Would you trust the h1n1 shot after this...

[blutea]

Your medication is kind of ironic...no studies to prove if it's safe during breastfeeding and it's the same with vaccines.

Good point about the irony there... most sources are admant about not taking the medication during pregnancy or BF because the risks are unknown. I'm willing to take that unknown risk with the medication and pregnancy as I don't have much of a choice ... same as I'm willing to take the risk with vaccines.
With BFing though, I know formula isn't as good as breast milk... but it might be safer. Its not really known and I have to figure it out. At least with BFing I have an alternative option.
I don't feel that safe without the vaccines... again my call though, lol... you clearly find the unknown of the vaccines scarier.

It's not that I find the unknown scarier. I know what will happen and I'm prepared either way.

 

[KandyKinz]

I share some of your same thoughts on this. When I lived in USA for several years, there was a drug for everything and so easily precribed. Whatever happened to giving the human body a chance to build up its immunity?

There are vaccines readily available where I am now but it's not extensively used. Chicken pox and measles are seen as a childhood phase and accepted that way. The common flu is a 7-day illness that sometimes goes away by itself. Antibiotics is not blatantly used when possible.

Wow! I definitly think I prefer the medical environment you're living in... Here there seems to be immunizations for everything! If your kids do not receive the immunizations on time they are often refused to go to school.... ofcourse you can get around this but it is a struggle and there's often a ton of paper work involved to opt out... And antibiotics are given for everything. If I went to the walk in clinic tonight and told the doctor it hurt when I peed he'd prescribe me antibiotics without even doing a culture of my urine. Same thing with sore throats... If it hurts you get antibiotics... Who cares if the ailment might actually be caused by a virus! It's scary scary! No wonder there's growing risks of a super bugs developing!

 

[lisaf]

I should add that it varies from doctor to doctor... My husband's family pop a pill for everything and their health suffers for it (from what I can see anyway). They even opt for back surgery without even trying physical therapy first! And don't bother to get any PT afterwards. They're crazy though, lol. I swear, I've blown my nose once and had my husband offer to get me a Claritin... ummm... nope, just fine thanks, blew my nose, now I'm good.

I had a very very bad stomach bug a month ago... no vomiting or fever or anything... just some bad diarrhea.. after 4 days straight I went to urgent care... they would not give me anything for it without running a sample first. It came back clear for all known bacteria/infections so basically it was some kind of virus they told me just had to run its course... BRAT diet and all that.... it took almost 3 weeks until I was feeling better. It was NOT fun, but I'm glad they're responsible here and didn't just give me antibiotics because they wouldn't have helped.

 

[KandyKinz]

I should add that it varies from doctor to doctor... My husband's family pop a pill for everything and their health suffers for it (from what I can see anyway). They even opt for back surgery without even trying physical therapy first! And don't bother to get any PT afterwards. They're crazy though, lol. I swear, I've blown my nose once and had my husband offer to get me a Claritin... ummm... nope, just fine thanks, blew my nose, now I'm good.

I had a very very bad stomach bug a month ago... no vomiting or fever or anything... just some bad diarrhea.. after 4 days straight I went to urgent care... they would not give me anything for it without running a sample first. It came back clear for all known bacteria/infections so basically it was some kind of virus they told me just had to run its course... BRAT diet and all that.... it took almost 3 weeks until I was feeling better. It was NOT fun, but I'm glad they're responsible here and didn't just give me antibiotics because they wouldn't have helped.

Yeah I do admit it is very doctor dependant.... Unfortunately, I'm in an area where the majority of the doctors are very old school pill pushers and believe that antibiotics cure everything!

 

[lisaf]

Yeah, my husband's family got that way because his stepfather was a doctor and would just bring home samples of everything and give it to them. So they're used to going straight to the prescription stuff too.
I have seen on 3 separate occasions, my MIL give DH a muscle relaxer because he slept wrong and his neck was hurting... When that happens to me, guess what? It goes away in a couple days!

Yet I have trouble getting DH to take an Advil when he has a sore ankle... like he's convinced it won't do anything because its not strong enough

I know there are docs who just write scrips because their patients nag them and get mad and will sue if they get seriously sick etc etc... very sad... because those docs are not providing care, they're just trying to make people go away or something.

 

[JaniceT]

KandyKinz & Lisaf,

Maybe that's the exact reason why there's an increased interest in traditional methods of healing. People do get overwhelmed with the 'pill popping' culture after some time.

Like you mentioned, if there's a neckache, just rest the muscle for a few days and it goes away... instead of popping a relaxant. A lot of aches and pains are there for a reason, the body is trying to tell us something. By removing this pain, we could be covering up a more serious underlying condition.

With flus and common illnesses, antibiotics is not always the answer. If I feel a slight fever running up, I'll boil a pot of barley or chrysentemum tea and drink it for 2 days. It works wonders, so much better than running a 7-day course of antibiotics. It's only when one coughs and hacks for 3 weeks straight, then the body's telling you to see a doctor because it isn't the common cold.

