Celebrex, which has vastly improved my quality of life by managing my chronic back pain. LOVE IT. Please God, don’t let it grow me a second head or rot my liver out.
BC pills, which allow me to skip my periods and only have 4 a year. HUZZA for THAT.
No kidding. The triptans are a Godsend.
I remember getting headaches in elementary school and the school nurse giving me those chewable orange baby aspirins and sending me back to class, because “children don’t get headaches.”
Bitch. :rolleyes:
People can complain all they want about the prescription drug industry and its high profits, but 90% of the drugs on the market wouldn’t be there without that lucrative incentive. Plus, what many people tend to ignore when debating the cost of prescription drugs is that in the next 10-20 years there will be a huge number of these pills going generic, which will help to make then available to even more people.
I vote for the statins (Lipitor, Pravachol, whatever...they're all good). I still watch what I eat, but no longer do I have to agonize over every little decision each meal. Ok, fine.....I never really did that anyway. But to have the freedom to eat more of what you want and not worry so much about your cholesterol is great.Everyone mentions that they like birth control pills because of reasons like better periods and less cramps.
I like birth control pills because I am able to have sex daily with out condoms and not get pregnant. That is life changing!
Imitrex ( nasal) was the breakthrough drug for me that made the nasty migraines go away.
**MaxAlt ** makes them never, ever occur. Here I have no side effects with this one. My stinking insurance only allows six pills a month and really, I should take it every day. Bastards. So, I save them for the overcast/low pressure/barometic days from hell.
Other migraine meds: Correg is also outstanding. (the first day of taking it I have only one side effect, tightening of jaw/neck muscles on one side.)
If you suffer from daily migraines, *I urge you to talk to your doctor about MaxAlt or Correg *. They are originally for heart stuff ( blood pressue, I think) and one of the good side effects the doctors noticed was it was preventing migraines from happening. Go NOW, NOW, NOW and ask. and no, I don’t work for The Man. I wish I did. I’d get it for free.
**Prozac ** is amazing stuff. For me, it makes people who are total morons that annoy the living crap out of me and say stupid things just to irritate me…*not bother me anymore. * It’s not that they are smarter, their dumbness is deflected off my invisible sheild of Happiness. It gets rid of my OCD with festering on one subject kinda thoughts and talking to myself nicely. Yay.
It just shuts down the sex drive, though. It’s like, I’m sooo wonderful… Everyone is wonderful. I love my husband, he’s wonderful…not a damn tingle occurs down there. I could easily turn tricks for $ or at least a mininum credit card payment with lack of anything down there.
Another vote for Imitrex (injectable), I’ve had migranes all my life, I wish I new when I was six that there was a way to get rid of them in a matter of minutes. I swear, even at six I would would have pounded a nail directly into my eye if I new it would get rid of one of those headaches. Other then imitrex, adderall has made the single biggest difference in my life.
- Anaesthetic: Local, general, dental, I don’t care what sort, just bring that needle over here.
- Efexor: stops me from figuring out the best way to euthenase.
- Neurontin (anti-epileptic used as analgesic): stops me from having to find a way to euthenase. Not covered by the government but I can get generic over the internet for a third of the chemist price. Pharmacy Direct
- Morphine, codeine: The pain! The pain! What a blessed relief.
- Anti-nausea: motion sickness on a bus, train, plane, boat, from doing gymnastics, dancing, from too much morphine/codeine, from tricyclic anti-depressants (I almost starved to death from that one).
Lithium Carbonate
I’ve used a variety of heart and blood pressure drugs (Atenolol and Verapamil were two) for my migraines and none worked. I’m now on Topamax and it’s a Godsend. It’s an epilepsy drug that regulates the electrical impulses in the brain. Since some migraines are related to seizures, it seems to work that way.
It’s fairly new for migraine use, but it really has worked for me. Just another option…
Prevacid – controls my ulcer pain and my acid reflux. Wonderful stuff.
The Pill!
Honorable mention to Dilaudid, a narcotic pain reliever I received while I was hospitalized with pneumonia and pleurisy. (For those who’ve never had pleurisy, imagine the feeling of being stabbed in the chest. Now imagine it happening every time you breathe.) Dilaudid got me through the horrible days in the hospital when I hurt so badly I couldn’t move or breathe without wanting to cry.
Omeprazole (a proton pump inhibitor) against acid reflux.
I used to eat antacids like candy and still woke up at night about once in a fortnight with with such a strong reflux that stomach acid had shot out of my nostrils. Since I am on omeprazole there are no problems. Should have asked my doctor more insistently years earlier…
Yes, apparently topamax (tompiramate) also works for compulsive overeating. I would like to try it; I’m already on Lexapro (SSRIs have changed my life) but the eating thing continues.
Just an FYI - Serzone is no longer being sold in Canada due to possible liver damage. I’ve been switched to Wellbutrin for my chronic anxiety, and it is working very well for me. You might want to talk to your doctor.
Let me cast another vote for the SRRIs changing my life. My chronic anxiety made every damned thing so hard. It sounds like a horrible cliché, but I feel like I’m just able to be myself again, without working so hard just to overcome the constant anxiety over nothing.
I didn’t know that; thanks. Funny how those little pills work.
Another huge vote for Prevacid! No more 4-a.m. wakeups to throw up because of acid reflux!
And one small vote for Immodium. I know its not prescription, but gods, it truly helps those with irritable bowel.
I’m all for whatever modern medicine wants to do, or wants to investigate, as long as we get results like this.
“Prescription Zantac has changed my life” was the title of a thread I started here a while back. Another reflux sufferer I.
Those who castigate Pharm companies for paying attention to a “minor” problem like heartburn have never experienced it.
Another vote for Prilosec here. I love the stuff. I couldn’t get a good night’s sleep for months before I started taking it.
None currently, but back in 1986 I had back surgery which involved my being in a body cast for six months. I had an incision running the length of most of my back that was underneath. You can’t imagine the itching. It was torture. Over my mom’s objections they gave me Benadryl first, but she said with that I would fall asleep but I’d be writhing in my sleep from the itch. Ick. I don’t know what the stuff is called, but they started me on these itty bitty purple pills (no relation to current idiotic ad campaigns) that miraculously fixed the itching. I think they’d have had to simply move me to the nut ward instead of sending me home after a couple of weeks if I hadn’t had that stuff.