What pills have you quit taking, looking for alternatives?

[Marianne]

Some time ago, I thought about all the pills I was taking. All the pills that I had been taking for a long, long time. At the doctor's office, it was always the same:

Doc: Take these pills twice a day, every day, forever.
Me: What are the long term effects of taking these pills?
Doc: When it happens, then we'll deal with that then.

So, for chronic carpal tunnel, I took Naproxen Sodium (Aleve is one), for 10 years!! Did a lot of reading on the web about long time usage - heart attacks! Hey, that runs in my family!

Made the switch to Ibuprofen. Decided to attack my liver for a while. Did some research on that, too. And Tylenol. And aspirin. Finally decided to take one low dose aspirin ONLY and tough it out. I didn't bookmark the study findings on this (!!!), but here's one article about benefits of low dose aspirin besides lowered risk of stroke -
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/243171.php . They won't do any more studies on aspirin because of the cost and the fact that it's so cheap to buy everywhere.

I have some arthritis, bursitis, that kind of tendon, joint, connective tissue issue. :/

I was pretty achy for a week, maybe even two weeks. Then I started feeling better, not so achy. Now, I take Tylenol or aspirin first. Some days I still have to take something stronger, but not often. I decided I'm going to stick with the drugs that have been around the longest.

Super B complex has helped my carpal tunnel more than anything.
I stopped the two blood pressure medications because Hawthorn is working better. (still take my bp regularly, just to make sure) Can't believe how much better I feel just not taking those anymore.

We put saturated fats back in our diet. My cholesterol dropped 50 points.
DH quit taking statin drugs (he had big time trouble w/them). His dropped 50 points after adding saturated fats, a year later, it's dropped another 25 points. He's added several things to his daily routine - niacin, etc.

Anyone else have a success story to share?

 

[Amiga]

I found my allergies were greatly reduced when I stopped eating gluten. And now I am finding that if my joints start to ache, I stop eating grains for a few days and the aches fade quite a bit.

I watch my posture more closely now and that has stopped the pins and needles in my arms at night. I also do a few simple exercises to reverse the shoulder-rounding tendency.

There is a Wahls Protocol, combination of better nutrition, stress management and exercise that has shown very good results especially for people with chronic inflammation.

Before I dive in, I realize I need to clarify my motivation to get me through rough patches. I had my share of rough patches going gluten-free 30 years ago. I realize now that I need to use the "mental floss" before encountering resistance (especially my own (c: )

On a different tack, Epsom salt helps a bunch of things, from feeling run down and tense, to easing sprains, to drawing out stubborn small splinters.

I use Traumeel for aches and pains - very helpful.

Activated charcoal and coconut oil with some baking soda makes a really good toothpaste. The cost is really low, and my dental hygienist tells me my teeth and gums are doing better than when I was using store-bought toothpaste.

Ginger and turmeric are nice anti-inflammatories, and I have used those from time to time. It is not overnight miracle stuff for me, but does reduce problems after several days.

But really the biggest thing that I do instead of going on medication is restrict empty carbs. After an awful summer a few years ago (my emotional painkiller is baked goods), at my checkup the young doctor declared I needed to be on glucophage and statins due to blood test results. Instead, I went on a sugar and starch fast, then slowly introduced fruits and some whole grains. Next blood test, not a trace of the minor indicators that my blood sugar was too high or that my LDLs and HDLs were off.

I keep an asthma inhaler (albuterol) handy, and sometimes use an antiviral. I watched my dad with asthma and learned that he could work himself into a serious asthma attack just by getting nervous that he might have an asthma attack. He saw some crown vetch once, told me it was red clover and that red clover gives him asthma. Sure enough, he started wheezing. It was not red clover.

From this I decided I could reduce the severity of attacks by refusing to get worked up and nervous about it. That works most of the time. I am not opposed to having the occasional prescription for short-term relief.

At the first sign of UTI, it's rooibos tea with a little applesauce, and a couple of ounces of cranberry juice in ten ounces of water.

 

[hqueen13]

2 years ago I gave up my allergy meds. I have seasonal allergies that are predominantly affected by tree pollen. I was taking 5 prescription meds and STILL had symptoms. I wasn't "normal" the way I thought I should be with no reaction to the allergens despite the 5 meds. I was on Allegra, Singulair, Pataday, Nasonex and Flonase. Yes, 2 pills, 1 eye drop and 2 nasal sprays. It was disgusting.
Of course I should add that I'm an outdoors girl, and so I don't do the things they always tell you to do... stay inside, keep the windows up, blah blah blah...
But I quit. I quit taking ALL the meds. I found a natural allergy eye drop that is a TON better than the prescription, and a LOT cheaper. Less than $10.00 for a bottle that lasts me all season. Completely relieves the itchy eyes. (And when I say itchy, I mean so itchy I want to scrape my face on the carpet like the dog itchy).
I use a combination of things beyond that, and sometimes there is just no helping it. I take 2 different homeopathics, one for skin conditions (I get a little itchy sort of like heat rash itchy) and one for hay fever. In addition, I use Lavender or Ocotea essential oil to help reduce the hay fever reactions. I'll probably do more research this spring and see what else I can find to help me reduce reactions even more.
One of the big keys that I haven't been able to really work through yet is managing my diet. I no longer drink processed dairy, which reduced the chronic runny nose almost immediately. I try to stay away from processed cheese, but that's my guilty thing. Otherwise, I only drink raw milk, and in spring when my allergies are at their worst, I try to stay away from that too. I have reduced my sugar consumption a lot, too, which helps. I'm also working on reducing my gluten consumption, but that's another tough one with bread lovers in the house. I stick to spelt bread in the mornings for breakfast as much as possible, and try to stay away from breads otherwise. Though its hard to find a better conveyance for the butter I love to have!
I also add bee pollen to my diet in the spring as well.

