Thursday, November 15, 2007

Pills!

I take several prescribed medications for hypertension, heart disease, lupus & diabetes. I have been feeling good lately and I am happy for modern medicine. My father died at my age before the discovery of the angioplasty. In 2001, doctors saved my life by placing a stent in my heart. I feel very happy and lucky for everyday that I wake up alive! I used to take "Vioxx" for for the aches & pains of lupus until it was pulled from the market after being deemed dangerous. It was a wonderful drug that worked for me, and then it was discovered to cause heart attacks in some people. Now I am faced with another decision."Avandia" is a drug that I take for diabetes control and now it also has been found to cause heart attack in some people. Although I only take 2 mg a day of this drug, I wonder if I should change to something else. It is difficult to change to another drug because it makes you feel crappy for a while. I have taken other drugs for this condition, but some of them made me feel sick. Avandia seems to work very good for me. Now I need to decide if it is worth the risk. It is sort of a no-win situation. If I can lose about 30 pounds I might be able to get off the medication completely. That sounds like the best solution, however, one of the side effects of Avandia is INCREASED HUNGER!

3 comments:

Kerri said...

Yes, modern medicine is amazing, but it's troubling and confusing when the researchers find something wrong with a med that has worked well for you. It seems to happen often these days.
I take Metformin and Glucotrol for diabetes with good results so far. Good luck with your decision!
Happy Thanksgiving Tuff!

doubleknot said...

I also have multiple medications to take. I take Metformin for my diabeties and then of course there are the high blood pressure pills and the kidney pills - I used to take Paxil and it worked good for me until they pulled it from the market - it took six grouchy months to find another medicine that worked for me.
My daughter says I take too many pills but when I don't stay on my medication I feel really bad.
Good luck with your decision.

Sandy Hatcher-Wallace said...

I don't envy the decisions that you must make. It's hard to know which drugs are safe anymore with all the ones they later decide are dangerous to your health after you have taken them. Good luck deciding.