Overmedication with cancer and other conditions

Indiana Scott - you bring up another interesting point regarding medications. When you have multiple doctors involved in the care of one patient meds can get confusing. Each doctor is 'tasked' with certain duties for a patient. In the case of cancer, it's curing cancer and sometimes that seems to be at the exclusion of other concerns (sometimes). It's their job and 'ego' to cure or get cancer in remission. At times that can be at the cost of side effects from drugs or other conditions that send you off to another type of doctor. Of course, not all doctors think so singularly.........some do consider the side effects and long term effects of treatments and medications. But I do believe any patient either needs a caretaker or support person in their corner or if they're on their own.....a group like this that gives them multiple perspectives. I liked your "Kramer v. Kramer" analogy. I've hit that point a couple of times myself!

@jaler I keep my husband's drug list on the computer (sample attached). Anytime he adds/subtracts a med I can easily change the list. I print a few copies to keep with us and present it to the receptionist at every doctor's appt. While the Mayo Pharmacy would have safeguards for drug interactions for the prescriptions they fill, I wouldn't expect them to keep up with prescriptions filled elsewhere.

Is there any consensus that the effects of medications vary as persons lose weight, or are unable to normally metabolize medications as a person's health status declines?

Very interesting and useful thread there! Thanks @alpaca aka Maureen 🙂 In my wife's case she was on a constantly changing stream of medications as they struggled with the constantly altering effects of her tumor. Initially it was a tough balancing act between her neuro-oncologist at Mayo, her GP at home, and our pharmacist. Early on our pharmacist was a huge help until our local pharmacy was sold to a chain and it was never the same pharmacist twice. I cringe when I think back to how much time I wasted re-educating pharmacist after pharmacist on who my wife was, what her condition was, and why she was on the cocktail she was on at that specific time. Grr!

Then there was the issue of doctor vs doctor, which put Kramer vs. Kramer to shame! Finally after a grueling 'duel', where I felt as if I were some bizarre type of Second, the neuro-oncologist finally convenience our GP to get out of the mediations loop (other than to be informed of any changes in meds or dosages). One professional ego took a hit and the relationship never recovered, but it was for the good of my wife so I was happy to give up the relationship I had with the same GP.

My wife was on a medicinal cocktail of 32 doses a day. Keeping them straight required a spreadsheet to keep track of the time of day and doses. Luckily, once my wife went into home hospice, her nurse transferred all her meds to another smaller pharmacy with a more stable staff and who delivered. They worked together hand-in-glove. At this point her meds were often changing daily so it was crucial for there to be solid, knowledgeable communications between all the medical pros! This was also critical when we had to go from pill-tablet-capsule form to all liquids for her meds since the liquid form often caused them to act differently, on a different timeline, absorption rate, etc. Unfortunately for future patients in our area, this pharmacy was also swallowed by a national chain and no longer offers the same level of service.

With all the progress in technology I would think information sharing would be simpler regarding patients, their medications, and the providers involved. Hopefully this will improve quickly, but give the conflicting forces of the profit motive, I have my doubts.

Strength, courage, and peace to all.

Mayo requires that you update your list of prescriptions they have on file each time you go to your doctor there. I have several different doctors at Mayo in addition to my hematologist who prescribed various drugs for the side effects of chemo therapy. I would hope that a Mayo pharmacist would go over these drugs periodically to alleviate any problems. In addition to the cancer drugs, I also have medications for blood pressure, hypothyroidism, GERD, COPD, asthma, cholesterol, pain from torn rotator cuff, etc. I have no idea if there are adverse interactions from any of these medications. Does anyone know whether the Mayo Pharmacy Department reviews these lists of medications?

Mayo requires that you update your list of prescriptions they have on file each time you go to your doctor there. I have several different doctors at Mayo in addition to my hematologist who prescribed various drugs for the side effects of chemo therapy. I would hope that a Mayo pharmacist would go over these drugs periodically to alleviate any problems. In addition to the cancer drugs, I also have medications for blood pressure, hypothyroidism, GERD, COPD, asthma, cholesterol, pain from torn rotator cuff, etc. I have no idea if there are adverse interactions from any of these medications. Does anyone know whether the Mayo Pharmacy Department reviews these lists of medications?

Mayo requires that you update your list of prescriptions they have on file each time you go to your doctor there. I have several different doctors at Mayo in addition to my hematologist who prescribed various drugs for the side effects of chemo therapy. I would hope that a Mayo pharmacist would go over these drugs periodically to alleviate any problems. In addition to the cancer drugs, I also have medications for blood pressure, hypothyroidism, GERD, COPD, asthma, cholesterol, pain from torn rotator cuff, etc. I have no idea if there are adverse interactions from any of these medications. Does anyone know whether the Mayo Pharmacy Department reviews these lists of medications?