Beyond that - I try to do a number of different things in order to maintain health and not use conventional drugs. I use arnica drops and spray on achy spots. I use a couple of different natural salves on bruises and scrapes, plus I use Essential Oils for a huge variety of things. I use activated charcoal instead of pepto, which is great.

I'm so happy with my natural remedies, we've completely given up a lot of things that we just don't need anymore since we've changed out diet and adjusted how and what we do for treatments.

 

[dfr1973]

We put saturated fats back in our diet. My cholesterol dropped 50 points.
DH quit taking statin drugs (he had big time trouble w/them). His dropped 50 points after adding saturated fats, a year later, it's dropped another 25 points.

I did this also - went completely off the cholesterol diet, then off the statin. Happily went back to real butter, real cream, real sugar, and BACON ... and my t-chol went down with HDL being "absolutely stellar". Fasting glucose went from just "normal" to "textbook perfect." My doc said she could not explain it but she certainly could not argue with the results. I have also lost weight instead of gaining, and gone down two jeans sizes.

 

[moolie]

hqueen13, please tell us what kind of eye drops you use? I don't like to use the OTC ones that have all the chemicals.

And, I just wanted to mention, to you who have carpal tunnel issues, you might want to try turmeric, for the inflammation. I use it for various inflamed arthritis joints. It lessens hair fall out, too, for those of you (me) who have thinning hair. By something like 30%.

Turmeric is amazing stuff--it also helps fight infections and is good for digestive upsets. I put it into everything that can take it--to the point that some of my wooden spoons are dyed yellow from it

Never knew about the hair thing though, but we all have super thick hair to begin with, even hubs.

 

[Dumbfarmhand]

Some time ago, I thought about all the pills I was taking. All the pills that I had been taking for a long, long time. At the doctor's office, it was always the same:

Doc: Take these pills twice a day, every day, forever.
Me: What are the long term effects of taking these pills?
Doc: When it happens, then we'll deal with that then.

So, for chronic carpal tunnel, I took Naproxen Sodium (Aleve is one), for 10 years!! Did a lot of reading on the web about long time usage - heart attacks! Hey, that runs in my family!

Made the switch to Ibuprofen. Decided to attack my liver for a while. Did some research on that, too. And Tylenol. And aspirin. Finally decided to take one low dose aspirin ONLY and tough it out. I didn't bookmark the study findings on this (!!!), but here's one article about benefits of low dose aspirin besides lowered risk of stroke -
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/243171.php . They won't do any more studies on aspirin because of the cost and the fact that it's so cheap to buy everywhere.

I have some arthritis, bursitis, that kind of tendon, joint, connective tissue issue. :/

I was pretty achy for a week, maybe even two weeks. Then I started feeling better, not so achy. Now, I take Tylenol or aspirin first. Some days I still have to take something stronger, but not often. I decided I'm going to stick with the drugs that have been around the longest.

Super B complex has helped my carpal tunnel more than anything.
I stopped the two blood pressure medications because Hawthorn is working better. (still take my bp regularly, just to make sure) Can't believe how much better I feel just not taking those anymore.

We put saturated fats back in our diet. My cholesterol dropped 50 points.
DH quit taking statin drugs (he had big time trouble w/them). His dropped 50 points after adding saturated fats, a year later, it's dropped another 25 points. He's added several things to his daily routine - niacin, etc.

Anyone else have a success story to share?

I stopped statins as they really didnt work, made me feel sore in my legs - so I had to do something. I added Red Yeast Rice to my daily intake and my TG's dropped 400 points - not changing my diet! I also take Allicin (Garlic), long used in Europe to decrease cholesterol. I enjoy bacon (from our pigs) and real butter. Go figure? As for my platelets, a twice-daily 81mg aspirin has taken the place of Plavix. If you look at the studies, taking an anti-platelet is not much better than good ol' aspirin.

The only thing I need to research is what can improve my thyroid (hypo). I take Synthroid, but would likw to see if there is an alternative.

Stay away from Tylenol - very toxic to the liver!

