Thought about my 5mg. B.P. pills. 5mg. is about the size of a grain of sand. They could not pour those grains into a bottle, and say take one grain a day; each tiny grain of sand is mixed into a larger pill, handleable by aged finger tips, detected on the tongue, known to be swallowed, or fell to the floor (a common problem in our house). Second consideration: Is that grain of sand powdered and mixed intimately into the pill I take, which may weigh 100 times as much as the med itself? So that, it's "homogeneous", meaning, if I cut the pill in half, will I get 2-1/2 mg. in each half? See what I mean? Or, no. If that grain of sand of med is hidden in a hunk 100 times bigger, and I cut that in half, where is the little bitty grain located? This half, or the other? I consistently cut one of my meds in half, Tadalafil it's called, taking 1/2 tablet daily. Yes, it works, marvelously, before you ask. (this one even my doctor isn't aware of. He'd smile if he knew). But these tablets are not scored, the give-away sign that "homogeneous" mix is present. But, I don't really care, as this stuff is not a "therapeutic" life-giving material. Yeah, it gives "life", but of a different kind....... The point, Grandma? If yer body weight is, say, 150 lb., that's about 68,000 mg. (milligrams). The pill you take may be 5mg. That pill then represents about 70 BILLIONTHS of your body's weight. The 5mg dose is totally inundated within a huge reservoir of person, amongst hundreds of different types of tissue structures, buried within an operating system which likely wishes that drug were not present, yet, a 1/70,000,000,000 part hunk of my body makes my B.P. acceptably low. How remarkably effective these drugs are is difficult to imagine. Frank
Yes @Frank Sanoica it is amazing that tiny amounts of substances can have such a profound effect on your physical body, and your moods and emotions by changing your brain chemistry. I take tiny slivers of a sleeping pill to send me off if I can't sleep in the early hours.............but my BP pill is a prolonged release type, so if you cut it the special coating is damaged so it can no longer work in that way. I presume the active ingredient is pulverized to an almost molecular level, to give even distribution throughout the carrier substances. I have a doctor friend who believes as many others do, that many pharmaceutical drugs only work on the placebo effect principle.
If the placebo effect is true for a lot of drugs, what a thought on the damage some drugs do to us. I avoid them unless absolutely no choice.
Yes I am the same Patsy but the BP ones I do take, because the fear of a stroke is worse than the side effects of the drugs which are mainly lethargy. It does strike me as funny in a way, that in the list of side effects on some drugs it says can cause sudden death lol
I know ! I have to take the vertigo tablets so decided not to look at the side effects - I'm still here ! @Terry Page
It's hard to believe some of the side effects of prescription meds that are advertised on tv. It's like, "with all these side effects, in which some seem pretty dangerous, why on earth would any doctor prescribe them or their patient take them". Fortunately, wife and I don't get any side affects from any prescription meds we take.
I don't know what your condition is from or what you take, but I'll toss this info in: The vertigo I've had came from an inner-ear condition. "Imagine my surprise" to learn- too late to do anything about it- that the medication I was prescribed multiple times is not only not for that condition but is deemed ineffective for that condition. Antivert- and its OTC knock-offs Meclizine and Dramamine- are considered useful only for the intended purpose: motion sickness. A few years ago I was basically living on that stuff to get through work days- and wondering why it wasn't helping. In the past, people had doctors- these days we have drug pushers; in the past, people were patients- these days, people are customers.
Many years ago, I was friends with our family physician's nurse; she let me in on their policy that they made a point of not giving patients the side-effects warnings. She said they thought some people would think they were having side effects even when they weren't, and others might refuse to take the medications altogether if they knew they were potentially dangerous! There are often ads on tv- If you or a loved one has died after taking...- and a number of the products were medications my father had to take after his heart surgery. He had severe internal bleeding a few times, and eventually had a stroke. I wonder if he could have had a healthier quality-of-life in his later years if these side effects were known and there'd been any alternatives.
For many years I took Clonidine for B.P. The warnings state to not discontinue the drug abruptly, as the B.P. may "spike" very high. Over a weekend, distracted from routine by my wife's absence, I forgot to take a tablet three days in a row. Fourth day, feeling strangely ill, my friend took me to the ER after Medical Techs. summoned at work pronounced my BP very high. After explaining to ER docs I had taken no drugs, as they were suspecting an O.D., it dawned on me what had happened. My BP was at 240/180! They gave me on e Clonidine tablet, and within a short time, it was coming down. A doctor friend, not my regular, suggested we get me off of it. It took repeated attempts, as my BP immediately began to rise upon cutting back on it, even though I took a new, different med. Took about six weeks...Since then I have used a very efficient Beta-blocker, Bisoprolol. Frank
You're absolutely right in the quote, its all about the money My ears condition stems from a birth defect, I get infections so I use ear drops for that Betahistine and Metoclopramide for the vertigo
We don't consider our PCP's as "drug pushers". Both are doctors and know much more than we do about medicine and what we need. Some folks have problems with doctors, while others don't. We don't! The medical field has changed from years ago, but that's just the way it is.
@Cody Fousnaugh During the time you lived around Churubusco, IN, did you become acquainted with a Doctor Minnich practicing there? Frank
I have to laugh when doctors come to treat BP first they say take this drug. If you question more they will tell you to eat right but they are not sure what that is, and exercise. Exercise increases BP and someone doing heavy exercise could have blood pressure over 400. Your body adjusts your blood pressure to the needs of the body things like fear can raise BP [white coat effect] or stress in life[a family problem] These can be controlled by the person themselves I taught relaxing technique to a person who lower there BP 20 points in 15 minutes and then used that technique afterwards to make it permeate. When the BP is cause by a physical problem like kidney disease and constricted arteries a change in diet along with supplemental nutrition can do the job. My mother in law had congestive heart failure, high blood pressure, enlarged heart, and the doctor said high cholesterol. Changing her eating habits and nutrition supplements in three months the doctor gave her a clean bill of health and could not believe it.
@Cody Fousnaugh Back in the day, all the 'Busco residents referred to him as "the horse doctor". He raised horses at his farm. Frank