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| 2010-08-19 15:16 |
| Some food for thought.... |
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| Parents' Pad |
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Hm, man I sometimes wonder why people don't read the fine print with medication.
Birth control (the pill verity) has shown some pretty amazing side effects. Here are some examples of people I know personally's side effects: strokes, brain cancer, severe respiratory problems (i.e. not being able to walk up a flight of stairs because its as winding as running a mile), extreme hormonal instability (i.e. getting all of the hormonal crap from a particularly bad period but for everyday, all day, with/without the bleeding), and new allergies.
Vaccines have some pretty interesting side effects too. Cancer, serious immune system damage, new allergies, getting the illness it was supposed to prevent, poisoning, and allergic reactions. And no, Autism is not a side effect but having it does heighten your chances of having one of the more severe side effects.
My point: be a weary consumer. Just because it's all the rage does not mean its the right thing for you.
(My inspiration to post this was an interesting conversation I had had with a friend of mine who's mother suffered some of these side effects.)
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Unless those side effects you've mentioned are listed by the FDA on the package they are only very rare. Like a 0.00000000000000000000009% chance. All medications go through rigorous testing so that we are aware of these side effects.
Vaccines... always have the chance that you'll catch the illness they're meant to be prevent. They are a dead or weakened form of that very illness, the point of the vaccine is to expose your body to it so that it can make the necessary antibodies to fight it.
And to be fair, if you drink too much coca-cola, it destroys your stomach lining. If you eat hot sauce all the time, it kills your taste buds and can give you ulcers. If you don't eat enough fiber, you'll be constipated and worse, have a higher risk for getting colon cancer. If you don't eat enough vitamin C you can catch scurvy.
I suppose that the issue I have with the post, if you can call it that, is that it is presented as fact when there is very little scientific data to back it up. It could be that these effects you're mentioning were caused by something else altogether. Unless it was diagnosed by a doctor or addressed by a scientist it's kind of hard to accept.
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![[info]](https://www.scribbld.com/img/userinfo.gif) bar_ohki |
| 2010-08-19 21:29 (UTC) |
| (no subject) |
| HiruQuoi |
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Actually the FDA is currently re-looking at some kinds of pill birth control because of the side effects mentioned above. I do know about the rigorous testing but one of the issues with their testing is that they don't look at long term exposure longer than 5 years. There are things like strokes and cancer that take 10 years to make.
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| bar_ohki |
| 2010-08-20 00:01 (UTC) |
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| KarinFang |
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It's what they told me at an medical engineering presentation. I'll try to see if I can find links....
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| bar_ohki |
| 2010-08-20 00:03 (UTC) |
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| LinkMap |
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And the stroke thing is a proven FDA thing. It's uncommon yes, but they won't let you take pill birth control if you have a history of strokes.
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| kiokushitaka |
| 2010-08-20 00:10 (UTC) |
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| ASSCRD Ezio posing |
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Since I don't have a history of strokes, lol, I hadn't heard of it but it makes sense because blood clots can lead to strokes, I wasn't discounting that. My mom can't take BC because she has varicose veins.
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| bar_ohki |
| 2010-08-20 00:12 (UTC) |
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| EmikoShiny |
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They won't let me take pill birth control because I'm hypersensitive, lol (I'm susceptible to having negative permanent hormonal chances and all sorts of other fun nasty but uncommon side effects- like the breathing thing). Not that I would want to- I have a perfectly fine reproductive system and am not bothered by it.
I will give you that the breathing one is very uncommon, but if something like that happens to a family member they don't let you take it.
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| alazif |
| 2010-08-19 23:52 (UTC) |
| (no subject) |
| Nature |
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Hormonal imbalance doesn't surprise me in the least, considering from what birth control pills are made and what they actually do. The same goes for new allergies, since allergies can increase or decrease as someone grows older and the body's chemistry does change along with it. Ergo, any disruption can send that into weird spaces. As a corollary to the increased risk of stroke is an increased risk of thrombus. That happened to my mom.