 

[lisaf]

If I get a UTI... I am screaming for the antibiotics though.. LMAO... I get hit FAST and hard... peeing blood within less than a day, not able to leave the toilet etc...
I'll drink the cranberry juice etc, but once its that bad, I'll swallow the dang pill no questions asked.

 

[KandyKinz]

Another thing that bugs me is when doctors don't take potential side effects of a medication seriously or deny them if they do occur!

For instance, my younger sister has been diagnosed with depression... As has almost every other female on my mom's side of my family including myself.... So she's been put on prozac and is in counselling... Well she recently decided she wanted to be put on the pill (even though she's too damn young in my opinion :shurg but cause my mom did not want her to get knocked up at 16 like her older sister she agreed...... But women in our family seem to react really badly to the pill... And in some it made the depression so bad that it resulted in hospitalization... Because my sister already had the history of depression I told my mom to be careful of that cause the pill and our genes simply don't mix! It just makes us CRAZY! Well the doctor told my mom that there's absolutely no evidence that what I told her was right and that my sister would be fine cause she's on prozac... 3 weeks after she started the pill she tried to kill herself despite her doing quite well psychologically after starting the prozac and before the pill... The doctor still held strong to her words saying it had absolutely nothing to do with the birth control pills because there is no evidence they cause mood changes..... I wasn't impressed.

 

[lisaf]

My grandpa was taken to the hospital because his dementia was getting worse. They were going to up the dose on one of these drugs he was on... but my stepmom (a psychologist) knew that dementia was one of the side effects! They looked it up and went 'whoops' and reduced his dose.

Ditto for my provigil... I found out online it makes birth control pills ineffective. Went to my doc who didn't believe me but 'humored' me and looked it up ... came back and said 'yep, you should use other birth control when you're on that'.
Docs just love to hand out pills.

 

[KandyKinz]

If I get a UTI... I am screaming for the antibiotics though.. LMAO... I get hit FAST and hard... peeing blood within less than a day, not able to leave the toilet etc...
I'll drink the cranberry juice etc, but once its that bad, I'll swallow the dang pill no questions asked.

I think once it's bad enough that there's blood in the urine then you should act sooner then later!

With my uti's I can usually get rid of mine with increased fluids, cranberry juice and vitamin C. Occasioanlly, if it's really bothersome I'll go in and give a urine sample then just try to get rid of it on my own and just keep the script on hand... Usually by the time the culture gets back I'm symptom free and don't need the antibiotics.

But I was hit bad though in April.... It was a really weird uti though with strange symptoms... I had about 1 or 2 weeks of sharp vaginal pain (felt very different then the uti pain I have had in the past) but there was no abnormal discharge or odour to suggest a vaginal infection. Then one day, I noticed blood in my urine and and some costovertbral angle tenderness so I went into the walk in clinic right away... He gave me a antibiotic call Cipro XL... I had never heard of it before but it's quite a potent antibiotic... you just take one a day for three days and it's awful stuff! I ended up experiencing extremely bad tendonitis and couldn't walk for a day... Could have been worse as it could have lasted longer as I had read on the internet... But still....no more cipro for this amigo!

 

[lisaf]

They've been giving me the 1 dose stuff the past few times... I only get them once every couple of years.
But seriously, I notice 'hey, I just peed an hour ago'... then I have to go again 30 minutes later... then I'm peeing blood. I get NO warning, lol... I keep AZO on hand as it kills the pain and frequent peeing and my doc will call in the prescription without an exam at this point as I KNOW when I have one.

 

[KandyKinz]

My grandpa was taken to the hospital because his dementia was getting worse. They were going to up the dose on one of these drugs he was on... but my stepmom (a psychologist) knew that dementia was one of the side effects! They looked it up and went 'whoops' and reduced his dose.

Ditto for my provigil... I found out online it makes birth control pills ineffective. Went to my doc who didn't believe me but 'humored' me and looked it up ... came back and said 'yep, you should use other birth control when you're on that'.
Docs just love to hand out pills.

Well that definitly supports my view that you should never entirely rely on you're doctors! They're an excellent resource and are a very important aspect of ideal medical care.... BUT it's crucial individuals engage in their own research as well! Doctors are only human...

 

[JaniceT]

Lisa, most definitely! If I got a UTI, I'd be running to the Docs for antibiotics. It's because UTI if left untreated, cannot heal by itself most of the time and can cause infertility, unlike the common cold. I hate the feeling of peeing bricks LOL

Kandy, that is so unfortunate! Some medicines just don't work well with some people although it works for others. I believe that psychotherapy should always come first, and anti-psychotic pills as a buffer/support. Never the other way around. Also, children who have yet to fully mature will definitely go through a lot of hormonial changes and what not. Prozac is not a cure-all and I do see it being prescribed by doctors like candy when living in America.

