Treating Multiple Physical Issues Can be Problamatic

[Guest guest]

While this deals with Allopathic medicine, I thought it

was interesting. It can be viewed as a cautionary tale.....regardless of

what one takes, there can be interactions and side effects if one either

doesn't know what they're doing, or know someone who does who can advise

them.

Lynn

When Osteoporosis Plus Other Disorders Equals Catch 22

 

 

What should you do if your doctor’s advice for treating

your osteoporosis conflicts with treatment for your diabetes, or other

medical condition? Johns Hopkins researchers analyze this common problem

and offer bottom line advice.

 

Half of people over age 65 have three or more chronic diseases, and

they juggle advice from different doctors about how to deal with them.

Researchers who recently set out to look at this problem have

demonstrated how challenging it can be to follow guidelines for several

chronic diseases at the same time.

Johns Hopkins researchers found that some of these clinical practice

guidelines consider a specific pair of diseases. But the guidelines

rarely give recommendations for treating people who have three or more

chronic diseases at the same time.

 

For their study, the Johns Hopkins researchers determined the most

prevalent diseases in older Americans by reviewing data from the National

Health Interview Survey and a sample of national Medicare claims. They

then evaluated clinical practice guidelines for nine of the 15 most

common chronic diseases: high blood pressure, chronic heart failure,

stable angina (chest pain from coronary disease), atrial fibrillation (an

arrhythmia with an erratic heartbeat), high cholesterol, diabetes,

arthritis, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (emphysema), and

osteoporosis.

As an example, the researchers specifically evaluated what would

happen if they used clinical practice guidelines to treat a hypothetical

79-year-old woman who had moderately severe osteoporosis as well as type

2 diabetes, arthritis, high blood pressure, and chronic obstructive

pulmonary disease.

 

Using explicit instructions from the published guidelines for each

individual disease, they assembled a comprehensive treatment plan for

her. If she were to abide by all of the guidelines’ recommendations, this

imaginary woman would be taking 12 medications in 19 doses, five times a

day. The medications would cost her more than $400 a month. What’s more,

adhering to all five guidelines at once could lead to interactions among

medications for different diseases or between her medications and her

food. Also, taking so many medications would increase her risk of

receiving the wrong medication, of having an adverse drug reaction or of

needing to be hospitalized.

 

Bottom Line Advice: For the best care, you need to discuss all of

your medications and treatment requirements with each of your doctors. If

advice from different doctors conflicts, talk with them about it. No two

people are the same, and your care plan should be as unique as you are.

Ideally, you should have one primary doctor who has the responsibility to

keep tabs on all of the medications you are taking, including all of your

over-the-counter drugs and any nutritional supplements you use.

Posted in

 

Back Pain and Osteoporosis on April 4, 2008

From Johns Hopkins

 

http://www.johnshopkinshealthalerts.com/alerts/back_pain_osteoporosis/JohnsHopkinsHealthAlertsBackPainOsteoporosis_1927-1.html?ET=johnshopkins_blog:e4739:180311a: & st=email & st=email & s=EBH_080404_005