Talk about health

It has become routine to suffer from one of the big four - high blood pressure, diabetes type-2, stomach acid, or cholesterol. People wear them like a badge of distinction, bragging at the dinner table of their diagnosis and showing their drug collection with pride. Only last week I was sharing a dinner party with four friends (and my wife) when the conversation took what has become an habitual road down health. As it turned out, each of the friends is on medication. My wife and I appear to be alone in taking only fish oil and multivitamins regularly.

Of the four drug takers, one has stomach acid problems, one has high cholesterol and two have blood pressure concerns. What they have in common is they now take drugs daily in an effort to control their symptoms. And presumeably they will continue taking them for the rest of their lives.

Knowing what I do, my friends ask my thoughts on their condition and treatment. And being an obliging chap I run through my thoughts on this kind of long-term medication - should be avoided if at all possible by changing lifestyle, diet and exercise regime, reviewing stress and sleep options.

At our age, over 50, thoughts turn to retirement and worries about pensions, and finance tends to overcome health concerns. But should they? What's the point of working endless hours under pressure trying to ensure financial comfort if you drop dead the week after your officially retire? It isn't always possible to do everything for yourself and family so far as finance is concerned. Children may have to look after themselves by working just as their parents did.

My point is that you shouldn't ignore your health in the quest for what you consider is sufficient cash to have regular costly holidays and new cars once you retire. When you've been diagnosed with one of the popular four conditions I mentioned at the start, it may seem a simple matter to begin taking your tablets as the doctor ordered. You'll feel you are doing something positive to address the problem, and in the case of acid-lowering drugs, you'll probably feel much better, too.

But, for bood pressure, diabetes and cholesterol, it's more likely you will feel little different. Your doctor will tell you how well your condition is responding to the medication.

Before you get that smug 'I told you so' look, just consider one thing - side effects! I read recently of a person given one of the statin drugs for cholesterol. It took only a few days before he felt as though he had the flu - weak legs, aching muscles, sore back and tending to want to sleep a lot.

Did he have the flu? Perhaps. However, the symptoms lasted for several weeks and didn't change. Probably not the flu then. What else could it be? Is it coincidence that the symptoms and his cholesterol medication were included in the same timeframe?

Returning to his doctor resulted in calming words from the medical profession about the safety of statin drugs and advice to keep taking the tablets.

The problem is that statin drugs are known to cause such symptoms, and worse. Some people don't develop side effects to them but a surprising number do. Symptoms range from the relatively minor ones such as the person above did - the flu-like symptoms, to potentially serious ones involving muscle breakdown, heart failure, nerve damage, and memory loss.

Did the statin cause the flu symptoms? Probably. The only way to prove it would be to stop the medication and follow the consequences. The symptoms would go away if it was the drug, and return if treatment started again.

The problem with continuing the medication as the doctor suggested is that the side effects are not always reversible if they have gone on too long. So this person is in a difficult position and he alone has to decide. Stop the drug or not? I know what I would do - stop the drug and see what happens. It's not easy when your health is at stake and your trusted doctor is at odds with what you want to do.

Why not try to discover the truth about cholesterol and controlling it. Does it really cause heart attacks or is there another explanation? Can you control cholesterol without resorting to a lifetime's medication? Maybe the alternative therapy scene can help, too?

It won't necessarily take major changes to your lifestyle to achieve much more than any drug. Find out in my publication "Cholesterol - Villain or Savoiur?". Find out more at http://www.healthexplored.co.uk , join the newsletter subscribers or buy the book (digital or hard copy).

Wishing you the very best of health.