Questions to Ask Your Doctor or Pharmacist
During #DrugsFactWeek, I have a special guest contributor: Guest post by John T. James, PhD, DABT Patients must understand that accepting drugs into their body is an invasion into their body, no less so than serious surgery. Even though that bodily invasion leaves no external scars, drugs often have powerful and lasting side effects on patients, even when approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Patients must ask questions about any new drug they are prescribed. The first question to ask is whether lifestyle changes might be effective rather than drugs. Many people report a “cure” from diabetes simply by major and sustained changes in diet and exercise. Likewise exercise and dietary changes can stave off the progression toward hypertension as we age. Now let’s suppose that there are no alternative to taking a therapeutic drug. The most important question is to ask whether the drug is being prescribed to you off label – that is for purposes or popula...