Dear Friends:
     Thanks Alicia Dermer for a terrific post. In my capacity as medical
liaison for our local nursing mothers groups, I am always saying what you
have posted. Maybe it is a characteristic of the States to always think that
the newest is the best. You know how laundry soap and cars are always
advertising the "New and improved" models! Thank you for that suggestion to
encourage mothers to ask their physicians "Doctor, what would you give me if
I was allergic to that medicine?"
     I also encourage anybody to research medicine on the Internet. A very
dear and special lactation advocate died last week because her bone marrow
was wiped out by a drug she was taking for arthritis. The doctors had been
monitoring her blood counts for a long time,  saw that the counts were all
going down (since January) and did nothing until it was too late.
     Another case is a person taking a lipitor drug to reduce blood fats; a
side effect of these drugs is liver damage. This person was having her liver
functions monitored regularly. The tests showed increasing liver damage. The
first medical response was to schedule a liver biopsy!!  Not one medical
person connected the dot between the medication and the side effect.
Fortunately this person had a nurse in the family who said "No way,  stop
this medication first and see what happens."
     All these fancy chemicals have incredible side effects. No way I would
take any quinolone for anything; the side effects include permanent central
nervous system damage. What's wrong with amoxicillin or dicloxicillin for
anthrax? Nothing, except that the company making Cipro has the inside edge.
     This has turned into a vent because of my grief over my friend's death.
However, it is a lesson for us all to be our own advocates, because no one
cares as much as we do.
     Warmly,
Nikki Lee RN, MSN, Mother of 2, IBCLC, CIMI, CCE
craniosacral therapy practitioner
Elkins Park (a suburb of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; northeastern USA)
supporting the WHO Code and the Mother Friendly Childbirth Initiative

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