What Does Your Prescription DO for You?

B'SD

8 Av, 5773

Empowering patients is what my efforts are all about. One important issue is to understand what the drugs you take do for - possibly against - you. You need to know which things can't be taken together, what to expect from your prescriptions and a bit more.

Today I'm sharing some websites for you to learn about health problems and medications you take or need to understand for some reason.

The  www.webmd.com and www.medlineplus.gov websites tend to be quite reliable. And, they let you research medical conditions plus the treatments prescribed by doctors.

Pharmaceutical information explains drugs. Here are some links to let you better understand those drugs, their risks, side effects and benefits. 

These sites are NOT the only information you need, only a starting point: www.fda.gov, www.rxlist.com and www.drugs.com.

Need to know something else related to your medical or mental health issues - perhaps someone else's? Let me know. I can try to find out some facts for you or let you know what's already in my files.

I plan to be offline tomorrow as it will be one of the saddest days on the Jewish calendar, Tisha B'Av. Jews worldwide will be fasting, praying and resolving to being better than we've been before.

Buy the E-book or print edition of EMPOWER Yourself to Cope with a Medical Challenge.  Learn of wonderfully helpful resources to help you to calm down, prevent problems and even pay your medical costs as you...

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

And face your challenges one at a time.


 

How to Prevent Medication Errors

B'SD


14 Tevet 5772


OY. I read this New York Times news item about medication errors http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/06/health/study-of-medicare-patients-finds-most-hospital-errors-unreported.html?_r=2&hp and knew I have to alert you to pages 42, plus 53-57 of

There's a wealth of information to share with caregivers PLUS a checklist of ways to prevent medication errors.

There's a reason, several acutually, that so many medical and mental health professionals recommend buying the E-book or print edition of EMPOWER Yourself to Cope with a Medical Challenge. Click on http://booklocker.com/books/3067.html

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

Deadly Medicine?

B'SD

22 Shvat 5771

Readers, I do not scare easily. I've worked as a Health Information Management professional and read many heartbreaking medical records. I've learned about the baffling, complicated world of medical research and medical practice. They're loaded with frightening pros and cons, rife with rollercoasting emotions on both sides of the bedrail.

I've lived the fear as a survivor of severe medical setbacks.

But my background did not prepare me for the forthright facts presented in Vanity Fair magazine's article, DEADLY MEDICINE.

Click the link above and read the article from beginning to end. It's a sad commentary on harsh realities. A wake-up call to all of us.

Ready to take better control of your medical life with a minimum of chemicals? Whew!

Buy your copy of

TODAY!

My E-book and I advocate the use of medication to prevent and to cure illness. And we advocate a wholesome approach to nutrition, lifestyle and sensible decision-making with lots of humor on the side.

Read quick and convenient E-book EMPOWER Yourself to Cope with a Medical Challenge, exclusively from Booklocker http://www.booklocker.com/books/4244.html

I thank Rose Walter at LinkedIn's "Linking Alternative Medicine" group for alerting colleagues to the report.

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

What to Do When Drugs Cause Problems they Should Prevent!

B'SD

28 Cheshvan 5771


This New York Times article names a nasty drug development and marketing problem hurting defenseless people already seriously ill and a possible solution: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/17/health/policy/17drug.html

I read it and then responded to a relevant LinkedIn discussion. I hope this URL will work for non-members of LinkedIn:

When Drugs Cause Problems
they Should Prevent!

If the link didn't work for you, read this reproduced repartee:

John Puma MD asked, "Is this part of DIY, farmers markets before pharmacies, Facebook before family doc, food before drugs? Is it one idea?"

I responded, "It's an interesting take on a difficult dilemma: struggling to prevent one serious problem as we're inadvertently causing others. The intense, short-term pressure to seize solutions before their long-term effects are assessed is gut-wrenching. There are very real time limits on when we can no longer try to salvage or to save endangered lives. So we plunge into the Unknown hoping for the best. But some alleged Unknowns aren't. Evidence exists that some alternatives are better than drugs and surgery. But knowledge of those alternatives might be suppressed/unintentionally limited.

John, I've participated in discussions on this and other LinkedIn lists, and share a consensus with fellow respondents that food can - demonstrably - be medicine. FWIW, I advocate the use of superb nutrition while or instead of pursuing medical procedures. The effects of nutrition have been observed for thousands of years. Their trials are over. Dr .Dean Ornish reverses heart disease with food and lifestyle changes instead of cardiac procedures. Other medical trailblazers do likewise. Choosing low-tech lifestyle changes is risky, frightening and a personal judgment call. It's not a sure thing in any manner. But documented evidence proves that alternative healing/prevention techniques do succeed.

