Don’t forget the power of over the counter remedies

I recently had an enormous kidney stone. Well OK, it seemed enormous to me. But in terms of kidney stones, it was reasonably large; 9 mm, in fact. Large enough that I had to have lithotripsy (the use of sound waves to break up the stone) performed by my friend and most excellent urologist, Dr. Robert McAlpine in Seneca, SC. As uncomfortable as the whole experience was (and it wasn’t my first rodeo either), I was reminded of something very important, which is that prescription drugs aren’t all they’re cracked up to be. In fact, the best pain relief I had from my kidney stone involved the little blue wonder pill (for which I would have given a lot of money, let me say), the humble, the magnificent Naproxen, a.k.a. Aleve. The reason for this is that the class of drugs to which Aleve belongs (nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory agents or NSAIDs) acts to relax the spasms of the ureter, which is the tube from kidney to bladder where the demonic stone takes up residence and tortures its victims. When the spasm relaxes, the pain improves. This is relevant for many conditions and situations, from kidney stones to a cough, because the things found in the average pharmacy or grocery store are magnificent medical manna from heaven. Actually, I remember one of my medical school instructors, Dr. DiBartolomeo, encouraging us to wander the aisles of the local pharmacy and be awed by the variety of useful things on the shelves. Continue reading ... Your patients are rating you online: How t...
Source: Kevin, M.D. - Medical Weblog - Category: Journals (General) Authors: Tags: Meds Medications Primary care Source Type: blogs