Recently, a report published in one of the popular daily newspapaers in the UK discussed the problem of Side Effects of both prescription and counter medicines. There are probably equivalent reports emanating from the USA, Canada, Australia and the rest. What they amount to is a damning indictment of conventional medicine.

In England alone the report estimates 10,000 deaths every year from the side effects of widely used drugs. This figure has gone up over 150% in ten years. The cost to the health sevices is more than £466 million per year.

In anyone's language that amounts to a lot of money and enormous loss of life. The reasons given include the poor training of doctors, poor information presentation to patients, inappropriate medication prescribed with little instruction on spotting possible side effects and inadequate reporting of suspected problems.

Where does that leave us, the patients?

The first thing is that, at the very least, you have to be involved in the process a lot more. It's no good simply trotting off to the doctor with your symptoms and accepting everything you're told as being the one and only solution. You have to question the diagnosis and the proposed treatment. Ask about effects and importantly, the side effects you can reasonably expect.

Discuss the dosage - is it the lowest it hes to be for action or is the doctor using some arbitrary average. Are there any alternatives such as herbal and homeopathic remedies? Or maybe there's is a different approach to the problem using alternative therapies?

Since side effects are important (remember those deaths!) ask where you can find the relevant information. The data sheet handed out in the packaging should tell all. But can you read and understand it all. Many people cannot read the small print, and it could make the difference between life and death. It is very important.

Following from that, you need to be aware of how your symptoms change with the medication. It's no good taking the tablets faithfully and ignoring that you feel worse than you did before or you've developed a whole new set of symptoms different from the ones you had at the start.

So, having accepted your doctor's take on your condition and his prescription for recovery, you really must look at how your body and mind react to it all. Question it if your blood pressure goes down but you develop a dry cough instead. Ask why it is that your muscle pain has gone away, but your stomach is causing you pain instead. Request an opinion as to why your heart is skipping beats after having taken your blood pressure medication without problems for ten years.

The whole thing revolves around both you and your doctor. If you don't keep in touch, he'll think everything is OK.

I'm a great believer in keeping a diary of how you feel mentally and physically as you diet, exercise, fight stress or take medications of any kind (including herbal and other alternative therapies). Then you'll see changes that shouldn't be there more clearly, and you can do something about it.

Use your health professionals to help you. Talk to your pharmacist, acupuncturist, masseur etc to get another opinion. Whatever you do, don't do nothing!

In this complex world we live in, you can't take medicines for granted as being safe for everyone at all times. You have to be involved in your own health. The thousands of deaths a year in England could well translate to millions of deaths worldwide. You don't want to become one of these when it can be avoided.

The report calims that doctors do not receive the correct training for proper use of modern drugs, but you can't do much about that. Nor can you influence the drug industry very easily.

The bottom line is that it is down to you. You have to decide what is right for you - Conventional medicine or complementary therapies or a combination of both. And in order to do that, you need a source of independent information to help you.

It will take some work on your part, but what would you rather do? Take a chance on your doctor calling it correctly? Hope fate is on your side?

I know what I want, but in the end it's up to you.

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