[Anonymous March 2, 1997 at 1:53 pm Post count: 93172]

#1056749

This is a general response to some of the topics that have come up yesterday and today.

Thanks, Shannon, for sharing the crazy English items. I think these must have come from one of Richard Lederer’s books (ANGUISHED ENGLISH is one of them). He’s got a web site that I have in my favorite places. I always laugh when I read the things he collects.

Regarding using the pharmacist. I will add my voice to Jake’s recommendation about using the pharmacist as a resource. Unless things have changed dramatically in medical schools, doctors do not have a whole lot of training in pharmacology. Your pharmacist can be an invaluable resource in making certain that you are not taking medications that conflict with one another. And they can also usually tell you, quite quickly, whether what you are experiencing is a side effect of a specific drug. My own pharmacist, routinely will ask me if I am still taking “X” (something prescribed for a different problem, by a different doctor), and warn me that I should not take it with the new medicine.

Regarding “natural” remedies. In the United States, at least, herbs and other natural products come under no supervisory regulations. There are no warning labels, as there are on drugs, to advise you of potential hazards to their use. And some of them can be very hazardous indeed in the wrong situation, in the wrong quantities, etc. I understand that in some countries DHEA can only be acquired with a prescription from a doctor, for example. There are some of these natural products, for example, that contain epinephrine. You would absolutely NOT want to take them, if you are hyperthyroid already. So, please, be very, very careful with these “natural” products. Don’t just take one person’s word for it. Research it with all the care that you would research the medications and the treatments that are being advised by your doctor. Just because it is “natural” it doesn’t mean it is benign.

And, sorry, Nancy, but when I ran a search yesterday using the word “thyroid” on the internet, I still came up with scads of feline and canine topics BEFORE I encountered human thyroid associations. We still have a way to go.

Wishing all of you a better day than yesterday.

Bobbi

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