I'm also rather frightened of the flu "vaccine." There are so many different forms of the virus, they can only give a mishmash and their best guess of what will be nasty, this year. I'm afraid that they'll guess wrong, and I'll have weakened my immune system and precisely the right time to *catch* the flu.
But you're quite right-- what's right in one case may not be the right thing for you. There is a similar problem with antibiotics-- people ask for them when they're not needed and many doctors go ahead and give the prescription when they know damn well it won't work.
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| bar_ohki |
| 2010-08-20 00:08 (UTC) |
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| KarinUnamused |
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Well if you're healthy, I recommend not getting one of those. But vaccines in general run the risk of weakening immune systems and getting you sick. Most people don't read the FDA stuff on vaccines partly because a) they are so common things to get and b) the doctors give them to you- you don't administer them yourself.
I won't take the HPV vaccine because I don't like shots and I don't see much of a point. I'm not the kind of person that puts myself in a position where I can be raped and I'm having any sex. Ergo, there's no real need for me to be proofing myself against sexual transmitted diseases. Also, that vaccine doesn't have a whole lot of well, use in our society. And I am susceptible more so than normal people to having real problems if I take one.
Took me a good month to convince my mom it was okay for me to not get one.
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| alazif |
| 2010-08-20 03:49 (UTC) |
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| Mediblah |
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I figure that I'm fine without one. The only time I'd go for a vaccine is if it was for something like smallpox or polio or if I was going outside of the US.
As for antibiotics, I'm very paranoid about taking them. Though, I love the funny noises that the doctors make when they find out I'm allergic to *cillin. XD;
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| bar_ohki |
| 2010-08-20 03:54 (UTC) |
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| LudwigCooking |
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I admit I use antibiotic soap since I have to hand wash my dishes and it does keep me from getting more sick. Other than that, I stay the hell away from pills unless I have to.
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| alazif |
| 2010-08-20 04:02 (UTC) |
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| Need Sunglasses |
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I use antibiotic soap and the hand sanitizers. Everybody does say that washing your hands is the best preventative. O^; The hand sanitizers-- the active ingredient is rubbing alcohol, so I don't think it contributes too much to the MRSA problem.
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| bar_ohki |
| 2010-08-20 04:05 (UTC) |
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| AgathaScrewYou |
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Oh, I wash my hands too. And my body and my clothes. And I eat good food, properly cooked, and organic stuff because hormone enhanced or genetically modified food don't need to be in me. Well beyond natural genetic modifications (i.e. selective breeding of the plants is okay).
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| alazif |
| 2010-08-20 10:35 (UTC) |
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The best suggestion that I've heard for eating well is that if your ancestors wouldn't have recognized it as food, don't eat it. The only problem is that most of my ancestors came from Italy, Scotland, and Germany, and probably would not have recognized chamchi kimbob or vegetable samosas as food-- both of which I love. And on the other hand, some of the things they would have recognized as food-- blood wurst for example, I don't recognize as food. XD;
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| bar_ohki |
| 2010-08-20 15:00 (UTC) |
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| LudwigXD |
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I dunno I'm descended from Vikings, they ate pretty much anything. /LOL
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| kiokushitaka |
| 2010-08-20 00:12 (UTC) |
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| AXL Super cereal |
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Doctors who do that piss me off so much. Especially when they prescribe them for a viral infection, just to shut up the bitch who thinks she knows everything because she checked her symptoms on medline or something.
My dad has to deal with this a lot, and I often hear horror stories of patient parents (he's a pediatrician) complaining that he's not helping them because they think they know what will cure their kid and not the man who went to freaking med school... /rant
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| bar_ohki |
| 2010-08-20 00:17 (UTC) |
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| Cliff.... |
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You know, they're supposed to prescribe you a placebo pill for that. Not actually antibiotics.
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| kiokushitaka |
| 2010-08-20 00:20 (UTC) |
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| ASSCRD Leonardo bitches don't know |
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Supposed. But really, some doctors don't care, they're only in it for the money. And it sucks 'cause my dad is in it because he wants to help people.
