Posted: 10/15/2015 1:18:44 AM EDT
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Got the blood test results back and my cholesterol is back to normal and no need to take cholesterol lowering meds anymore!!!! I've found that eating once a day seems to work pretty well for me, I've lost weight and lowered my cholesterol, which is good but....
Unfortunately, apparently now my thyroid isn't working right so well now and I gotta take meds for that! AND my frickin kidneys aren't working normally either, got a touch of the ol' renal failure. Just a touch though, gotta nip that in the bud it seems. Luckily(?) no meds for it yet, just orders to drink lots more water and avoid ibuprofen (which sucks because it's the only thing that eases the osteoarthritis pain so now I have to endure even more pain). I'm betting that easing up on the ibuprofen will fix the problem, that stuff is insanely bad for you (as is acetaminophen/Tylenol) but most people think it's very safe. Hopefully the doc will have some kind of cheap alternative for OA pain that doesn't destroy your kidneys. Yay me 
Word to the wise, ease way back on your Tylenol/ibuprofen use if you take that stuff and if you take a lot of it ask your doc to test your kidney and liver function. It's not something they normally do so chances are you haven't been tested in a long time, if ever. You don't want to find out there are issues after your kidneys are past the point of no return. Most people I've known in my life take those meds like candy not realizing how much damage they are causing their body because we've been told our entire lives by the manufacturers that they are extremely safe. The manufacturers have known since the start how dangerous the drugs are but it's just now been leaked out to the public. Consumer safety groups have been trying to get the government to force the makers to go public with the real danger but, like all pharmaceutical companies, they have bought their "protection" from the government and all the FDA will do is demand a "stronger" warning on the label. It's your body and your life, the pharmaceutical companies aren't interested in making you healthier but, instead, themselves richer. So you take Tylenol and ibuprofen for your pain but while it numbs your pain it destroys your kidneys which causes more pain which causes you to take even more Tylenol/ibuprofen. All the while you get sicker and they get richer. Just a word to the wise....take it or leave it. |
| I won't take acetaminophen unless I have to as it is hard on your liver even short term. Long term ibuprofen requires you to drink a looooooot of water to ease the damage to your kidneys and stomach. Considering that most people are suffering from chronic dehydration anyway ibuprofen is going to be dangerous long term. |
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There are lots of warnings around about excessive Tylenol use damaging the liver, its like playing craps with your liver as the pot. Kind of like Russian Roulette with your liver. . There are "mild" warnings on the bottle, unless they finally changed them, but warnings anywhere else don't do much good since very few folks go searching the internet to find out if their OTC pain relievers, that they've taken all their life, are safe. The latest studies show that acetaminophen/Tylenol (as well as other NSAIDS) is/are actually so toxic that consumer safety groups have called for it to be taken off the shelf for good. They also have proof now that the company that created the drug knew from the start how dangerous it is and, of course, buried that information so they could market it anyway. They sure don't put that on the bottle. I was put on Lyrica a few years ago and within a couple months my liver started to quiver (aka bad liver test results). Docs told me to stop taking it immediately and *presto* I was cured. A couple years later all the warnings about Lyrica came out. You absolutely right about Russian roulette, it's pretty much the case now with many drugs. They get prescribed, you take it for a couple years and THEN they tell it's toxic and you're going to die in addition to growing a tail.
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so if you were just stop taking all this poison right this second how would your weekend be? maybe most medicines are a balance of evils? Mom's 80 yrs old, bad shoulder, unbearable pain w/o NSAIDs. (got her off the codeine) hmm... possible liver damage, laying in bed crying, hmm... |
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so if you were just stop taking all this poison right this second how would your weekend be? maybe most medicines are a balance of evils? Mom's 80 yrs old, bad shoulder, unbearable pain w/o NSAIDs. (got her off the codeine) hmm... possible liver damage, laying in bed crying, hmm... This entirely, coming from someone who was pre-med for 3 years (I still would be, but got tired of school, thus I joined the army), Brandi I'm sorry about what happened to your liver; however, NSAIDS are more about pain management for the short term rather than the long term. If taken for the occasional headache or sore muscles the liver can process ibuprofen just like it does alcohol (which also destroys the liver). Think of it as a filter for your body, the occasional "dirty" thing you put through won't effect it; however, continuous usage of "dirty" things will clog it up. |
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I've been gut shot and had my left knee replaced twice. All I can say is thanks for morphine.
