FDA may let patients buy drugs without prescriptions

[cindykimlisa]

Re: FDA may let patients buy drugs without prescriptions

Something to consider

In an effort to save some money, people will skip the doctor visit and they will also skip the once or twice a year lab work to tell if there are side effects of the meds affecting your liver, kidneys, etc. All in all you may save $500 or year in Doctor visit and lab work but you may also suffer kidney or liver failure saving a few bucks.

I have been on some meds for 15 plus years and I suggest going to the doctor periodically to have the lab work done especially for diabetes and heart meds that may have long term life changing side effects.

[doom&gloom]

Re: FDA may let patients buy drugs without prescriptions

Something to consider

In an effort to save some money, people will skip the doctor visit and they will also skip the once or twice a year lab work to tell if there are side effects of the meds affecting your liver, kidneys, etc. All in all you may save $500 or year in Doctor visit and lab work but you may also suffer kidney or liver failure saving a few bucks.

I have been on some meds for 15 plus years and I suggest going to the doctor periodically to have the lab work done especially for diabetes and heart meds that may have long term life changing side effects.

There are NO absolutes. One should not apply the same to patient education and medicine either. Common sens is still alive.

For instance years ago there was a prescription drug called Parafon Forte. It was a mild muscle relaxant. They when newer and "better" stuff came on the market, it became OTC. I think it is now pretty much gone. Certainly it was not any more "harmful" as an OTC drug than as a prescription drug. You can kill yourself with cough medicine, or destroy your liver or kidneys with too much Tylenol.

No one is advocating the free and easy dispensing of Class 2 Narcotics, but I can also tell you as someone who occasionally has his back go out, I would welcome the ability to pop by the pharmacy and grab some Vicodin w/o a scrip. Since I cannot, I literally keep a stash of the stuff from past surgeries etc for the times i need it. Heck I got thirty Percoset one time and still have 29 left 3+ years later. I don;t care if they lose some potency, if my back goes out, damn it I don;t just want one, I NEED one just to move.

If you go down to Mexico a lot of this stuff is OTC. I have never heard of any major issues with Vicodin addiction and abuse in Mexico. Much of our drug problem comes from the Prohibition Era attitude towards drugs -- that they are inherently available for abuse and so Big Brother has to look after us. And thus you get innocent people who get too may cold pills arrested as suspected meth house operators. It is all part of the insanity of over regulation.

I was speaking with a neighbor who is big into guns. When he was 12, he lived in a semi-rural area where EVERY kid had a .22 rifle. Boys Life Magazine had ads targeting shells towards this audience. We didn;t have a lot of twelve year old all killing each other with guns back then. Now, you tell your neighbor you are gonna get your kid a .22 for his birthday and Child & Protective Services could be hauling him or you away the next day for an unsafe home environment.

When does it stop?

Every once in a while we get a chance to turn back the clock just a teeny bit. We should take those opportunities to get a little less government looking out for us.



As an aside, this reminds me of a funny story. there used to be a local State 'Engineer" who was consulted on EVERY major roadway in our region. He was an icon and a legend. At one point they considered opening up the "diamond lanes" to all traffic after 7PM until 6AM. This engineer was dead set against it without a proper study. how much would such a study have cost? Oh $250k or so. How much would a bunch of road signs cost? Couple grand to try it. After much wrangling, the state went the road sign route. Everything went just fine. Still working well today. Moral of the story? You don;t need government everywhere blowing bucks and telling you what to do when some common sense will work.

[cindykimlisa]

Re: FDA may let patients buy drugs without prescriptions

[QUOTE=doom&gloom;228024]There are NO absolutes. One should not apply the same to patient education and medicine either. Common sens is still alive.

For instance years ago there was a prescription drug called Parafon Forte. It was a mild muscle relaxant. They when newer and "better" stuff came on the market, it became OTC. I think it is now pretty much gone. Certainly it was not any more "harmful" as an OTC drug than as a prescription drug. You can kill yourself with cough medicine, or destroy your liver or kidneys with too much Tylenol.