 

[TwoCrows]

Well then, now is the time to try it! It helps to reduce stress when your BP is lower.

 

[moolie]

The only medication I take, other than the odd Tylenol for a headache, is my asthma puffer (Ventolin) and I need that one to breathe on occasion, so no way I'm throwing that one out!

I also have carpal tunnel, both wrists. I don't "take" anything for it, never have.

I've gone for extensive physiotherapy off and on over the years and have learned exercises and relaxation techniques to deal with the tension that builds up in my shoulders and neck that runs down my arms and makes my condition worse.

I've also learned, the hard way, to step away from the repetitive daily activities that hurt (particularly using my computer, writing with a pen or pencil, knitting/crocheting, painting etc.) and go for a walk while I do my exercises.

It's bad at the moment, because my job is mostly computer work and this is a busy time of year for me. I woke up this morning with my right arm entirely pins & needles and it took a while to clear it out. So once I'm done here and with my morning email check, I'm off for a long walk through a nearby woodland area then for lunch with a friend. I can't take the entire week off because I have a Friday deadline, but working at home is one of the best things I ever decided to do for my health and my family.

 

[Marianne]

Wow.
Moolie, I have to use a steroid inhaler daily, plus the ventolin as needed. I did try a 'lung support' blend of herbs to make a strong tea. I was supposed to drink it three times a day for 6 weeks, then cut back to one cup a day. I never even made it one full week. I ended up using the ventolin waaay too often. Cedar trees are pollinating now, they are all around this area and that always affected my breathing anyway. So that was a wash for me. Something about breathing...I kinda like to do it.

Our grandson has asthma. He was using his puffer a lot, for a long time. Now they think it's mostly allergy related. This crap went on for years before someone really paid attention to the whole picture. After scratch tests/shots, etc, he's much better and doesn't have to use his puffer as often.

Do you use wrist braces at night for your carpal tunnel?

hqueen, that is just amazing! I finally found out that the el cheapo, 12 hour allergy pill from the Dollar Store worked better than all the high dollar crap we took before. My breathing is better when I take it. But it is allergy season around here.

Do you like oatmeal? I posted a recipe for soaked, flour free oatmeal pancakes. Sounds terrible, I know. But now I keep some in the frig most of the time. I can pop one into the toaster, then treat it like toast. Smear some butter on it, walk around the house, etc. Egads, I think about all the good stuff I didn't try for a long time because it sounded weird, like kefir.

I'm also trying to work on cleaning up the way we eat around here. Has to be a gradual thing as DH raises an eyebrow anytime there's something 'foreign' in the kitchen.

 

[moolie]

Moolie, I have to use a steroid inhaler daily, plus the ventolin as needed. I did try a 'lung support' blend of herbs to make a strong tea. I was supposed to drink it three times a day for 6 weeks, then cut back to one cup a day. I never even made it one full week. I ended up using the ventolin waaay too often. Cedar trees are pollinating now, they are all around this area and that always affected my breathing anyway. So that was a wash for me. Something about breathing...I kinda like to do it.

Our grandson has asthma. He was using his puffer a lot, for a long time. Now they think it's mostly allergy related. This crap went on for years before someone really paid attention to the whole picture. After scratch tests/shots, etc, he's much better and doesn't have to use his puffer as often.

Do you use wrist braces at night for your carpal tunnel?

I have a wrist brace for my right wrist which is worst, but it doesn't seem to work for me so it's in the bottom of a drawer now. I pull it out every once in a while when things get bad, but haven't for a long while. My physiotherapist determined early on that I build up tension in my neck and shoulders, and that reducing this goes a long way to relieving my wrist pain and numbness. Unfortunately my oldest daughter takes after me and is heading down the same road. The physiotherapy, the exercises they taught me, and avoiding repetitive stress as much as possible have been the biggest help. And having my hubs work the knots out of my shoulder and neck goes a long way as well.

Glad to hear about your grandson getting a handle on his allergies/asthma but sorry to hear that yours are so seriously affected by your environment

I have had need in the past to use a daily steroid inhaler (for two years in total), but weaned myself off it and (touch wood) haven't needed it again. My allergies are to moulds and mildew, so are easy to avoid unless I'm staying with family in Vancouver where it is damp and basements often get a little musty. Locally we get an allergy phenomenon called "snow mould" every spring as the snow melts, and this also affects me--it's that time of year again, so I'm not doing any work in the garden or yard until everything is melted and dried and well sunned again.

I have reactions to most allergy and cold medicines--they speed up my heart--so I pretty much don't take anything unless it is prescribed to me by my doctor who knows about the issue. On the homeopathic side of things, I was told years ago that strong coffee works as a substitute for ventolin in a "need my inhaler right now" kind of situation, something to do with the caffiene--I have tried it on occasion when I haven't had my puffer handy and it has worked well for me, but as someone who never drinks coffee a half a mug of strong coffee and about 10 minutes just sitting was all it took to open up my airways again.