Doctors Verses Pharmacists

Dee64

Dee64

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Canada
Doctors Versus Pharmacists

Who would you trust more to prescribe medicine, your doctor or the phamacist?
While your family physician may know what the health problem is, would he be more knowledgeable about the prescription medicine he is prescribing for you, or the pharmacist? I think i would trust the pharmacist opinion, over my family physicians, as he would know more about the prescription medicine than the physician. Although your family doctor would know more about you and what drugs you can take, the pharmacist is more knowlegable in those drugs. I would be interested in your thoughts on this. I guess it could go either way, but over the years, i have come to rely on the pharmacist for help with my medications. In my opinion, they are certainly more educated in what is in those drugs and i trust them more, and they have access to all information on your meds....how do you feel, who would you trust more with yo\ur medicine, family doctor or the pharmacist?
Dee64
 

There are many doctors who also know about medicines, including unwanted side effects and what you can take and cannot take. I have that kind of doctor so I rely on him for my prescriptions first and plus he is very knowledgeable about all illnesses. I have certain conditions where I can't take many drugs and he knows that very well and has never prescribed me anything that can do me harm.

So, I'd prefer to rely on the doctors who also know all about meds.

I prefer Internists as a regular doctor and find they know so much more than some other doctors, excluding specialists.
 
Who would you trust more to prescribe medicine, your doctor or the phamacist?

From my experiences, the pharmacists are just as schooled in the workings of any medicines like the docs....I've had more thorough info given me from the pharm folks than the docs could ever give me.....

And I never knew the pharmacists can actually prescribe a med....correct me if I'm wrong.
 

Years ago, I had a pharmacist question whether I should be taking two medicines together, medicines that were prescribed for me by the same doctor. Thank goodness, it wasn't a life-threatening interaction between the two meds but one lessened the effectiveness of the other.

I called the doctor, who seemed to be a little huffy that he was being "doubted" but he changed one of the meds.

So, I'd say the pharmacist is an excellent back-up to the doctor.
 
Don't take meds but I had to have an allergy shot. The doctor spends 1/2 minute with me, with his hand on the doorknob. I've heard he does that with everyone., and a lot of stories of misdiagnosis. I trust the pharmacist more than the doctor. In fact, Think about this: A Vet treats his patients without them even telling him what's wrong. Guess I would trust a Vet more than either one! haha!
 
PopsnTuff said:
So the pharmacists who fill my meds at the drugstore Can prescribe me a med? By who's authority @Keesha?
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There ‘usually’ has to be some connection to a Doctor and they are more likely to refill an existing prescription but they can prescribe certain drugs under their own authority. At least they are allowed to here in Canada and that only happened last year so it’s a new thing.

I don’t really know about what the laws are in your area.
 
MarciKS said:
I've had a lot of things the pharmacist caught that the dr. didn't so...perhaps the pharmacist.
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Exactly. I don’t generally take any prescription drugs but my ENT doctor prescribed me some sinus spray with steroids. He didn’t mention any side effects to worry about
 
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Keesha said:
Exactly. I don’t generally take any prescription drugs but my ENT doctor prescribed me some sinus spray with steroids. He didn’t mention any side effects to worry about . He didn’t say anything about these drugs. He is a great ENT doctor but greatly lacks in this department. When I had my prescription filled at our local pharmacy, the one taking my prescription asked if I’d like to speak to the pharmacist about possible side effects and I said yes. I was told that this drug will lower my immunity and will possibly give me thrush and a yeast infection. If that wasn’t bad enough, another few dozen things to worry about like causing panic attacks , agitation, difficulty breathing, skin rashes...
The list was unbelievable so I stopped it immediately. Pharmacists seem to have always given me better information than any of my doctors.
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Those are normally possible side effects. Doesn't mean you'll get them. They're just things to watch for. If you've had steroids before & had no problem with them you should be ok. If you're not sure...start with a small dose to make sure. I'm allergic to so much and can't take so much that I start with the smallest possible dose and only take one the first day. In 24 hrs if I haven't had a reaction I'm usually good to go.
 
MarciKS said:
Those are normally possible side effects. Doesn't mean you'll get them. They're just things to watch for. If you've had steroids before & had no problem with them you should be ok. If you're not sure...start with a small dose to make sure. I'm allergic to so much and can't take so much that I start with the smallest possible dose and only take one the first day. In 24 hrs if I haven't had a reaction I'm usually good to go.
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Yes but I did have very bad reactions.
 
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Luckily, I don't have to take any drugs....had a couple of minor prescriptions over the years, but nothing that I had to take for more than a few days. However, IF I were ever put on drugs, I would take any info the doctor and pharmacist gave me, THEN do a bunch of my own research on the Internet....WebMD, MayoClinic, Drugs.com, etc.

I had a neighbor in poor health 4 or 5 years ago, and the doctors had him on 9 drugs, and he was having all sorts of troubles. I wrote down all his drugs, and spent some time on the Internet investigating these drugs, and found a long list of interactions and side effects. I printed it all off, and he went back to the doctor with that information, and was reduced to 4 drugs. Within a few weeks, he became markedly better, but the damage was done, and he passed a couple of years ago.
 
I can steroids in shot form for my asthma/COPD and in those depo medrol dose packs for the same thing. However, I can't take the steroid nasal sprays unless it's a shot here and there.
The drs don't understand why I can take one med but not another from the same family but for me sometimes the different forms is enough to cause problems.
 
I don't know. Sometimes something as simple as a preservative can do it.
Some of the preservatives are eggs like in the flu shots. I can eat eggs but can't take the flu shot.
There is a rescue inhaler I can't take because of the preservative in the propellant. But, I can take it liquid form for my nebby machine.
 
My pharmacist is certainly more up to speed on drug interactions and side-effects because that's his sole job. All things considered, I wouldn't trust him to have the knowledge to diagnose a malady and make a drug recommendation.

But I trust no one implicitly. I had a doctor for over 25 years I very much liked, while my current doctor is as others have stated: one hand on the stethoscope and the other on the door knob to rush off to the next patient.

Regardless, I always research whatever has been prescribed and take any questions back to the doctor. I've also always had good relationships with pharmacists. I don't think people realize what a great resource pharmacists are. I used to keep a PDR at home, but there's no need these days with the web.

The only meds I take are a statin for my cholesterol, vitamins and a baby aspirin due to a recent small stroke. I hope to keep it that way.
 
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MarciKS said:
I don't know. Sometimes something as simple as a preservative can do it.
Some of the preservatives are eggs like in the flu shots. I can eat eggs but can't take the flu shot.
There is a rescue inhaler I can't take because of the preservative in the propellant. But, I can take it liquid form for my nebby machine.
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Preservatives. Ugh! My body doesn’t like too many of them either. This really is interesting stuff. It’ seemed that it’s all in how it’s prepared and what it’s mixed with. I’ve heard of others mentioning problems with eggs in the vaccines.
 
Pharmacists may know more about drug interactions, etc. but I would not trust anyone but a fully qualified doctor to diagnose or prescribe prescription medicine for treatment of an illness.
 

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