Pills That Work, Pills That Don't: A Family Guide to Personal Pharmacology - Softcover

Bosker, Gideon

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0449912736 ISBN 13: 9780449912737

Publisher: Ballantine Books, 1998

Synopsis

¸  Find out which generic drugs are inefficient and out-of-date
¸  Discover drugs you may not be taking that can prevent cancer, heart disease, and stroke--and prolong your life
¸  Request a list of the approved medications your health plan prescribes
¸  Learn how to get your HMO to pay for the better, brand name pills
¸  Exchange costly medications for less expensive prescriptions
¸  Build a safer, healthier drug regimen that eliminates toxic side effects
¸  Follow Dr. Bosker's proven 12-Week Action Plan to help you and your doctor produce a sensible drug regimen that will do more with less

Your access to accurate, detailed medical information is increasingly denied by the health care establishment, even while powerful new superdrugs make headlines and physicians write out billions of prescriptions each year. Now, Dr. Gideon Bosker gives you the tools you need to take charge of your health care regimen by evaluating your prescriptions and learning when (and how) to question the recommendations of your doctor or insurance company.
        
With this indispensable resource, Dr. Bosker shows you how:
¸  One dose of Lipitor can reduce your cholesterol--why take multiple doses of less effective medications?
¸  Septra is an inexpensive medication for sinus infection--
so why spend a fortune on Ceftin?
¸  Zoloft is optimal for treating anxiety associated with panic disorder--
why risk dependency and severe withdrawal symptoms with Xanax?
¸  And much, much more!

About this title

Review:

Just because a drug has been approved by America's Food and Drug Administration doesn't mean it's the best or most appropriate drug for any given patient. And just because a doctor has prescribed a normally effective drug doesn't mean a patient is going to use it according to the directions. Drug mistakes--whether by the physician or patient--lead to 140,000 deaths each year, according to Gideon Bosker, and cost consumers and insurance companies billions. Pills That Work, Pills That Don't is tough on both sides of the equation (it exposes, for example, the myth that generic drugs are as good as brand-name equivalents still under patent), and offers an objective system for ranking drugs. This system allows you to decide for yourself whether your doctor is giving you the best drugs for your condition, or merely the cheapest ones.

From the Back Cover:

"PILLS THAT WORK, PILLS THAT DON'T IS A BREAKTHROUGH. . . .
In fact, it is revolutionary! . . . Every household--and physician--in the United States should have a copy of this book."
--STEPHEN ERNST, Pharm. D.
Clinical Pharmacy Coordinator
Columbia Terre Haute Regional Hospital

"Extremely practical . . . Refreshing and insightful analysis of one of the most important things a doctor does for his or her patient--prescribe medications for common, and sometimes life-threatening, ailments. . . . This remarkable book should be required reading for all health care consumers in this country, especially those who desire more personal involvement in, control over, and responsibility for their own medical care and that of their children and that of their children."
--NORMAN CHRISTOPHER, M.D., FAAP
Associate Professor of Pediatrics and
Emergency Medicine
Northeast Ohio Universities

About this edition

• Publisher: Ballantine Books
• Publication date: 1998
• ISBN 10: 0449912736
• ISBN 13: 9780449912737
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 448