After my most severe accident, where I was near death, I was in the Vancouver General Hospital for over a month. While there, twice a day the nurse would bring me a cup of medicine to take. It seemed overwhelming and was a lot of medication. I asked the nurse, "Why I am I on so many pills?" She replied, "You would have to talk to the Doctor in charge of my care to find out." I said, "Okay, let me talk to him."
The Doctor showed up about a ½ hr later and I asked him why I was on so many medications? He replied, "Let me go get information on what medications you are taking and I will let you know why you are on each one." He left and brought back a list of all the medications I was taking.
When he came back with the list, he gave it to me and we looked at it together. He started at the top of the list and worked his way down the list: At the first on the list, the Doctor said, "You take this medication to prevent you from getting 'X' and "You take this medication to prevent you from getting 'Y'. He went down the list like this and explained why I was on each one.
When the Doctor had gone through the entire list, I said I didn't want to take anything I didn't absolutely have to take. What do I essentially have to take and what don't I? He started at the top and worked his way down stating "need or don't need" When he got to the bottom - don't need and a line was crossed through 5 of the medications.
Conclusion, you are always responsible for your own health and if I did not advocate for myself, I may have suffered side effects I did not need.
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