[Anonymous June 19, 2000 at 4:23 pm Post count: 93172]

#1125278

Jake,
You are absolutely correct when you cautioned members to name all over the counter ( OTC ) drugs to their MD, and get an approval BEFORE taking them…especially with GD! Cases I have encountered in ER :
A young woman with suspected “thyroid trouble” who had been taking a ” fat buster/diet aid ” which she bought at the mall at one of those booths. Touted as a ‘metabolism booster’, it contains a drug called EPHEDRINE, which should NEVER be taken by anyone with hyperthyroidism. She arrived by ambulance with palpitations, a heart rate of 150, chest pain, elevated blood pressure and severe anxiety. She was not on any anti-thyroid meds. She was admitted to the heart unit.
An elderly woman who came in with a heart rate of 20 ( TWENTY ), and unresponsiveness. According to her husband, a great fan of ” natural ” ( his words ) medicine, he had ‘discovered’ potassium at the natural food store. They decided that she would stop the presciption potassium ( NOT expensive in the least ), and take the new pills. Unfortunately, neither were chemists or pharmacologists or EVEN pharmacists. They did not know that there is a chemical difference between drugs…although they may have the same first name, the last or other name in the compound may be something contraindicated for the patient. And the dosages are NOT the same!! The patient’s Potassium level ( normal 3.5-5.0 ) was nearly 8.0…she died.
A comatose woman arrived by ambulance, experiencing seizures. Her husband reported that his wife’s meds were ” just natural ” and numbered NO LESS than 20. Her blood sodium level was very high, as well as her magnesium, and calcium. She was taking HUGE supplements of all three, plus vitamins, diuretics, and herbs , but no prescribed meds. She had no other medical problems, and her husband reported that at age 40, she was the ” picture of health “, and was a ” fitness fanatic “. She spent a month in the critical care unit, enduring a ton of procedures, including dialysis, as her body went into ” multi-system failure “.

And the list goes on…

There is a strict homeostasis the body MUST maintain, when we tinker , we gamble.

Numerous elderly ( Florida, you know ) patients arrive daily to our ER in Congested Heart Failure ( CHF ). Some had decided to stop their prescribed diuretic ( and it is dirt cheap ) in favor of “natural” diuretics. CHF kills a huge portion of individuals in this country.

Magnesium, sodium, calcium, and vitamin supplements are DRUGS and should only be taken with the consent of your physician.

AND…it should be noted…The FDA approval is only given to prescribed drugs that have been tested, trialed, and tested again. Studies have been done…case histories written, research conducted. Over a period of YEARS, before placed on the market for sale.

I will now step down from my high and mighty chair…thanks for your kind attention. :>)

[Anonymous June 19, 2000 at 4:35 pm Post count: 93172]

#1038376

Morning Warriors.

Every so often I put out a thoughts at large message. Been way to long so it is time. I read an e-mail exchange between two doctors recently. They were talking about finding health related sites on the internet with pros and cons. Very well done. Also have been talking to a cardiologist friend last week about web sites and how to find the best sites.

Two topics really bothered me. One was a urologist who has lost a few patients due to homeopath treatments. The doctor stated he had nothing against homeopathic treatments in general (neither do I) as long as the doctor’s know what is being taken, but that the patients he lost went to sites that were telling people to take this supplement or that supplement and to do this and that. Seems what they were told to take had high potassium and they lost their kidney function and their lives.

I see many sites on the internet tell people with Graves’ to take large doses of supplements that can have the same effect. The supplements directly contradict what the medicine is trying to correct. Then the person does not get better and they do not know why. If you are taking ANY supplements tell your doctor.

The second topic was in talking to my cardiologist friend. I asked what would happen if I was hypo (which I am after RAI) and I stopped taking my meds and went to strictly herb and vitamin supplements. He said I would probably feel fairly well and think I was doing fine without my prescribed medication. He further said even if I was taking my prescribed medications and took supplements that directly contradicted my medication I would feel fine.

Then he lowered the other shoe. He told me that what would be happening is my system would slowly start to go out of whack. Over a period of time (roughly five years) my internal organs would start to get problems related to being hypo. After about five years I would go to the doc and be told I had major heart damage. It would be so slow and gradual that I would not notice until the damage was done. We are talking damage that cannot be fixed. He said he sees it in his practice fairly often. They are not patients that come to him in his office. He sees them when they present in the ER with heart problems. As part of the diagnostic interview it turns up that yes they state they “Had” Graves’ or Hypothyroid but they were “CURED” with herbs and supplements alone. He then sadly has to inform them that their cure caused them to have heart damage that is not repairable and the real kicker is they have to go back on replacement hormone.

The really interesting thing all three said was something I say here all the time. They could have saved themselves problems if they had looked for sites with affiliations with National or International Organizations. Looked for sites that subscribed to one or more of the health code of ethics sites. We subscribe to three of them. Those sites agree to abide by a certain code of ethics in what information they provide. Go to sites like the National Institute of Health (we have a link to them on our home page) for example. Sites there are checked out for content and accuracy. It took many months to get our site listed with them due to the review process.

Just wanted to pass that thread along. We have been accused of censoring on this site because we do not refer to sites that do not abide by the various health ethics codes. What one person calls censorship we call responsible editing. If we link to it we have checked it out. We try to provide the best information possible.

We are only a click away.

Jake
On-line facilitator

[Author]

Posts