I think you have made my point when you say "there are no abosolutes." Indeed you are correct as most will not have kidney failure but some will. Would you want to take that risk for money. Some with good common sense will say "heck yes" and others with equally good common sense will say "heck no!" I am with the "heck no" crowd.

Another common sense issue for you to consider is this: many men get prostate cancer. Some go to the doctor each year and get a simple test to see their PSA number. Some men with good common sense opt not to have it and other men with equally good common sense opt to have it.

Whose common sense are we talking about: mine is obviously as good as yours but likely just the opposite in this case.

[doom&gloom]

Re: FDA may let patients buy drugs without prescriptions

I think you have made my point when you say "there are no absolutes." Indeed you are correct as most will not have kidney failure but some will. Would you want to take that risk for money. Some with good common sense will say "heck yes" and others with equally good common sense will say "heck no!" I am with the "heck no" crowd.

Another common sense issue for you to consider is this: many men get prostate cancer. Some go to the doctor each year and get a simple test to see their PSA number. Some men with good common sense opt not to have it and other men with equally good common sense opt to have it.

Whose common sense are we talking about: mine is obviously as good as yours but likely just the opposite in this case.

In reply to your "commone sense", I would just as soon "big brother" stay out of most things that are not significantly detrimental to you. If YOU would choose to see your doctor for every item you wish to put in your body, by all means feel free. I prefer not to do so.

For those in life too stupid to read the labelling directions, or ask their pharmacist, there are a whole host of OTC drugs that can maim you or kill you already.

At some point we as a society have to determine if WE should have some personal responsibility. Your level is obviously far lower than my level.

[srivatsan]

Re: FDA may let patients buy drugs without prescriptions

For those in life too stupid to read the labelling directions, or ask their pharmacist, there are a whole host of OTC drugs that can maim you or kill you already.

I call it (heard from someone I know) "Darwinism at work". I usually do not interfere with it.
-S.

[shiny!]

Re: FDA may let patients buy drugs without prescriptions

"Common sense" is a loaded phrase used to manipulate people who don't want to be seen as, well, not having common sense. Politicians slap the phrase onto legislation when they want us to support something that's not in our best interests. "Common sense gun control" is the big one, followed by "common sense health care reform", "common sense tort reform", "common sense banking regulations", on and on... When you hear someone describing legislation as "common sense", you can be sure that they're up to no good.

[jk]

Re: FDA may let patients buy drugs without prescriptions

my impression is that the major financial beneficiaries of this change in regulation would be the health insurance companies which would no longer be paying for the newly-otc drugs.

[jiimbergin]

Re: FDA may let patients buy drugs without prescriptions

Parafon vote is still a prescription. I still take it. It is chlorzoaxazone.

[doom&gloom]

Re: FDA may let patients buy drugs without prescriptions

Parafon vote is still a prescription. I still take it. It is chlorzoaxazone.

hmm... i though it came off a long time ago.

[cindykimlisa]

Re: FDA may let patients buy drugs without prescriptions

In reply to your "commone sense", I would just as soon "big brother" stay out of most things that are not significantly detrimental to you. If YOU would choose to see your doctor for every item you wish to put in your body, by all means feel free. I prefer not to do so.

For those in life too stupid to read the labelling directions, or ask their pharmacist, there are a whole host of OTC drugs that can maim you or kill you already.

At some point we as a society have to determine if WE should have some personal responsibility. Your level is obviously far lower than my level.

In response to the above, let me say that I surely have as much and perhaps more personal responsibility as anyone and probably more than you. You are biased because you are married to a Pharmisist and so your opinion is skewed to be outside the norm of common "common Sense" on this issue. You also seem to have some anger management issues in my opinion. Whats a good OTC for that: Maybe learn some manners and take a chill pill.

[doom&gloom]

Re: FDA may let patients buy drugs without prescriptions

In response to the above, let me say that I surely have as much and perhaps more personal responsibility as anyone and probably more than you. You are biased because you are married to a Pharmisist and so your opinion is skewed to be outside the norm of common "common Sense" on this issue. You also seem to have some anger management issues in my opinion. Whats a good OTC for that: Maybe learn some manners and take a chill pill.

Anger management? hardly!

