Scare headlines in today's newspapers. Sibutramine, sold under the brand name Reductil by Abbott Pharmaceuticals - has been withdrawn from the market because it may make users more susceptible to heart attacks and strokes.
There is another even bigger menace out there that we dutifully take daily - and don't even think about. The daily drug regimen that we have been taking for years - and in most cases don't really understand either it's purpose or what it is supposed to cure or prevent.
This is the usual scenario. We have a problem that involves a visit to a specialist. This specialist diagnoses the problem - and writes a script. We see this specialist several more times - and then we are referred back to our general practitioner.
Years later, we present ourselves to our GP on a regular basis to have renewal scripts for this drug - and because it was proscribed by a specialist our GP does not query these renewals. This cycle could well go on for the rest of our lives.
There are a lot of unanswered questions. Is this drug still relevant ? Has something better been invented ? Are there any long term side effects from it's use ?
And the most important question of all. Do I still need this drug ?
GP's are busy people and most fall into the habit of just renewing scripts for whatever a specialist has proscribed - without giving it due thought unless there has been adverse publicity about a particular drug.
There might be some interesting results if next time you need script renewal you asked your GP a lot of questions about your ongoing drug regimen !
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