By Staff
My mother, in her last few years before she died at 89 and a half, would talk a lot about her medicine.
She would show each pill and tell me what it was for. She didn't die of a heart problem, in fact it beat for more than two days when she was in a coma.
Instead she had a very sudden and acute form of leukemia, not making her bed on a Wednesday and dead by Sunday, thankfully without any suffering.
So when they announced that Vivox had possibly caused deaths, I didn't pursue whether she had been bothered by that pill.
Most of her medicine was for arthritis and wasn't life preserving. She was very lucky.
When I was told I had diabetes, I immediately went into denial and wasn't all that sure I was going to test my blood or take medicine.
A couple of different pills were finally prescribed, including the one in the news this week, Avandia.
I was on it about two years, I think. I complained all that time about my legs being so itchy. Only when I started with a different doctor was it brought up that this medicine just might be the cause of my staying awake at night, scratching or applying lotion on my legs.
I guess I quit it around the first of the year. Yes, my legs are less bothersome and the scars I caused myself are starting to fade.
My doctor didn't put me on another drug for diabetes, but instead is watching my average numbers and I am testing more often and making sure I stay within the proper range.
I keep attempting to lose some weight, which would be the best thing and might also reduce the medicine I take for high blood pressure.
I was told I had a heart murmur a long time ago, am overweight, don't take time to exercise and not learn I might have damaged my heart by following my doctor's orders.
It isn't any wonder that people get discouraged.
Heart problems and going blind are my two biggest health fears. With a brother with retina problems and only one eye left and my own experience with my retinas pulling away from the back of my eyes, the last fear is very real.
I thought I was trying to do the right things to prevent a heart attack or stroke.
Are the drug companies so engrossed in making money they have failed to think about the patients?
Does the FDA think by pushing a drug through faster it will be a benefit to Americans?
I already had a call from someone comparing medicine this week. I can imagine all those who hadn't quit Avandia like I did are extremely worried right now about their hearts.
I can imagine doctors phones rang off the hook this week.
They always say you shouldn't immediately stop a medicine either.
I have nothing against lawyers, my eldest son is one actually, but I am sure some are rubbing their hands in anticipation of coming lawsuits.
The manufacturer of the drug is supposed to counter the results of this man who said the drug isn't safe.
The damage though is already done. People who are on Avandia are concerned and if their blood pressure is already high, it probably went even higher when they heard the news.
The advice to exercise and eat right seems to be the way to go. I just wish I had started sooner – about 30 years ago.