The Last Two Weeks

 Originally written in the beginning of May. Apologies for forgetting to post it.

Hoo boy. It's been a couple of interesting weeks.

I haven't been diagnosed with anything else. Well, not yet. But I do get to add another doctor to the mix.

The search for a nephrologist has found one, and I'm waiting to get an appointment now. I thought I had all of my tests taken and sent, but they needed a magnesium level test. 

Shocker, I'm low. 

So, that brings us to high calcium, low iron and low magnesium. Apparently the magnesium is explained by one of my daily medications. I got a call from my new PCP office the day after my blood test. They told me about my magnesium level issue, and then told me I had to get off of the medication that was causing it. They were going to trade it out with a less effective medication.

Only problem there was that the medication is performing a Very Important Function with Many Moving Parts. 

In short, I would be endangering my health further if I went off the medication.

This happened, in part, I think because my new PCP hadn't had time to read my file through.

When I brought up the problem, they looked into it and found that yes, I have to stay on it. So, supplements it is. 

I also found out my iron supplement isn't working, so that got switched, as well. All of this has added about 4 new pills to my already formidable med list. Ah well. They should all help.

I hadn't really thought about whether medical professionals familiarized themselves with patient files before the past 10 years or so. When I went to a new PCP before all of the recent brouhaha, she told me she'd read my file, and it proved to be very interesting reading. That was before the stroke, even, so I imagine that says a lot about what it must be now.

It wouldn't be as upsetting if I hadn't told everyone I talked to in the doctors' office before, during and after the switch to my NEW new providers that whoever I was switching to really needed to review at least my recent file before they met me.

Now, to be fair, we haven't met yet. I see them for the first time in June. However, it seems to me that before making med changes for someone, their file should be looked through.

I imagine it looked like an extraneous medication that was causing a possibly moderately problematic issue. When we go on a medication, we have to realize that all medications are actually a type of poison. People can't even take too many supplements because they could cause an issue. Any substance that has an effect on the human body is, by definition, something that can harm us as well. I was told this by a trusted family member who worked for many years in the medical field. 

Are medications just poison? You could talk to some who would say they are. Those people usually avoid them at all costs.

Do medications help people? They very much can. If you have a medical issue and a doctor or nurse practitioner prescribes you a medication, they have reason to believe that the it will help you to deal with the issue. They are a substance which has an effect on your body, an effect that changes how your body responds to certain stimuli. An allergy pill is a medication, and they make many people feel much better, allowing them to function through the day without significant discomfort from their allergies. 

Take Loratidine, for example. It's an allergy med that a lot of people take to deal with environmental allergies. If you take it as prescribed, it is unlikely to make you feel drowsy and unlikely to make your heart race. Doesn't sound poisonous, right? Well, if you take too much of it, you can cause drowsiness, headaches and a fast, pounding heart rate. If you take even more of it, it can cause seizures, hallucinations and even death. 

I mean, it sounds like effects a poison could cause, right?

It's why every prescribed medication comes with the warning something like: Your doctor prescribed this medication because they have deemed the possible positive effects to be more valuable any possible negative effects. They then go on to list what to do if you have negative effects (usually inform your doctor or go to the hospital, depending on how bad the reaction is).

And its not just major medications, either. You also can get negative effects from vitamins, certain lotions or even eye drops.

This is why dose sizes are so important. 

So, yeah. I understand why that was the PCPs first thought. There's just underlying medication.

This isn't said to scare you away from your meds. Meds are important, and like the insert with the meds says, your doctor has decided it better to risk the possible negative effects to treat your health issue. 

Sometimes, though, differing problems can cause conflicts in different medications, and it can get pretty complicated. You should never take Tylenol, a common NSAID, when taking Warfarin, a widely prescribed blood thinner, for instance. It may not seem like a big deal at first, but Tylenol can amplify the effects of the Warfarin over time. This can cause a serious issue.

So, it's good to have your doctor check through your meds from time to time. If they aren't able to schedule it, it would be a good thing to see someone who can manage your meds. There are even specific doctors who do this.

Doctors, like us, are humans. Sometimes they make mistakes. Any assistance you can find to make sure things work smoothly with medication could help them treat your health issues better.

Just ideas, really. Things to think about from someone who has to think about them rather a lot.