Have you ever hoped for the magic pill?

Never found a magic pill and probably never will, but I did get a steroid shot in the ass to counter an allergic reaction that was pretty amazing. Does that count?

I generally try to avoid meds although I suffer severe allergies and migraines all year. If the pain is too intense I’ll just give up and take an aspirin, but that’s just about the only meds I would take. I was on antibiotics for a staph infection, but I wasn’t very good about taking them when I had to because they made me throw up and they were hard to swallow in the first place..but the infection cleared up so that’s good.
If there was a magic pill, I’d want one that shall rid me of my horrid allergies forever!
Just one pill and POOF!

The new weight loss pill includes Welbutrin, fyi. I’m not sure what the other half of it is. But if you’ve even been on Welbutrin (as I have), that should give you an idea of how effective it might be for weight loss. In other words, that other part of it better be really good, or that pill is a waste of time. No magic at all.

Of course, that’s what research always wants to find: the magic pill. Unfortunately, human bodies are extremely complex, and it is hard to find one pill that will do exactly what you want it to, with no side effects, that works for everyone. In fact, now that I read what I wrote, that’s pretty much impossible.

Sorry @JLeslie. No magic pills for you. :(

Who doesn’t? But I realize it’s probably an unrealistic hope. I have never had issues with having to take pills when I needed to and I take my share of supplements. The best pill would be one that worked to prevent disease rather than cure it!

If there was one pill I would love it would be one that would cure social anxiety. My shyness has caused me no end of pain sometimes and makes it hard for me to meet people. But I try to cover up my shyness and so a lot of times people don’t think I’m shy. I can hold on a good conversation but I have trouble initiating conversations and making the first move. When I am talking with certain people, especially in a group setting I feel guarded and anxious. It’s hard to just be myself. Sometimes I hold back and people think I am antisocial or cold. That couldn’t be further from the truth! But I don’t think any of the pills out there would do any good for me and I don’t like the idea of psychological pharmaceuticals except for serious mental illness. I just keep working on overcoming my fears. I figure it’s like a muscle.If you work it, it gets stronger. If you baby it, it gets weaker.

@wundayatta I actually am one of those people who believes all medications have side effects, another reason I hate taking medicine. So, I am right with you on that.

The cancer cure pill would be nice. My take on the pharmaceutical companies is that they want to create pills you take forever to treat symptoms, not cures.

I try not to take any pills as you can never be sure what the side effects might be. Antibiotics are marvellous pills but unfortunately they are losing their efficacy against superbugs. While they work they are the best thing we have and yet we take them for granted. Eventually something must get us. There is no escaping the human condition.

A magic bullet drug that safely controls atrial fibrillation would be cool. I suffered with atrial fibrillation for 9 years while taking a variety of very strong cardiac dugs that did more harm than good. My life was hell then and even though I wasn’t sure that there is a God, I still prayed daily for help. When that didn’t help I found a new cardiologist the cured my heart arrhythmia with a surgical procedure. I’m not taking any meds now.

I take a bunch of meds – a cocktail, they call it – for bipolar disorder and severe panic. I can’t attribute my wonderful ability to cope with all the ups-and-down I suffer, and sometimes I can’t, anyway, solely on medication. However, before I was diagnosed, when my mania was at its peak, I hadn’t slept more than mere cat-naps for weeks on end. I was a danger to others and to myself. I was taking a lot of Xanax and Celexa and it turned out that that combination was fueling the Mania. However, when I thought it couldn’t get any worse – I thought my brother was going to kill me – every white-van was spying on me, etc., my new shrink (at that time) put me on a considerably high-dose of Zyprexa. Within 3 hours of taking it, I was out like a light, and slept for 24 hours. I’ll tell ya, when I woke up, I wasn’t miraculously sane, but I was “coming-down” from one of the most painful highs I ever experienced. So, magic pill = no. Life-saver = definitely yes.
Still, though, I think the real magic pill was seeing a more-than competent doctor at the right time. He’s kept me out of the hospital for years – over ten, and I feel blessed to have him. And, I have no doubt, if I hadn’t had the Zyprexa, I’d be dead. Not joking.

I heard a report on NPR about the new weight-loss pills, and they didn’t sound too revolutionary to me. Now that @wundayatta informs us that it’s half Wellbutrin/Zyban, I’m not surprised. When I tried Wellbutrin because SSRIs had been ineffective against my chronic depression, I had hoped to have a loss-of-appetite side-effect. No such luck, and it didn’t help the depression, either.

And that is the magic pill I’d wish for… one that would make my metabolism more efficient and increase my energy.

