Drug Recall Alert!

B'SD

16 Iyar 5772


My colleague Star Lawrence has an interesting FYI for anyone taking prescription or over-the counter medication at Uh-Oh RECALL!

When I studied pharmacology I asked one professor how many doctors can keep up with the MUSHROOMING lists of ever-new drugs on the market? He quietly admitted that most practitioners use their own formulary (a limited list or stock of medications) year after year, hardly ever adding or subtracting items. 

They have so much continuing education to do, patients to see, procedures to perform, travel between appointments, meetings to attend etc. Plus they need sleep, eating and recreation time. NOBODY can keep up with the worldwide pharmacopoeia (the collected listings of all known drugs) and all the reading material that goes with it. 


Yes, patients must educate themselves. See Drugs, Herbs and Supplements at MedLine Plus.
Be sure to see this brief description of Prescription of Drugs Not Listed in a Clinic's Pharmacopoeia for another 1000 or so, too. 


Always study the foldout that comes with your prescription. Life-saving information is supposed to be in there. Use it.

Want to know how to get past 
those rude, impatient, maybe clueless 
members of the medical profession 
whom Star mentioned in her blogpost?


Be sure to read the 

Three Easy-to-remember Things You 
Can Do to Preserve Your Health 

section about how to advocate for yourself 

despite rude or indifferent medical personnel, 
plus

Listen to the Person Before You 
- Lessons for Caregivers

 in

Buy EMPOWER Yourself to Cope with a Medical Challenge TODAY!


Face Your Medical Problems with Dignity.
Face Your Future with Optimism.

Balance Your Inner and Outer Lives plus... BIG Drug Warning!

7 Shvat 5768

It's not how much or how little you have that makes you great or small, but how much or how little you are with what you have.
— Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch

You know that this blog is all about doing the most you can with your remaining abilities and steadily improving attitude. Your behavior is the only thing under your control.

Here's a nifty news item about how to improve your chances for avoiding bone-breaking accidents: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/08/health/08brod.html?ex=1200718800&en=8032c228e8c61ebc&ei=5070

Too bad the above advice had no relationship to the incident that felled me a few weeks ago.

On a related topic, here are some updates about Optalgin, a drug presently prescribed around the world, though it has been banned in the USA and in Europe. Following my misguided doctor's advice, I took it after breaking my arm and then suffered breathing and awareness problems.

Optalgin is routinely prescribed to new Israeli mothers and other patients in severe pain. It can kill without warning. Optalgin can cause immediate death by obstructing breathing without warning. It causes dangerous changes (dyscrasias) in the blood and can seriously damage cognitive abilities. I dumped my remaining supply of the painkiller as soon as everyone around me realized that my breathing ability and mental abilities were seriously sliding downward after only two days of use. Educate yourself on the Internet at:

אופטלגין - OPTALGIN

BioPortfolio News : NAFDAC Bans Drugs Containing Novalgin, Analgin

Caplets Tablets

http://www.geocities.com/HotSprings/Villa/2960/healthhazard.html

and elsewhere.

My Israeli pharmacist Arthur Jacobs permits me to quote him saying, “Israel’s health ministry should supply blank complaint forms to all pharmacies dispensing this widely recognized and problematic morphine derivative. People who’ve suffered from Optalgin should be enabled to inform our health ministry of its dangers!”

Here's a tip from my 10 Tevet/Dec. 19 post in which you learn how to share your thoughts with the Israeli Health Ministry without a form: Send your politely phrased thoughts to public.sal @ moh.gov.il (remove the spaces on either side of the @ symbol after you copy & paste the info into your E-mail system).

***

Help someone you love and respect to cope with illness. Give them a copy of It's MY Crisis! And I’ll Cry if I Need To http://www.booklocker.com/books/3067.html

Order it in book stores anywhere if it’s not on the shelves. It's MY Crisis! And I’ll Cry if I Need To can be shipped worldwide. Specialty editions are available for large organizations.

Save on large orders of It's MY Crisis!
https://secure.booklocker.com:443/booklocker/wholesale/order.php


***

The votes are in and still arriving: over 900 votes of praise for my book since December 2 2007, when the Musella Foundation for Brain Tumor Research declared It’s MY Crisis to be “Recommended Reading.” My book is now among other recommended titles on the Musella website. Readers can vote there once daily for their favorite book. Once you’ve read It’s MY Crisis! And I’ll Cry if I Need To, vote for it at http://www.virtualtrials.com/books.cfm. I hope you choose a 9 or a 10.

To your good health,

Yojeved Golani
Coping with a Medical Crisis?
Make the Changes You Need in Your Life.