Oh sure our heads are all spinning with the barrage of advertisements and press preceding the election. It’s dizzying and exhausting. But that’s not the reason for today’s message. Too often in the clinic I see a real physical reason for the head spinning. Gary couldn’t get out of the car. We carefully put him in a wheelchair. His BP was so low, he was markedly dehydrated and the radiation wasn’t going to help today. He had taken his blood pressure meds that morning to make it all worse. Off to the ER he went. Hazel came in about her breast cancer which turned out to be the least of her issues. An unrelated pain was treated with narcotics and the severe obstipation caused more pain and a vicious cycle. The narcotic ilius was more terrifying and challenging than the new cancer diagnosis.

Again and again, as a physician, I see patients with chronic use of drugs impacting their health. Meds from primary care, oncology, neurology, cardiology even psychiatry all piled into one person to their detriment- not health.

Take time to look on the web (drugs.com) and review the side effects of every one of your medications. You may find that when cardiac meds are added to your blood pressure pill, you can barely get out of the chair. If you are receiving chemo and radiation, the side effects may cause poor nutrition and dehydration, compounding the issue and suddenly someone who was hail and hearty is like a dish rag. I see it all the time.

And so, review your meds, evaluate your symptoms and present this info to your primary care or oncologist. They are not evaluating all of this with each visit so be empowered to stop your own head spinning. Meds are toxic, that’s why they are not over the counter. You get the inserts when you pick up your script, but we rarely look at the information they provide. It’s time. Your health is getting more and more complicated.

So let’s spin our way back to being healthy and strong and avoiding all of this toxic exposure as much as is possible. At some point, I don’t prescribe for symptoms, I prescribe for a problem that requires reversal. We can’t keep plying our precious bodies with more and more meds and then hope this results in some magical wellness. So let’s be smart, take control and help manage our own health. It’s all literally in your hands.