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| bar_ohki |
| 2010-08-20 00:28 (UTC) |
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| KarinUnamused |
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Yeah, it's sad.
I got nearly killed by a doctor once who thought my mom was just 'over reacting' to my asthma attack. Good thing my dad came home early from work and told the man my obscene heart rate and was such an engineer about it the doctor couldn't argue.
It's sickening when the doctor says 'go to _____ hospital and don't wreck' three hours later than he should have been. Seriously, the ER asthma crew there told my dad it had been cut insanely close and he was lucky I was a hardy girl or I would have been dead.
Though my lack of panicking surprised them too.
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| alazif |
| 2010-08-20 03:40 (UTC) |
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| Green Princess |
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I've actually been told that it's illegal. My mom ran into that, when she was a nurse's aide.
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| bar_ohki |
| 2010-08-20 03:55 (UTC) |
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| HiruQuoi |
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Well prescribing the wrong meds is malpractice, both are bad.
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| alazif |
| 2010-08-20 03:44 (UTC) |
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| Crawford Slide |
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It's not just the doctors' fault-- it's also the idiots who can't seem to understand what antibiotics are for, the difference between a virus and a bacteria and the guy with the medical degree probably does, in fact, know what he's doing.
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Oh, I know but there's some doctors I've heard of that do it just to keep their patients happy 'cause they don't care. Or that they prescribe antibiotics really easily and are inadvertently helping bacteria grow more and more immune to them.
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| alazif |
| 2010-08-20 03:55 (UTC) |
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| Medic Haet |
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Some, I think, don't care. Others probably are trying to avoid getting bitched at or the possiblity of malpractice suits, without thinking of the "superbug" consequences.
What really makes me flail about antibiotics is how they're not used as directed. Far too many people stop taking them when they start to feel better, no mater how much it's harped on in the news and in the doctor's office.
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| kiokushitaka |
| 2010-08-20 03:57 (UTC) |
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| ASCH The angriest chibi |
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Ugh, that annoys me so much. It's like BRO. DIRECTIONS. THEY'RE THERE FOR A REASON.
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| bar_ohki |
| 2010-08-20 03:59 (UTC) |
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| LudwigThinking |
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Dude, I've seen biomedical engineers sue doctors for not following the directions on their boxes. The cases are quite funny and always result in the doctor losing.
Engineer: I PUT IT THERE FOR A REASON, MORON!!
Doctor: Uh....
Engineer: READ INSTRUCTIONS BEFORE USE! SUPER COMMON SENSE!
Doctor: Oops....
Engineer: YOU BETTER BE SORRY BUSTER!!!
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| alazif |
| 2010-08-20 04:05 (UTC) |
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| Engie Trauma |
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Hee hee. I find that freaking awesome (not to look down on our doctors, who more often than not, deserve more respect than they get). One thing I find, though, common sense isn't all that common. o.O;
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| bar_ohki |
| 2010-08-20 04:08 (UTC) |
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| HiruGumGun |
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I do respect my doctor, I just don't respect that their first instinct is to stick drugs in me.
Though actually my doctors in Corvallis try actively to not give drugs to patients unless necessary. I had a viral cough, they figured out it was one, and you know what they gave me? They told me to drink a bit of alcohol before bed to numb and calm my throat so I could try to fall asleep better.
Since we all know that alcohol is the active ingredient in cough syrup. They specifically told me to use red wine if I could stand it because of the anti-oxidants it has.
Go figure.
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| alazif |
| 2010-08-20 10:30 (UTC) |
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| Spill |
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It's not too different than my grandfather's suggestion of a hot toddy and bed as a cold remedy. :3
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| bar_ohki |
| 2010-08-20 15:02 (UTC) |
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| MamoChuckle |
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Nope, or my mom's homemade cough syrup. But you see I was technically only 20 at the time, so she did write me up a permission form to buy a small bottle of red wine for medical purposes.
That was actually horrendously funny thing to take up to the pharmacy counter. A small bottle of red wine and my prescription. XD
Thankfully the pharmacist totally understood what was going on.
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