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Thread ID: 134620	2013-07-19 21:08:00	Doctors	pctek (84)	PC World Chat

Post ID	Timestamp	Content	User
1349455	2013-07-19 21:08:00	Husband has had an allergic reaction for some time, tongue, face and so on would swell up intermittently. Doc (at the time) said it's an allergy and dismissed it. We couldn't find any food or activity that co-coincided with it though. Anyway, we move back up here, and the doc he had here paid no attention to anything. Then he had that issue with his low sugars and consequent hospital thing...so at that point I made him change doctors. New doc was better with that...but also did various blood tests and it came back with high potassium, high creatinine and bad kidney function. Bad kidneys? He has low sugar all the time, not high. So I thought it all has to be related somehow and decided to look up his medications. Lo....one particular blood pressure pill causes all of the above. In fact the allergy thing can be severe and block the throat and stop breathing. Great. So I go to doc with him and mention this. He disbelieves this at first but looks through historic blood tests and yes, it's been like that ever since he went on that pill. Changes pill to a different type and it all goes back to normal. Then, my father develops a severe cough. No smoking, doesn't have asthma or anything. Gets antibiotics, various...nothing. This goes on for a year. Eventually, as husbands pill thing happened around then, I ask him to tell me what medication he takes, and go look them all up. And.....a blood pressure pill - different to husbands - causes this sort of coughing. I suggest he mention it to his doc. No, no, cause doc is great and would know all this. Hmm.... Eventually he gets sent to a lung specialist. Specialist tells him it's caused by the BP pill and to stop taking it immediately and get doc to change the type. So...naturally I am a bit suspicious of doctors, medications and their ability to check up on things. There's another example...but never mind.... So, son - who has complained of back pain since his teens, which we never paid much attention to, he played rugby, did all the usual teen things, didn't seem like anything except a bit of moaning - hurts his back at work. 1st doc says it's a sprain but sends him for xray. On ACC. That goes as you would expect so he goes back to work, hurts it worse. Xray comes back bad. Doc doesn't look at this and goes on about sprain, son sees it on his PC and asks, what does all this mean then? Oh. So doc sens him to specialist. Specialist sends him for MRI. MRI comes back with protruding disc and so on....but attached notes go on about spina bifida. We both conclude they're full of it. However he has since been back to specialist, apparently they had the wrong MRI!! Now, they say, yes he did have spina bifida - apparently there is a type, more common, where nothing shows except on MRIs and can cause issues later in life. He has this and being a storeman for years, he's trashed his back, bits of bone everywhere and so on and specialist now says he has to have spinal fusion and a frame put in. Terrific. of course, ACC will dismiss it, cause of the pre-existing condition. Sigh.	pctek (84)
1349456	2013-07-20 00:49:00	That is shocking and certainly does not encourage one to have much faith in them. Although I have been fortunate to have had good doctors and no health issues (touchwood!!) I still have a bit of distrust for them in general and stories like this do not help to restore it. Earlier this year my mother had very poor service from her doctor which resulted in a lot of unnecessary stress for her and the family. Some doctors really just do not care about their patients.	FoxyMX (5)
1349457	2013-07-20 00:54:00	allopathy; what did you expect?	Mirddes (10)
1349458	2013-07-22 05:20:00	pctek, can you name the blood pressure meds there were problems with? The reason I ask is that I have had some suspicions about some that were prescribed to me some months ago but I was never able to nail the side-effects specifically to that drug (which was a generic replacement for one I had successfully used for years.)	Blue Druid (4480)
1349459	2013-07-22 05:39:00	pctek, can you name the blood pressure meds there were problems with? The reason I ask is that I have had some suspicions about some that were prescribed to me some months ago but I was never able to nail the side-effects specifically to that drug (which was a generic replacement for one I had successfully used for years.) Some sites didn't show much info on the side effects, others had them in great detail, which was most useful, they were very specific. cilazapril See this one: bodyandhealth.canada.com Says bugger all as you see. Maybe it's the one the doctors look at (LOL) Whereas: www.medsafe.govt.nz www.netdoctor.co.uk I had to be specific to get details on the high creatinine and potassium. XXX, high potassium, allergy - like that. ------------------- Note though, there are a whole bunch of different BP meds - they work in totally different ways. There's articles on this and how exactly they work, what class of BP med they are etc... Some side effects are not a problem for all, just some people. So really, you have to note your own situation..... Once he had doc change them, doc had to go through a reasonable list and ask various other questions, there were some others that had to be discarded as suitable due to other conditions he has/is susceptible to. It left one or two....	pctek (84)
1349460	2013-07-22 06:00:00	Thanks for that pctek. That pretty much confirms my suspicions. Time for a word in the doctor's shelly pink, I think.	Blue Druid (4480)
1349461	2013-07-22 06:37:00	Wikipedia is pretty informative, turns out ALL blood pressure medicines have side effects. some pretty bad. I have a pretty good Doc, who has told me my BP has now got to the treatable stage. Fortunately he is open to alternate type treatments, and has given me a few months to come up with something. Apart from losing weight, avoiding shallow breathing etc. etc. Hemp oil seems to work well. My wife, who was on it for about 10 days passed with flying colours after being at the same BP stage as I am. Hawthorn is supposed to be good for the heart and blood pressure, its usually used as a tincture. A bit expensive to buy, so I have made up some fruit leather from the berries in the mean time, till the flowering season comes around and then I'll make a tincture. Been a bit busy to get back to the Doc as yet so only have wifes experience to go on.	PPp (9511)
1349462	2013-07-22 07:00:00	Good and responsible doctors are hard to come by these days. They (doctors in general) only pay attention to $$$$$ ... of course, they are good and responsible ones around but they are rare. I am yet to find a good one.	bk T (215)
1349463	2013-07-22 08:16:00	Yeah I like to stay away from long term medications if at all possible. I was on Lipex for cholesterol,and Losec for reflux, for many years and have managed to get off them. Both of them have possible long term negative effects.	PPp (9511)
1349464	2013-07-22 08:42:00	Truth is, many people could get off their statins and ACE inhibitors if they were to take one hour's brisk walk every day. They'd probably lose some weight as well and feel better than they have for years. It happened to me pressf1.pcworld.co.nz I hated it to start with but I love it now.	Blue Druid (4480)
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