I used to be more resistant to pills, but now I take them earlier in the progression of my symptoms for headaches, allergies, sinuses or head colds… I find if I nip them in the bud, the whole day isn’t ruined.

I’d love a pill that would cure my diabetes once and for all.

The economics of the pharmaceutical industry being as they are, I’d quite happily settle for a pill I have to take the rest of my life that would effectively render me no longer diabetic.

No, but magic beans? Now you’re talking.
Imagine the anti-flatulence bean, although that may be just blowing wind up your arse.

Yeah, of course. Most strongly with biologic meds that I tried for my ulcerative colitis. Biologics are pretty much the end of the line as far as meds go, so I was pretty desperate and just convinced myself that they would be magical because my other option was surgery and I was not having any of that. It was denial more than anything else.

They were magical for about a year.

I feel like I am currently on a magic pill. I had such anxiety and panic attacks, now they are gone. I am so relieved and grateful.

The problem with most pharmaceuticals is that they treat symptoms rather than cure diseases. If there really were a magic pill that cured some ailment forever, however, that would be wonderful. That’s the kind of magic pill for which I hope.

I don’t want a magic pill, but a magic home blood test. Diabetics have blood and urine tests for the blood sugar they can do when they need too. I want one for my thyroid function free T3 and T4. I don’t go in and have the tests done when I should because it takes too much time. I just end up adjusting my meds based on how I feel instead. Not ideal.

Oh hell yes. If I had to pick just one that would benefit me the most, it would be a pill that cures whatever the underlying cause of all auto-immune disease is. Since the underlying cause has yet to be identified (I feel sure there is one, though), that’s not too likely. :/

I used to be very resistant about taking meds, but they have saved my ass (and my life) so many times by now, I’m very grateful for them.

@Earthgirl Have you tried taking anything for your social anxiety? There actually are medications that can help with that. If it affects you a great deal, you might want to consider it.

@cazzie I say the same thing all the time. I have been known to say diabetics are “lucky” they can self test. My current doctor lets me call up and make a lab appointment whenever I want to check my thyroid, it has resulted in the most stable two years of me taking thyroid medicine, although I still move around being difficult to stabilize. I now just switched to the Armour, as I mentioned above to try it. So far very good, my T3 is incredibly high (high normal) with my TSH staying the same. My hair is growing in and soft/conditioned again, which is usually one of the signs my thyroid is really moving into my ideal normal, and my stamina is much better while exercising (but I also have been upping my iron intake, which might affect that too). And, no obvious negative side effects so far.

Since I just started the trick will be making sure I find the right dose long term, but my theory was I have more wiggle room with Armour because I am guessing the T3 being delivered directly means symptoms will be less extreme even if the dose is low temporarily and the T4 might be a little low. However, I really have no idea if the T3 is what affects the majority of symptoms. I tried to research it a little, but didn’t really find an answer from a medical source. Basically, I only deduce it because of the changes many thyroid patients talk about when they add Cytomel (synthetic T3 or switch to Armour). We’ll see.

@JLeslie because of stories like yours and many others, I will never let the Endo specialists nuke my thyroid. One day, they will look back at how they treat Graves Disease patients and cringe at their moronic ignorance and the needless torture they put those people through.

@cazzie I am always afraid of doing anything that is permanent. :) I thought nuking was for hyperthyroid? I never heard of it for hypo.

@JLeslie Nuking is for hyper (Graves Disease), which then makes you hypo. I never had mine nuked because I was so young when it happened, they didn’t want to possibly make me sterile in the process. My thyroid just burned itself out on its own, by way of thyroid storm.

I don’t know why I was thinking @cazzie was hypo? I guess she is hyperthyroid, I answered my own question.

Sort of.

Oh wonderful. It’s steroids that are causing meningitis in all these people.

(@JLeslie Yep. I am hyperthyroid, but controlled with meds.)

@cazzie Watch the blood pressure close.

@Adirondackwannabe: The people who have gotten meningitis had the steroids injected into their spinal column, from what I’ve heard. If yours was just injected into your butt-cheek, you should be OK.
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/news/fullstory_129932.html
http://www.cdc.gov/hai/outbreaks/meningitis-map.html
http://www.fda.gov/Drugs/DrugSafety/ucm322734.htm

@hearkat Thanks. I think I’m safe but it’s a lousy feeling before you know.

@Adirondackwannabe When I become medication induced hyperthyroid my blood pressure drops and my heart rate goes to fast, and I feel spacey on and off.

Bloodpressure is rock solid. Even when I was pregnant and they thought for sure things would go badly, I exceeded their expectation, such the over achiever am I.