A box filled with medication is delivered as regular as clockwork every thirty days, without having to send a reminder. My medical aid's designated service provider gets a load of business from members, no surprise, as there are no co-payments for most of the meds. The guy from the courier company knows me by now.
Sounds wonderful, but I end up having too much stock, especially the inhaler that lasts way longer than just one month.
So, not wanting to waste funds, I asked the pharmacy to pause some of the meds a while back.
Allopathic Medicine
Medical aid did not like that and sent an email reminding me about the importance of taking chronic medication regularly. I also got a phone call from my "personal" health coach, who read from a script, of a different kind, with a warning about the potential dangers of not taking chronic meds regularly.
I dislike wastage; some of the medications expire before I even get to open them. So, the only solution was that my doctor changed the prescription to only four repeats in a six-month period for some of the meds! We used to have way more wastage with hubby's insulin as he often used less, especially when he was more active or cut out snacking between meals.
The sad thing is that many people do not have medical aid, so they have to go to the government hospitals. Not easy with our pathetic public transport. Then, they have to wait in long queues at the hospital's outpatient department, just about the entire day, by the way, just to get their monthly meds! We tried donating our built-up excess meds once, but no elderly-care organization would accept it. It's illegal. I understand the danger, because not everyone takes care with storage to prevent spoilage!
What an absolute waste of life-saving medication, especially insulin!
How do many of us start taking chronic meds while still healthy and active?
Some meds are prescribed at the first symptom of a chronic condition. My blood pressure was a little high during a bout of Bronchitis. The tight chest very likely raised it! But the good doctor at the time told me very sternly that I had to go on blood pressure medication. "We" will try a low dosage to begin with. I, who was always told my blood pressure is like that of a young person, when I used to donate blood! I was not impressed, but I was feeling so sick with Bronchitis that I just started taking them!
Later on, when I asked when I could stop taking them, I was told it's the tablets that were keeping my blood pressure so good, and that one cannot stop them once you're taking them.
A couple of years later, when I went for my annual blood tests, I remembered a little too late that my cholesterol test would not be good as I overdid the double cream yogurts, butter, chocolates, etc., after a celebratory weekend. My cholesterol showed medium-high, more on the high side, said the doctor, looking a tad concerned. Went on to say...
"We'd" better start you on statins, just a light dose.
"We" showed up again. Not sure who that is, I for sure was not part of that decision!
Looking back, all I needed was to cut back on full-fat foods, but like a lamb to the slaughter, I did what I was told and started taking the statins.
How many of us, trusting our doctors, become lambs to the slaughter? I do believe it to be true in some instances!
I fully understand that chronic medications have their place. Insulin, for example, is life-saving for a Type 1 diabetic, so there's no question about that! Others are often a necessity if the condition doesn't improve with lifestyle changes.
My question is, who benefits from getting us dependent on the meds?
Doctor's visits sometimes make me feel like I'm on a conveyor belt, being processed, sent to the pharmacy with a script in hand, where I'm put on yet another conveyor belt?
A statement by medical aid:
...typically, the doctor spends up to 15 minutes with the patient and/or family.
Do they think 15 minutes is long enough, especially in complex cases? A thorough consultation often takes a little longer than 15 minutes. Maybe the patient before me took up more than fifteen minutes, and that's why the doctor was so hurried at my last visit? Who knows?
One good thing is that some doctors are slowly starting to advise patients on taking supplements, and not only the chemicals many in the Western world are dependent on! My rant may sound like I'm against doctors, I really am not, just some practices that for sure benefit big pharma, go against the grain! My nephew is a caring and very sharp doctor, and so is my own doctor. It was an older doctor who put me on all these chronic meds years ago!
Supplements
I've always believed in taking supplements because we're not getting enough nutrients in our diets. One has to be careful to choose the right combination, or you could be taking what some people cynically call expensive "pee" pills!
A tip for our Silvers - many of us take ACC200/600 to thin mucus when we have a bad cough.
N-Acetyl Cysteine, the active ingredient of this med, also has powerful antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties, and comes in capsule form as well.
The bottles below are the main components of my current supplements, and I believe they've helped stave off another nasty little virus that started gripping me last week!
One downside of running a B&B is that one is exposed to all kinds of bugs, with people coming from all over the world.
Homeopathic Medicine
Following my fibula fracture, my friend @owasco reminded me of the healing power of homeopathy. The basic principle is to activate the body's self-healing powers. When my son fractured his femur at the tender age of two, a homeopath I was seeing gave me a Comfrey tablet to give to him. He came out of traction a whole week earlier, much to the doctor and nursing staff's surprise! I had forgotten about Comfrey until Owasco recommended four remedies that I managed to order online, and comfrey (Symphytum) was one of them. I do believe her recommendation helped with the quicker healing of my fracture.
Being allergic to every allopathic anti-inflammatory available in our country, I was thrilled to hear of a powerful homeopathic remedy to treat inflammation and sprains. Traumeel can be injected, but also comes in tablet form. I've been taking the tablets for the past two weeks, and am starting to feel relief from the muscle aches and pains.
2025 has been a health roller-coaster ride for me, but I think I'm on the right track with this arsenal of supplements and homeopathic remedies!
I assure the skeptics that the one ailment I do not suffer from is the awful, debilitating Hypochondria๐
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