Over the span of my life I have taken various prescription drugs for various maladies, infectious diseases and conditions which I have had.

I have not taken any on a long term basis because I have usually had side effects to them.

The problem with side effects of a medication is that sometimes you have to take the medication for a while before the side effects rear their ugly heads.

If you are taking a lot of medications it may be difficult to pinpoint the cause of the adverse effect.

What I used to tell my patients to do is to start a drug diary. If they were put on a new medication write the start date either on a calendar or in a journal and make notes as to how your body is reacting to the new drug.

Your doctor may see you once every few months so he can not assess you daily to evaluate how the medication is working with your body. You, on the other hand, live with your body every day and you are the best judge of how your body is responding to a new drug.

There is a reason why over 10,000 people die from medication side effects annually. It is not always the doctor’s fault, I think it is time we became smarter patients.

There is a reason why so many people die from