While I detest dependence on drugs, I realize life is sometimes better through chemistry. Don't dismiss use of prescription drugs out of hand as dangerous. Sometimes they are necessary.... |
| I took ibuprofen everyday from 2006, when i stopped taking narcotic pain killers, till 2013 to the tune of 800-1200 mg a day...now since 2013 i take Omaprozalene (sp) and Rantidine (SP) or the ulcers the ibuprofen gave me...oh and have to just suffer with the back and shoulder pain. Getting an MRI on the back though to see how bad it has progressed over the years and now with new pains from it...so cant wait to see that mess. |
| Living with daily pain wears ones ass down. I was so glad the did the neck fusion last December, as that was severe pain, non stop in the left shoulder...felt like someone was constantly hacking at it with an ax or something. Quality of life drops greatly with continuous pain. |
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This entirely, coming from someone who was pre-med for 3 years (I still would be, but got tired of school, thus I joined the army), Brandi I'm sorry about what happened to your liver; however, NSAIDS are more about pain management for the short term rather than the long term. If taken for the occasional headache or sore muscles the liver can process ibuprofen just like it does alcohol (which also destroys the liver). Think of it as a filter for your body, the occasional "dirty" thing you put through won't effect it; however, continuous usage of "dirty" things will clog it up. Quoted:
Quoted:
so if you were just stop taking all this poison right this second how would your weekend be? maybe most medicines are a balance of evils? Mom's 80 yrs old, bad shoulder, unbearable pain w/o NSAIDs. (got her off the codeine) hmm... possible liver damage, laying in bed crying, hmm... This entirely, coming from someone who was pre-med for 3 years (I still would be, but got tired of school, thus I joined the army), Brandi I'm sorry about what happened to your liver; however, NSAIDS are more about pain management for the short term rather than the long term. If taken for the occasional headache or sore muscles the liver can process ibuprofen just like it does alcohol (which also destroys the liver). Think of it as a filter for your body, the occasional "dirty" thing you put through won't effect it; however, continuous usage of "dirty" things will clog it up. I agree, however NSAIDs are used long term by huge numbers of people who can't afford, can't find or can't qualify for medically supervised pain management programs. It took me three years to finally get a spot in a pain management program and I know people who have waited that long and still haven't gotten a spot in a legitimate program. Prior to getting into a pain program I had no other option but to take NSAIDs long term and use alcohol on top of that to control pain. There are countless numbers of folks out there who have to do the same thing and very few know of the actual dangers involved with NSAID use since it's only really been brought out into the light since last year. Along with the DEA's crackdown on illegal pain management clinics, they have created an environment where primary care doctors are much more hesitant to prescribe narcotic pain medication, even short term. While it's a good thing that the DEA is actively working to shut down illegal pain clinics and search out doctors who are illegally prescribing pain meds, the ever tightening regulations are also forcing legitimate clinics to shut down due to much higher insurance costs, huge increases in documentation and potential legal ramifications for errors in paperwork. It's not worth it to them and it's the legitimate patients who pay the price. My first pain clinic doc told me that most of the legitimate pain clinics across the nation have already closed due to it just being too much hassle to continue. Many people in the US just don't have any other alternative but to use OTC NSAIDs both long term and in dosages higher than recommended to get through their day. I've been in pain management for around four years now (iirc) and take 60-80mg Oxycontin per 12hrs and 30 mg Oxycodone as needed for breakthrough pain but it doesn't do squat for the arthritis pain. Ibuprofen is the only I've found that works for the arthritis pain. My arthritis issues are pretty darn painful but there's a lot of people out there with it much worse and often times they are without insurance or living on a budget too limited to allow any other intervention than high dose, long term NSAID use. If the worlds pain problems all matched the recommendations on the back of a bottle of acetaminophen or ibuprofen it wouldn't be an issue but it's far from the case. Used at the lowest effective dosage, occasionally and with recommended fluid intake the are reasonably "safe" when their effectiveness is figured in but a lot of people use them both long term and at higher doses than recommended because we've grown up with these drugs and have never been told just how dangerous they are. I'm still taking ibuprofen just before, even with prescription pain meds I take, the arthritis pain is unbearable and nothing else works. The only difference now is I only take enough to make the pain somewhat tolerable instead of enough to control it and I drink tons of water with it (which isn't as easy as it sounds). My point being, these NSAID drugs have a reputation for safety that they shouldn't have and the manufacturers should be doing a much better job of informing consumers. Some groups have asked for them to be removed altogether, which I dont agree with, but I do think that the drugs creators and current manufacturers should be required to educate the public on the drugs ACTUAL dangers, research the REAL "safe" dosage AND be forced to reimburse those who have suffered damage to their organs and the families of those who have died due to NSAID use. The most recent information has only been out since 2014 so I can't imagine it's become common knowledge yet. Anywho, next subject. |
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Living with daily pain wears ones ass down. I was so glad the did the neck fusion last December, as that was severe pain, non stop in the left shoulder...felt like someone was constantly hacking at it with an ax or something. Quality of life drops greatly with continuous pain. That is absolutely a fact. I've been dealing with it for a bit over 20 years and it is absolutely miserable. |