My husband was prescribed 2 maintenance medication - 1 for high blood pressure and another for high cholesterol level. He consulted an internist because of a recurring tummy ache which was due to indigestion. The maintenance for hypertension is common but when my sister heard about maintenance medication for high cholesterol, it got her thinking. My sister is a nurse and her husband is a physician. Now she is going to ask the specialists in their hospital if it is correct to have a maintenance for cholesterol. From she knows, it's only a month of therapy and then you need to undergo another blood chemistry analysis. Doctors are humans too and they can commit mistakes. That's why it is imperative to get a second opinion when there is doubt on the prescription.
@Corie Henson Corie, I hate to throw "cold water" on the discussion, but unless your part of the world has remained "honest and true", a second opinion is today nearly impossible, and largely meaningless. A doctor friend of mine has confirmed this. A massive data-base of medical information now exists for almost every individual, viewable by any "second-opinion" asked physician, who then may decide whether to agree or disagree with the first opinion, based on prior knowledge of information available supposedly only to the original diagnosing doctor. Thus, the doctors are now able, at least in America, to "pre-evaluate" others' diagnoses before making a statement of their own. I hate this situation, but must live with it, along with everyone else. I have convinced myself that, given a diagnosis of cancer by a doctor, I will instead of fleeing off to another doctor, who will already have access to my blood work as well as the stated diagnosis of my own doctor, weigh the information available to me by researching the internet, consider my own symptoms, if there are any, and resist submitting to any "knife-happy" cutters so long as I am able to be "up and around". Grim situation, I know. Trust is the key word, and being able to trust is anymore a fleeting effort. Frank
I would trust a second opinion, Drs are people just like you and me. They are not some evil conspiracy to kill you. Being wrong does affect their reputation. People on forums also have baised opinions depending on their experience with drs so why trust what anyone on a forum says. I have a dr in my family and I resent the implication that they're all dishonest and wouldn't do their own evaluation. Good luck researching on the internet, Frank. The place where you really can't trust any source. Also, doesn't make much sense career wise for a second dr to just agree with the first dr, especially if the first dr is mistaken. He'll also be part of the malpractice suit if he does that.
Can you trust the FDA they say get off satins but the doctors are smarter than scientist. If they only want to manage an illness I would look for a person who could cure it even if it took a second opinion
Problem is many patients don't do what the dr suggests like lose weight, exercise, etc. most drs will suggest that first but when the patient doesn't listen they can't force them to live a healthy lifestyle. Then they end up on meds.