I do have a "hard on" for being micro managed. I've been down that road, and run a company where I micro-managed no one. Both forms can be successful, but one empowers people to be and do more, the other degrades people into mindless robots afraid to make decisions on their own. As a risk-taker, decision-maker, and mentor to many, I would much prefer a wold of people willing to educate and take some risks than wait around for someone else to tell them when to wipe their ass and how to do it correctly.

Now may YOU interpret that for anger, but I see it as freedom. Freedom to choose, freedom to succeed, freedom to fail, freedom to ... learn.

I should add that my marriage to a pharmacist has little to do with my belief that many drugs do not need to be regulated as much as they are, it comes from my belief that people do not need to have their hands held every time they try and cross a street. Mexicans are not all dying because they buy drugs OTC that cannot be purchased the same way in the US.

You should come join me on a trip to South America sometime to experience what freedom can still be like -- where there isn't a camera on every corner looking to give you a red light ticket, or protect a NYC banksters, or similar. Where food is not all packaged and approved by an FDA. Where you can keep your shoes on to board an airliner, and if you set off the metal detector (as I always do) you can tell the screener why and thy don;t feel the need to "pat down" your crotch for jollies. You should give a try to a place where speed limits are advisories, lane lines are rarely observed, yet no one seems ot get killed on the roads (execpt the suicidal motos ). Or where many of the things your FDA "protects" you from can readily be bought without prescriptions and much cheaper as well.

You seem to welcome the continuing governmental encroachment. I see it as everythingt hat is wrong with this country. We have moved from a country of risk-takers to a country that creates mounds of paperwork under HPPA rules that no one will ever look at. Why do you think so many companies move out of the US? Why do you think guys like me, who have the money to start more successful businesses -- don't. Why risk it when there is a bureaucrat looking to nail you in every corner office in ever city, state, county and the fed level.

I wish you had been listening with me the day a guy who owned a small service station/mini-mart called in to a radio talk show to discuss the 24+ permits and fees he had to pay every year, to almost as many agencies, with almost as many inspectors who often duplicated each others work. Not to mention the many many thousands of dollars it cost him every year to keep up with it all. That is not the America I grew up in. It may be the one you want, but is see it as a death knell for all of us.

[rogermexico]

Re: FDA may let patients buy drugs without prescriptions

+1 D and G. Well stated.

[cindykimlisa]

Re: FDA may let patients buy drugs without prescriptions

Anger management? hardly

Ask your wife about my anger management comment and see if she agrees with me or you.

Tell us her reponse and we'll go with that.

[CAP LETTERS} reflect some shouting and imo possible perceived anger. In addition, you continue to pontificate your ramblings about what I say and believe without having a clue about those realities. In my opinion you need to learn how to listen and learn more and talk less. I bet your wife will agree with that too.

[doom&gloom]

Re: FDA may let patients buy drugs without prescriptions

I use CAP letters for emphasis, you use bold letters -- are you shouting at me? Is your "anger" coming out?

You really are amusing cindy the armchair psychologist -- or do you play one in real life? As to my wife, she would readily tell you I don;t have anger management issues. I laugh at many things in life, including your characterization of me as needing anger management.

I ran a successful business for almost 17 years, and only "blew up" at an employee once. they deserved every bit of it after their own public actions. BTW, my company was ALL women for most of those years. None of them though I was angry either. Though I will admit I was never really in touch with my 'feminine side'.

Finally, as to 'pontification', exactly which of us claimed to have MORE (ooops, am I angry again?!) common sense than the other? hmmm....

[DSpencer]

Re: FDA may let patients buy drugs without prescriptions

Anger management? hardly

Ask your wife about my anger management comment and see if she agrees with me or you.

Tell us her reponse and we'll go with that.

[CAP LETTERS} reflect some shouting and imo possible perceived anger. In addition, you continue to pontificate your ramblings about what I say and believe without having a clue about those realities. In my opinion you need to learn how to listen and learn more and talk less. I bet your wife will agree with that too.

Let's get this straight. In one sentence you criticize someone for commenting on how he perceives your beliefs without really knowing them and then in the next sentence you claim to know how his wife feels about his personality?

How could you possibly post this without realizing the comical level of hypocrisy you are displaying?