Changing drugs can increase their effectiveness
As we move up the ladder of drugs to ever more powerful pills we need to make sure we use them wisely. It is easy for pain doctors to keep writing prescriptions to the same pain killers that work for you over time. That may sound like a good idea, but over time drugs tend to become less effective, forcing the doctor to up the power of the medication. Eventually you hit the maximum dose and you are now trying to figure out how to use your breakthrough meds to do the work of your regular pain pills. To get away from that problem it is important to change up your drugs so that your body does not have a chance to get used to a particular medication. That way every medication stays as potent as possible. To make sure that this happens it is important to work with your pain doctor and make sure that your pills are not just bumped up in power every 6 months. When you see this ask if there is another drug that will do the job but is different.
In addition to your body becoming used to a particular medication, it may also become allergic to the medication or something in the pill causing you problems. In my case something in pain medication was taking for a while was creating pain that made my doctor write a breakthrough medication for it. By changing out the pain pill, he was able to drop the power of the medication by half and the extra pain disappeared. That meant that I also didn’t need to take that extra breakthrough drug. Any time you can remove a drug from your list it is time to celebrate. With the number of contraindications and interactions that are hard to pin down, the fewer things you are taking the better.
While you are working with your doctor to switch things out, find out if there are older drugs that can do the work of that newer wiz-bang pill. Chances are the older drug is better understood and much cheaper because there are generics out. That can keep you out of the doughnut hole which is always a good idea. Plus, update your drug list along with any issues and problems that you are experiencing. Keep that document on you at all times in case you have to go to the hospital. You can get those doctors quickly up to speed on your problems and issues even if they can’t get hold of your regular pain doctor. That includes blood pressure, temperature issues, blood sugar, and an other items that you normally track. This can also let you see trends or changes that you didn’t notice before. That can stop problems before they become serious and keep you out of the hospital for an extended stay.
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