Medication Education

Medications, whether prescribed by a doctor or purchased over the counter, should be safe and effective when used as directed. This ePublication was compiled to provide awareness of many of the aspects of personal medications problems that might be encountered. This is not a rigorous nor is it a complete discussion of the medication regimen, but rather a primer to alert the reader to be wise when dealing with medications, and to better understand that any medication may have significant risks in addition to significant benefits. The targeted reader is the average adult U.S. citizen.

Medications, prescribed by a Doctor or purchased over the counter at a pharmacy, should be safe and effective when used as directed. However, there are cases when complications can arise. Maintaining a proper regimen in managing all details of medications and receiving the intended results can be more difficult than simply popping a pill in the mouth! This ePublication is intended to inform the reader of some details that may not be included on the pill bottle and not detailed by a doctor or pharmacist, but can be important, even critical, to successfully managing medications. This is not a rigorous nor is it a complete discussion of the medication regimen, but rather a primer to alert the reader to be wise when dealing with medications, and to better understand that any medication may have significant risks in addition to significant benefits. The targeted reader is an average adult U.S. citizen.

This ePublication is the result of my desire to share some of the extensive research I have done concerning a very wide range of aspects of medication I became interested in when confronted with health situations of close members of my family. My Father died as a result of a massive heart attack at age 66, a few months after his retirement. A noted heart specialist in Dallas had pronounced him to be free of heart problems only a few weeks before his retirement. This experience triggered my interest in finding solutions to personal medical problems, including medications. My Wife has a rare immune system deficiency which makes it not only difficult, but critical, to manage her medications on a daily basis. Over the last several years she has also suffered from several falls, resulting in a total of over 14 difficult surgeries, many of which were necessary to identify and combat life-threatening infections contracted at the hospitals. Even today, several years later, she is on continuing medication to keep the infections from returning. My Mother developed serious health problems in her senior years, including diseases, surgeries and infections. As a result, we moved her from her home over 100 miles away, to my home town so we could help her regain her health. She died a few years ago at age 90 and I could name about a dozen serious problems, including infections that required powerful medications. My Father-in-law was healthy until he reached the age of 98 years and then contracted serious health problems. His last days were spent in hospice care, a few months after his 99th birthday. During WWII, he was a nurse stationed in England and was one of several at his air bases who pulled injured airmen from battered and damaged B17 bombers and P51 fighter aircraft when they returned from bombing raids over Europe, and provided emergency and extended healthcare to them. After returning to Texas after the war, he gave thousands of hours of his personal time to volunteer work, teaching Red Cross classes and working with the local ambulance services, hospitals and retirement homes. I learned much from him. I have also had several health problems, including diabetes, diviticulitus and kidney stones, which require much diligence to control. I have had many surgeries over the years, including surgery to remove a portion of my colon because of a cancerous growth, removal of my gall bladder, tonsils and adenoids and procedures for removing kidney stones. As a result, I have had very close associations with many doctors, nurses, emergency personnel, pharmacists, etc., who have all been very supportive of my pursuit of knowledge in areas of recovering from health problems and establishing medication regimens to maintain our health. My professional degree is Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering, Southern Methodist University, 1963, and my professional background is in the field of integrated electronics, including the design, development and manufacture of custom integrated circuits. My last several years included software development, management and support. This software was used to track the design and development of complex integrated circuits. My career experiences taught me how to gather data, analyze it and reach solutions to solving the difficult problems they represented. I retired in year 2000 after an employment of 37 years at Texas Instruments, with the title of Senior Member of the Technical Staff, and worked an additional 3 years with Anderson Consulting as a software specialist. In addition, I have been involved with the internet since the early 1990’s, developing websites and using the internet to acquire and post information.