I Know I'm Going to Die; Why Doesn't My Doctor Know That?
Based on statistics, I have lived two-thirds of my life already. I've been pretty much average in everything all my life, which means I have about another twenty, twenty-five, years left based on average current life expectancy statistics.
I'm ok with that. Why isn't my doctor?
I'm in no hurry to get to the Pearly Gates. I haven't even bought my tickets to get into Heaven yet. (Be honest. You clicked on that link, didn't you?) But I know the last third of my life is winding down and I want to make the most of it. Somehow, I believe if I have to pop pills every day to keep going, the quality of my last third of life will be a slow deterioration to a blank, emotionless stare out of a nursing home window...and that's if I can remember to take my meds every day. Just how good does the doctor think I will be at remembering to take a dozen and a half pills for myself every day when I can't even remember to give my dog her heart worm medicine once a month?
Here's the drill I've seen repeated by many people often. They go to the doctor around middle age and the first thing a doctor does is prescribe some medicine for a symptom. For me, twenty-five-or-so years ago, it was cholesterol medicine. If I had the prescription filled then, there's a good chance I might be seeking this company's help now. To me it's common sense that taking a drug daily for life now will inevitably lead to other health problems down the road. The doctor will be quick to prescribe new medicine to deal with those problems and before you know it, my bathroom medicine cabinet that used to hold deodorant, shaving goods, toothpaste, box of assorted bandages, acne cream, and a bottle of aspirin would become a mini-pharmacy of bottles with unpronounceable labels. All that other stuff will be relegated to the vanity's drawer.
Today, my doctor point blank told me I need to take the statin drugs or I'm going to have a a stroke or heart attack.
"But you haven't determined if I have the beginnings of heart disease. You looked at a number and want to prescribe me a drug to lower a number, not fix a problem. The side effects might take twenty years, but if I start now, I'll end up taking all sorts of medicines for all the problems taking this one might set into motion."
"You have to weigh the risks of the side effects against the probability of a stroke or heart attack. Do you want to take that gamble and ignore my advice?"
"I'm too young to start a lifetime drug regimen that most likely will lead to multiple medicines for multiple symptoms as I become dependent on the drugs to live."
"You're not too young. I've put patients in their forties on cholesterol medicine."
"I have to think about what you said."
I left happy to know the pain in my side wasn't gall or kidney stones - nor a symptom of high cholesterol (not that I ever thought that was even a possibility). I simply overexerted myself at work and my muscles in the abdomen just need some time to heal. I left the office without signing out, scheduling a follow up, and becoming another drug addict of the medical establishment.
But I still think about what my doctor said - and what he didn't say. He never told me how many years longer I might live if I start the cholesterol medicine now and what the quality of my life might be in those extra years the medicine gives me. He only said the drug might prevent a stroke or heart attack thus delaying the inevitable - death.
Ideally, when it's time, I hope I lay down to go to sleep and never wake up. "To sleep, perchance to dream" on my tombstone would make a whole lot more sense. Plus I get to use that very poetic word we just don't use enough in every day speech.
I don't want to follow my doctor's advice if following it means I'll live an extra ten years as long as a take a dozen and a half pills every day, pills that leave my muscles and joints too weak for me to take a walk through my garden...assuming the pills haven't made me forget I have a garden. I'm still going to die, only the drugs turned my epithet into "To pee, perchance in a stream."
Posted by A Drunk Redneck
I'm ok with that. Why isn't my doctor?
I'm in no hurry to get to the Pearly Gates. I haven't even bought my tickets to get into Heaven yet. (Be honest. You clicked on that link, didn't you?) But I know the last third of my life is winding down and I want to make the most of it. Somehow, I believe if I have to pop pills every day to keep going, the quality of my last third of life will be a slow deterioration to a blank, emotionless stare out of a nursing home window...and that's if I can remember to take my meds every day. Just how good does the doctor think I will be at remembering to take a dozen and a half pills for myself every day when I can't even remember to give my dog her heart worm medicine once a month?
Here's the drill I've seen repeated by many people often. They go to the doctor around middle age and the first thing a doctor does is prescribe some medicine for a symptom. For me, twenty-five-or-so years ago, it was cholesterol medicine. If I had the prescription filled then, there's a good chance I might be seeking this company's help now. To me it's common sense that taking a drug daily for life now will inevitably lead to other health problems down the road. The doctor will be quick to prescribe new medicine to deal with those problems and before you know it, my bathroom medicine cabinet that used to hold deodorant, shaving goods, toothpaste, box of assorted bandages, acne cream, and a bottle of aspirin would become a mini-pharmacy of bottles with unpronounceable labels. All that other stuff will be relegated to the vanity's drawer.
Today, my doctor point blank told me I need to take the statin drugs or I'm going to have a a stroke or heart attack.
"But you haven't determined if I have the beginnings of heart disease. You looked at a number and want to prescribe me a drug to lower a number, not fix a problem. The side effects might take twenty years, but if I start now, I'll end up taking all sorts of medicines for all the problems taking this one might set into motion."
"You have to weigh the risks of the side effects against the probability of a stroke or heart attack. Do you want to take that gamble and ignore my advice?"
 |
| Pick a drug...any drug |
"You're not too young. I've put patients in their forties on cholesterol medicine."
"I have to think about what you said."
I left happy to know the pain in my side wasn't gall or kidney stones - nor a symptom of high cholesterol (not that I ever thought that was even a possibility). I simply overexerted myself at work and my muscles in the abdomen just need some time to heal. I left the office without signing out, scheduling a follow up, and becoming another drug addict of the medical establishment.
But I still think about what my doctor said - and what he didn't say. He never told me how many years longer I might live if I start the cholesterol medicine now and what the quality of my life might be in those extra years the medicine gives me. He only said the drug might prevent a stroke or heart attack thus delaying the inevitable - death.
Ideally, when it's time, I hope I lay down to go to sleep and never wake up. "To sleep, perchance to dream" on my tombstone would make a whole lot more sense. Plus I get to use that very poetic word we just don't use enough in every day speech.
I don't want to follow my doctor's advice if following it means I'll live an extra ten years as long as a take a dozen and a half pills every day, pills that leave my muscles and joints too weak for me to take a walk through my garden...assuming the pills haven't made me forget I have a garden. I'm still going to die, only the drugs turned my epithet into "To pee, perchance in a stream."
Posted by A Drunk Redneck
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