I'm marketing a feature story I wrote about extremely effective low-tech solutions for making the most of the remaining vision in brain-injured patients. The lesson of the medical experts quoted in my piece is this: western medicine too often opts for expensive procedures and/or medications when less lucrative, equally or more effective solutions exist. Patients are not necessarily fully informed of those low-cost, low-risk and high-yield options. Medical practitioners are pressured to make sustainable incomes as insurance companies pull their financial chains. It all makes for a moral mess.

I don't know how best to respond to your "Is this part of DIY?" question with guaranteed validity. I'll take a risk and remark that opening the discussion to invite broader thought processes and considerations (far beyond merely one idea) is a step in very productive directions.

I'm grateful that you have the courage to broach the topic. BTW, I recovered my sight due to a horrific medical situation that almost killed me. Surgery saved my life but not my sight. That returned after I made lifestyle changes. Shocked the heck outta my medical team (mostly teaching professors). I explain how similar choices can save other lives and their quality in an E-book praised by medical and mental health professionals: It's MY Crisis! And I'll Cry If I Need To: EMPOWER Yourself to Cope with a Medical Challenge."


John summed up our thoughts with "Thanks for the really thoughtful response, Yocheved, and good luck with your feature story: I think entertainment venues are underestimated in medicine as effective ways of communicating and actually healing as well. Warm regards, JL"

~*~

Readers, I hope that you and someone who cares about you will ask important questions about the medications recommended to you. The impact on your life could be very, very important.

BTW, I might need to take some time off from updating the blog. My life is a bit hectic just now. I'll do my best to tap at you regularly and ask that you forgive me for occasional lapses.

A Resource Center for Meeting Your Medical Needs: Quick and convenient E-book EMPOWER Yourself to Cope with a Medical Challenge.

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

My Book Beat Medical Professionals to the Deadline!

B'SD

20 Mar-Cheshvan

Sometimes I am taken aback to discover just how valuable my book can be. That sense of surprise happens when Mass Media relates medical news or warnings to the public and I realize that MY BOOK ALREADY ADDRESSED THE TOPIC.

What made me catch my breath today, a year and a half after the publication of It's MY Crisis! And I'll Cry if I Need To? The Baltimore Sun newspaper just ran an article about how to prevent medication mistakes for people on several medicines at home or in a hospital. This advice is especially important for elderly patients (not just for the elderly, but especially for them. Younger readers can also benefit from the advice).

Check out Expert advice: Medication misuse.

My book addresses the problem on pages 36, 37 and 70. Readers of any age can protect themselves from medication errors by reading the information there.

As I've mentioned before on this blog, I highly recommend that you BUY MY BOOK TODAY to find out what other important information you need LONG BEFORE anyone else lets you in on it.

As my link for professional writers indicates, I'm a savvy and quite successful researcher. My book is filled with information YOU NEED. Click HERE, then on View Full Profile to see what I mean.

To your good health,

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

Doctor, I am NOT Making This Up!

16 Kislev 5768

My focus at this time of year is to keep your spirits up. I present to you an article about a woman who developed the courage and insight to teach the medical world and everyone around her to pay attention to the evidence: Evidence that she had a physical, not a mental, problem.

http://www.newsweek.com/id/71725

Moral of the real life story: When you’re dissatisfied with the medical assessment of your problem, and you’re certain that you need a second opinion, maybe a third, GET IT!

Mimic her. Imitate every sound psychological action you know of. Insist that your symptoms be addressed professionally, correctly, competently.

UPDATE: It is CRUCIAL, Important as Can Be, to Check Out the Competence of Medical Personnel and Hospitals. Here's One reason why: Hospital Fined for Brain Surgeries on Wrong Side of Head

THIS is why my book It's MY Crisis! And I'll Cry if I Need To teaches readers how to AVOID MEDICATION ERRORS: Hospital medication errors widespread

TOOLS for Learning about Medical Competence (I'll update this information over time):

2007 US News and World Report Rankings of Neurology and Neurosurgery Hospitals http://health.usnews.com/usnews/health/best-hospitals/search.php?spec=ihqneur

and

Hospital Comparison Tool for Craniotomies (surgery on the skull) http://healthnet.sqctool.com/index.aspx?f=healthnet_federal

As soon as you know you’ll be hospitalized, you can start to pack for the occasion.

Read It's MY Crisis! And I’ll Cry if I Need To and find a list of essentials you’ll need to pack whether you’re a man, woman or child. And learn what to leave out!



Spread more cheer during the holiday season. Buy It's MY Crisis! And I’ll Cry if I Need To at http://www.booklocker.com/books/3067.html

Order it in book stores 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.

Booksellers, save on large quantities of It’s MY Crisis!
https://secure.booklocker.com/booklocker/wholesale/order.php

To your good health,

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