BPH: Talking With Your Doctor
It’s important for you to know that the information we present here is not intended to substitute for a doctor’sjudgment. But we hope it will help you and your doctor arrive at a decision about which drug or drugs to treat benign prostatic hypertrophy are best for you, and which gives you the most value for your health-care dollar.
Bear in mind that many people are reluctant to discuss the cost of medicines with their doctors, and that studies show doctors do not routinely take price into account when prescribing medicines. Unless you bring it up, your doctors may assume that cost is not a factor for you.
Many people (including physicians) also believe that newer drugs are always or almost always better. While that’s a natural assumption to make, the fact is that it’s not true. Studies consistently show that many older medicines are as good as, and in some cases better than, newer medicines. Think of them as “tried and true,” particularly when it comes to their safety record. Newer drugs have not yet met the test of time, and unexpected problems can and do crop up once they hit the market.
Of course, some newer prescription drugs are indeed more effective and safer. Talk with your doctor about the pluses and minuses of newer vs. older medicines, including generic drugs.
Prescription medicines go “generic” when a company’s patents on a drug lapse, usually after about 12 to 15 years. At that point, other companies can make and sell the drug.
Generics are almost always much less expensive than newer brand-name medicines, but they are not lesser-quality drugs. Indeed, most generics remain useful medicines even many years after first being marketed. That is why today about more than 50% of all prescriptions in the U.S. are for generics.
Another important issue to talk with your doctor about is keeping a record of the drugs you are taking. There are several reasons for this:
First, if you see several doctors, each may not be aware of medicines the others have prescribed.
Second, since people differ in their response to medications, it is very common for doctors to prescribe several medicines before finding one that works well or best.
Third, many people take several prescription medications, nonprescription drugs and dietary supplements at the same time. These can interact in ways that can either reduce the benefit you get from the drug, or be dangerous.
And fourth, the names of prescription drugs — both generic and brand — are often hard to pronounce and remember.
For all these reasons, it’s important to keep a written list of all the drugs and supplements you are taking, and to periodically review this list with your doctors.
Always be sure, too, that you understand the dose of the medicine being prescribed for you and how many pills you are expected to take each day. Your doctor should tell you this information. When you fill a prescription at the pharmacy, or if you get it by mail, you should check to see that the dose and the number of pills per day on the pill bottle match the amounts that your doctor told you.