 

[KandyKinz]

They've been giving me the 1 dose stuff the past few times... I only get them once every couple of years.
But seriously, I notice 'hey, I just peed an hour ago'... then I have to go again 30 minutes later... then I'm peeing blood. I get NO warning, lol... I keep AZO on hand as it kills the pain and frequent peeing and my doc will call in the prescription without an exam at this point as I KNOW when I have one.

I've had 4 in the past year! Before that I've only had 2 in my whole life and both of those times were after I was catheterized for surgery... Not too sure why I'm getting them so often these days.....

I'm a little concerned that I may have MS.... Not just cause of the new onset of frequent uti's but I've had a bunch of other issues come up in the last two years and have a family history of it as well..... oh well....

 

[lisaf]

Oh yeah, and Prozac can cause rapid cycling in a Bipolar person!
I liked being on my antidepressants and had talk therapy to help with some of my issues but I was surprised when I decided to stop taking my Effexor that there were all these withdrawl symptoms.
It was horrible and I'm never going on another medication without researching any effects of getting off of it... I had 'brain zaps' for MONTHS and was dizzy/out of it for a least a week (tapering off is supposed to help, but most people online said it was only minimally easier to taper down.... I was so mad at what this drug was doing I went cold-turkey (after making sure it was safe to do that of course))

 

[lisaf]

Yikes on 4 UTIs in the past year. I do find that if I pee EVERY time after sex, I can usually avoid my UTIs.. but got a few from holding it for too long.

Hope its not MS for you though, thats a little scary.

 

[JaniceT]

Oh yeah, and Prozac can cause rapid cycling in a Bipolar person!
I liked being on my antidepressants and had talk therapy to help with some of my issues but I was surprised when I decided to stop taking my Effexor that there were all these withdrawl symptoms.
It was horrible and I'm never going on another medication without researching any effects of getting off of it... I had 'brain zaps' for MONTHS and was dizzy/out of it for a least a week (tapering off is supposed to help, but most people online said it was only minimally easier to taper down.... I was so mad at what this drug was doing I went cold-turkey (after making sure it was safe to do that of course))

GOOD for you! I believe a lot of people take anti-depressants for very valid reasons. However, there are a lot of people who actually have gotten the benefit of it and no longer need it...BUT are hooked on to it like a drug or smoking. It's just too addictive to give up.

 

[KandyKinz]

Oh yeah, and Prozac can cause rapid cycling in a Bipolar person!
I liked being on my antidepressants and had talk therapy to help with some of my issues but I was surprised when I decided to stop taking my Effexor that there were all these withdrawl symptoms.
It was horrible and I'm never going on another medication without researching any effects of getting off of it... I had 'brain zaps' for MONTHS and was dizzy/out of it for a least a week (tapering off is supposed to help, but most people online said it was only minimally easier to taper down.... I was so mad at what this drug was doing I went cold-turkey (after making sure it was safe to do that of course))

I had a similar bad experience with paxil... I was on it but only briefly and it was an awful experience... I have not resorted to antidepressants since.... BUT I did hit a rather rough patch in my life last January and decided to try something more natural with few side effects and found Vitex.... It made a HUGE difference in my life and pretty much completely resolved my depression and anxiety issues. It also completely eliminated the panic attacks I use to have on nearly a daily basis....

I have however discontinued it since becoming pregnant and I'm quite eager to get back onto it......

 

[lisaf]

I did laugh though as DH married me without ever knowing me with a period (I had Mirena) or knowing me off antidepressants. I did get a lot bitchier off the antidepressants and started nagging him about stuff.

I was fine on the Effexor but am glad I was able to quit it like that... must be horrible to be hooked on it, not able to stop.

 

[KandyKinz]

Yikes on 4 UTIs in the past year. I do find that if I pee EVERY time after sex, I can usually avoid my UTIs.. but got a few from holding it for too long.

Hope its not MS for you though, thats a little scary.

It is.... I think with MS you're pretty much screwed regardless of how you manage it so I'm not sure I want to find out.... My mom was diagnosed awhile ago and decided that she just didn't want to deal with the risks of treatments... The disorder has since progressed quite dramatically and she's now second guessing her decision... My cousin on the other hand had pretty much tried everything... and no meds have halted the progression so far and the side effects of the meds have been quite severe! She's now undergoing chemo and will be receiving a stem cell transplant shortly... That procedure in itself has a 20% mortality rate

And now in the last two years I've been diagnosed with pars planatis (an eye disorder and apparently 30% of individuals who have this also have MS), frequent uti's, alot of memory problems and have on occasion experience trigeminal nerve numbness and twitching... Oh and apparently depression is another symptoms.... And all of those things tend to get worse in hot weather or if I'm feeling stressed....