January 27, 2005
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Changing Medications
Two of the medications I take seem to be causing me problems and I want to stop taking them. I mentioned this to Dr. G during my annual physical exam this week and, as I expected, he was opposed, strongly in one case and weakly in the other. I will consult with Dr. J in a couple of weeks before I actually stop taking anything.
I may have mentioned that I dropped Dr. F in favor of Dr. J. There were a variety of reasons that I won't go into here. I did learn that Dr. F won't miss me. His patient load has doubled because his partner, on vacation in the Bahamas, dropped dead of a massive heart attack at the age of 41.
The first medication I want to drop is topamax, normally used to control seizures. I started using it after it was given to me during a research study to see if it was suitable for use in controlling the pain of diabetic neuropathy, which it was. It also helped eliminate my migraine headaches for a while. However, its effect is wearing off, which means I would have to go to a higher dose if I wanted to continue using it. But I've learned that it is the most probable cause of a problem that has been bothering me increasingly for the last few years, auditory hallucinations.
The sounds would come at night, waking me from sleep. They were simple sounds: a cat yowling for attention, the doorbell, somebody knocking on the door or Cathy calling my name (when she wasn't in the house). At first the occurrences were rare but recently they have become frequent.
Quitting topamax presents a problem. As Dr. G reminded me, I can't quit cold turkey, I have to taper off slowly to avoid withdrawal problems. I'll have Dr. J help me with a plan for quitting.
The medicine that Dr. G wants me to continue using is lipitor. At least, he wants me to continue using some kind of statin medication. But I have reason to believe that my cholesterol levels have gotten dangerously low, to the point that my brain and eyes are not functioning properly, especially in moments of stress.
I have never accepted this whole circus of theories about fat metabolism. If the medical industry wasn't making so much money off of their sales of medicines, they would probably find us an inexpensive natural solution. A little bit of research shows that such solutions exist. There is no reason for me to pay a bloody fortune for their chemical brews when I can get the same result with moderate exercise, a decent diet, fish oil, garlic, olive oil, cinnamon and a few other simple things that I either use / do anyway or that are cheap! I never gave up eggs, even when the world condemned them. I continue consuming red meats like beef, bison and lamb, sometimes washed down with a few glasses of decent (cheap) red wine.
What do I avoid? Carbohydrates, particularly after noon. Sodas. Candy, except for some hot chocolate beverages. The white poisons: flour, salt, sugar.
Before I started taking lipitor, my cholesterol was about 178; now it is about 134 ... I think. And my triglycerides always showed a little high ... I think. But Dr. F never tested them fasting, which biased the results toward higher readings. It should all be lower tested fasting. I'll know in a couple of days.
Such a simple thing! Test when not fasting to skew the results upward to justify prescribing an unnecessary drug. The patient / customer / victim almost never finds out.
I don't want to finance the drug industry. I want to try to get by on what's left of the diminishing income I have.
Symptoms? I get confused more under stress (such as when driving) and I don't seem to see things I look at, such as cars moving towards me. That wasn't a problem before. I have read that such problems can be due to insufficient cholesterol in the brain blocking its function and that this is particularly true when the victim is using any kind of statin. I'll have to give up either driving or statins. Both cost me a fortune, but I'm getting some utility out of the ability to drive. Therefore, the statins have to go.
This has turned into quite a rant, hasn't it? My apologies if it bothered you or bored you.
