived an hour from me and I worked long hours at a full time job. Her doctor was mid-Eastern w/a strong accent. I could understand him in person but a telephone conversation w/him was impossible. Mother had a mild heart attack and the cardiologist and cardiac surgeon who were called in were also mid-Eastern, also w/strong accents. *sigh* They decided she need a quadruple bypass. I wanted another opinion. But I hadn't had mom declared incompetent so the surgery was done.

A month after surgery she was still sleeping 20 hours out of 24, she, who LOVED to eat, refused to eat and was being force fed. She complained of pain in her chest and she said repeatedly she just wanted to die.

I kept talking to her home care nurses about the medications she was on. I looked them all up. I looked for drug interactions. Good Lord! She was on high doses of meds that usually required a lowered dose due to age, due to interaction w/another drug she was on, etc., etc., etc. They kept telling me that all her bloodwork indicated everything was as it should be.

Finally one day when mom fought their force feeding her whilst I was there and just kept telling me she wanted to die. I again broached the subject of all the medications they had her on and again was told all her blood work was fine and normal. I lost my temper and tossed all her medications down the toilet and out in the backyard and scrunched them on the kitchen floor. I just managed to throw a red royal, mouth frothing temper tantrum. There were a couple of her meds I KNEW she HAD to have but I destroyed them too.

THAT did get the doctors' attention. They DID take a closer look at the meds they had her on, eliminated some, adjusted doses on others and w/in a week she had her appetite back, was eating great again, was awake, alert and aware, AND they found the chest pain was due to one of the wire ends loose and scratching, slicing tissue around it. Mom was able to return home and live at home another year.

I can remember being w/her at her doctor's office one time. Her caregiver told the doctor mother was complaining of pain in her groin. So the doctor obligingly wrote a script for, I think it was Feldene. A med for arthritis that she'd been on before and that tore up her gut something fierce so that they had to put her on another med to buffer her stomach that made her sleepy all the time. Here we were going again!!!!

I asked mother in front of the doctor: Mom, is the pain bad enough that you want a medication to take every day for it, or would you rather have a medication you only have to take when it hurts? Mom was slow at this time in processing what was said to her, and in forming her replies, but she was quite able to speak coherently and ask and answer questions IF you gave her that little extra bit of processing time. H*ll no! She did NOT want another med she had to be taking every day!!!

Much as I hated to do it I did have to convince mom to leave her home, sell it and move to an assisted living facility in my town - an hour away from her friends and neighbors of some 40 years.
I have not been responding well to my BiPap, not getting AI down into acceptable range, so my doctors and I have been looking hard at all of my medicines and lowering doses and stopping meds when possible. Unfortunately I have chronic back pain. The pain definitely impacts my lfe and especially my sleeping to the point where I have added a small doses of an opiate at night. Without this I would not be able to sleep. I would rather not do this, but if I want any quality of life, it's necessary. I'm under care of a doctor who understands OSA and who carefully monitors my meds (in fact a pain clinic where they count pills to make sure you're not taking too much) and we're trying non narcotic ways to manage my pain, e.g. PT and epidural injections of steroids.

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