Dear Loretta -

I must regretfully and respectfully disagree, and I say this as having grown up in a family of doctors.

In my case, I spent three years in greater agony than I would have been, because a crazy physiatrist decided that I didn't have bi-lateral RSD in my feet and all my problems stemmed from my splayed feet/collapsed arches. Hence I was put into ankle foot orthotics (AFOs), braces that gave my ankles only one range of motion. Then, once it was conclusively established that I in fact had RSD, none of my docs thought about the issue of the immobilization - never good for RSD/CRPS - until I raised it a year or two down the road. I now am in customized prescription orthotics, that look like anything that would be worn by anyone else: I just have to buy my shoes a little larger to accomodate them.

It is always appropriate, IMHO to ask your doctor to explain the mechanism of action of anything s/he is prescribing, even in the most general terms.

And as to all medications, I never take anything until I go online and read the actual FDA approved "Prescribing Information" sheet, the one designed for physicians. (And if that's too technical, go to Medline: there's a reason why that link exists at the top of each page on Neurotalk. The tab is marked "Drugs.") It's surprising how many "contra-indications" I've found that are directly applicable to me. The most common one is glaucoma, even though the list of current meds meds I print out and bring to appointments lists right on it "Xalatan (eye drops) [1 drop each eye/day] [prescribed by ________, M.D., Opthamologist]." Nor do they ask. They just (1) assume it's not an issue or (2) are unaware of the contra-indication in the first place.

I know that my father-in-law died far sooner than he should of because even though he was a bi-polar diabetic, taking large doses of Lithium, none of his far too many doctors ran regular kidney function panels until the point his kidneys essentially failed and he had to go on dialysis. Everyone probably assumed that the other guy was doing it.

But then, I remember where I was standing in my third grade classroom, when I looked up "skeptic" in the unabridged dictionary and realised that was me.

Mike