Isn't that the truth. I had several questions about Ampyra after my Neuro suggested I start taking it to help my walking. Wanna know how he answered one of the questions? He told me to "ask the pharmacist". I didn't say it but I thought to myself "the pharmacist knows more than you and doesn't charge me $200 for a fifteen minute appointment". I'm thinking I'm going to go to my pharmacist for my next appointment.

I had a doctor at Johns Hopkins who would Google stuff I talked about, having never heard or explored it himself. And that's considered a good hospital!

That's just it, the Docs can't keep up with big pharma's greed and should not prescribe these meds to their patients, until they're sure that they will DO NO HARM!!

Some good Docs do hold off. I like them the best.

Thanks for posting this link. The TED lectures are always useful and revealing.

I've copied this link to our PN forum...where medications can sometimes be triggers for nerve damage.

In all fairness, it really is hard to keep current in any field of medicine; never mind trying to keep up with the myriad of new medications and treatments that seemingly arrive on a daily basis.

The Cochrane Collaborative, (an evidence based research organization that does Meta analysis of research papers), claims that a practitioner would have to read at least 18 papers, 365 days a year to stay current in any one field .
When one considers that those papers are selectively published with bias toward positive outcomes, that task seems near impossible.

I find that sad and rather discouraging; yet I do appreciate their honesty when a practitioner says "I don't know."
At least from there the potential exists in finding some answers to that IDK .

With love, Erika

so true all my doctor knows to prescribe is morphine i tell her i cant stand it , it makes me sick so she gives me lower dose of morphine

Yes, those poor doctors.... whose hands are extended towards Big Pharma frequently (gimme gimme).

Their CE (continuing Ed)...financed and paid for at ritzy vacation hot spots by drug companies who push their own agenda, and conveniently refuse to share negative studies. Who give doctors cash for just talking about their products to other doctors. Who feed the office workers for free, give free samples, free expensive text books, etc. My heart just BLEEDS for those poor doctors who don't have TIME to look for themselves, drinking their pina coladas.

The drug companies have run amok... here is an expose of the giant Merck who created a fraudulent journal to impress doctors about their products:
http://www.the-scientist.com/?articl...-fake-journal/

Merck BTW has been implicated in creating the AIDs epidemic!
Notice there are no penalities for THEM.
http://rense.com/general94/gayvac.htm
Merck's prior head of vaccines admits this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=edikv0zbAlU

One can believe what they want. But when it comes to doctors, I think many have been diverted from the truth for so long, they don't know how to even recognize it!

This is going to be kind of difficult as this med is delivered by mail. Hey, maybe I'll ask my mail carrier about it........I think he'll probably know about as much as the Neuro (or more ). I hesitate to ask the manufacturer any questions because the answers will definitely be biased.

You can call the toll free number for your mail order.

Or you can go online to the drug's website...

Many community pharmacists are NOT experts in every drug.
They will look up a data base and read off it. The data base typically reflects the drug insert mandated by the FDA.

Rxlist.com is often useful as well. RxList and the like will have basic information, about to take with food, or not...what to avoid, major drug interactions etc. Efficacy? That would be more tricky. Doctors who keep up will share efficacy with patients based on their experience, but for new drugs? That is a big problem since there is no experience yet.

Excellent links and advice Mrs. D.

A BIG thanks for that. The more we get informed, the morer we can make informed decisions and the more we can avoid potential problems in our care.

With love, Erika