Prescription Addiction Part 2: (Grand)Mother's Little Helpers

My mother was given Lortab after surgery for a broken hip, that was in May of 07 and by July 07 she was still on them per Dr's orders, why I don't know. The surgery was healed and all she had was back pain from scoliosis for which she had never taken pain medication. I went round and round with them about it, I wanted the dosage reduced to help get her off of them; her personality changed and she seemed to be in more pain when she was on them between her "fixes" On top of that she was on a laxative and 2 stool softeners and was so constipated she had to dig it out with her finger. She was losing weight and so they had her take Ensure and she had 2 seizures in a row. She had never been on any type of medication and hadn't even taken an aspirin in over 20 years so I started looking at the medications. One of the stool softeners can cause seizures in people prone to them. So using that as my leverage I told the Dr I wanted her off of the Lortab because it was causing the constipation and all the laxatives too. They told me she would get an obstructed bowel. I told them I knew what to do for the constipation. I went to the store and bought her prunes, cashew nuts and yogurt, she had a bowel movement the next day and no more seizures. She was in the hospital a year later for pain in her bladder which turned out to be too much calcium it was blocking her urethra from the Caltrate she was taking, I put her on liquid calcium and give her cranberry for UA health. They found out she needed a pacemaker and put her on Prolosec like the first time and wanted to give her Lortab and all the laxatives again and I told them no. I went out to the nurses desk and told everybody sitting there what I just typed here and when I came back to the hospital the next day she had 2 armbands on NO Opiates, No stool softeners or laxatives. We had no problems and she has been fine ever since. My husband was in the hospital and was taking the highest dose of Lortab and they wouldn't let him leave until he had a bowel movement, I went to the grocery store and bought a six pack of Texun Ruby Red Grapefruit juice and he drank a couple of cans of that and had a bowel movement and then worked to get off of the Lortab, he's not on any pain medication no. They were both so grouchy and hateful until they got off the meds all together and they are normally very kind and loving. I can't take Lortabs, I'm allergic to them. It just seems that organized medicine wants to put you on drugs and keep you on them. I believe our food is our medicine and if you eat well you won't need the drugs, that is the approach I use for my family.