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Despite reaching the ages where we are starting to receive junk mail from AARP etc.... 
my wife and I are on ZERO medications. I take a multi vitamin, that's it. I'm of the school of thought that while some medications are obviously life saving, Americans... are... well... lazy as a group, and generally too quick to opt for the quick fix. I'm also of the school of thought that a 5 year "long term clinical study" is meaningless when you are prescribing a chemical regimen that is designed to last a person's entire lifetime. How many class actions suits are there out there right now for prescription meds anyway? My parents were of the generation where you NEVER questioned the doctor or his recommendation. Obviously information is more readily available now and while that has the obvious danger of making some folks "internet doctors" it does help disseminate information easily that previously was hard if not impossible to get. It also let's you find first hand accounts from as many as you'd like. So an informed risk/benefit decision by a patient is now much more possible.
A couple years ago, my wife was diagnosed with high cholesterol (242). We go to DO's who are a 'little' less quick to throw chemicals at every single problem. Never the less they understandably prescribed her a statin. She said she was going to wait and try dieting and go back in 60 days. It dropped about 20 points. They still wanted to give her a statin, she said give me another 30 days. She then added daily exercise (treadmill) and it dropped again and they said "good job, no prescriptions needed." Now I don't want to understate her diligence but it worked.
Despite my best efforts to the contrary, my labs have always been boringly normal (Thank you Lord). Over the last year or so my diet got worse. I've always had a terrible diet. What I mean by that is I don't eat a ton of junk but I also don't eat 'healthy'. I've never had a salad in my life, literally. Over the last year, boudin, crawfish, fast food, cheese (you know, all the good stuff
) became more frequent. 2 months ago I went to the doctor for an annual. Labs came back and cholesterol was 221 (Normally 180s or so). They called to prescribe a statin. I said... "Give me 2 months." I modestly changed my diet to quit eating like I was 18. Basically started paying attention to labels and tried to limit cholesterol and saturated fats. That was really it. Still ate like a human. Added ZERO exercise (unfortunately). Got my new labs back last week, cholesterol dropped 30 points (191) and the doctor's office kept congratulating me on my "extreme hard work and diligence". All I could think of was "Really? A little will power is "extreme hard work and diligence"? Perhaps by today's standard it is. I can only imagine what they see daily.
Now lest some take offense, I realize some people do indeed do everything possible to eliminate or limit their needs for prescriptions that are generally addressing life style issues in some folks, yet still have no success. I also have heard a lot of people talk about how hard they worked at it yet their clearly observable actions tell a different story. Only you can decided for yourself if you're being honest with .... yourself. I tend to have more confidence in the potential of people.
Especially discouraging is those that take medication, then have to take other medication to counter act the effects of the medication they are taking in the first place (family and friends in this situation).
This was not meant to offend anyone but actually the opposite. It is meant to ENCOURAGE some folks who are sick and tired of swallowing a buffet of pills everyday that if it can work for me, there is the very real possibility it can work for you. Now I still would like my LDL numbers to be lower so that will undoubtedly require me to get off my gluteus and actually exercise. We'll see how that goes. I'm skeptical of my diligence in that regard.
And yes, I realize there are as many unique situations out there as there are people. My only point is, don't wave the white flag without at least the ole college try. The future you may thank the present you (settlement from a class action not withstanding.)
my wife and I are on ZERO medications. I take a multi vitamin, that's it. I'm of the school of thought that while some medications are obviously life saving, Americans... are... well... lazy as a group, and generally too quick to opt for the quick fix. I'm also of the school of thought that a 5 year "long term clinical study" is meaningless when you are prescribing a chemical regimen that is designed to last a person's entire lifetime. How many class actions suits are there out there right now for prescription meds anyway? My parents were of the generation where you NEVER questioned the doctor or his recommendation. Obviously information is more readily available now and while that has the obvious danger of making some folks "internet doctors" it does help disseminate information easily that previously was hard if not impossible to get. It also let's you find first hand accounts from as many as you'd like. So an informed risk/benefit decision by a patient is now much more possible. A couple years ago, my wife was diagnosed with high cholesterol (242). We go to DO's who are a 'little' less quick to throw chemicals at every single problem. Never the less they understandably prescribed her a statin. She said she was going to wait and try dieting and go back in 60 days. It dropped about 20 points. They still wanted to give her a statin, she said give me another 30 days. She then added daily exercise (treadmill) and it dropped again and they said "good job, no prescriptions needed." Now I don't want to understate her diligence but it worked.
Despite my best efforts to the contrary, my labs have always been boringly normal (Thank you Lord). Over the last year or so my diet got worse. I've always had a terrible diet. What I mean by that is I don't eat a ton of junk but I also don't eat 'healthy'. I've never had a salad in my life, literally. Over the last year, boudin, crawfish, fast food, cheese (you know, all the good stuff
) became more frequent. 2 months ago I went to the doctor for an annual. Labs came back and cholesterol was 221 (Normally 180s or so). They called to prescribe a statin. I said... "Give me 2 months." I modestly changed my diet to quit eating like I was 18. Basically started paying attention to labels and tried to limit cholesterol and saturated fats. That was really it. Still ate like a human. Added ZERO exercise (unfortunately). Got my new labs back last week, cholesterol dropped 30 points (191) and the doctor's office kept congratulating me on my "extreme hard work and diligence". All I could think of was "Really? A little will power is "extreme hard work and diligence"? Perhaps by today's standard it is. I can only imagine what they see daily. Now lest some take offense, I realize some people do indeed do everything possible to eliminate or limit their needs for prescriptions that are generally addressing life style issues in some folks, yet still have no success. I also have heard a lot of people talk about how hard they worked at it yet their clearly observable actions tell a different story. Only you can decided for yourself if you're being honest with .... yourself. I tend to have more confidence in the potential of people.
Especially discouraging is those that take medication, then have to take other medication to counter act the effects of the medication they are taking in the first place (family and friends in this situation).
This was not meant to offend anyone but actually the opposite. It is meant to ENCOURAGE some folks who are sick and tired of swallowing a buffet of pills everyday that if it can work for me, there is the very real possibility it can work for you. Now I still would like my LDL numbers to be lower so that will undoubtedly require me to get off my gluteus and actually exercise. We'll see how that goes. I'm skeptical of my diligence in that regard.
And yes, I realize there are as many unique situations out there as there are people. My only point is, don't wave the white flag without at least the ole college try. The future you may thank the present you (settlement from a class action not withstanding.)
