In my roaming around online this morning, I ran across this article on Good Rx.com.  For those of you not familiar with Good Rx, it's a good thing for people who don't have insurance or who have high co-pays for drugs.  I do have insurance but I use it for my vitamin B-12 injectible because Medicare doesn't cover vitamins, even for those of us that have genetic or metabolic conditions.

Back to the subject at hand...  :-)  

The article breaks down the top 10 drugs in the U.S. by state with Levothyroxine being the most prescribed.  For those not familiar, Levothyroxine is a replacement thyroid hormone used for those of us with hypothyroidism (low thyroid hormones).  Levothyroxine is the active ingredient in the medication; Synthroid is the best-known brand, though there are a couple of other brands as well, along with numerous generics.  

I would question the use of the term "drug" in connection with Levothyroxine since it's a replacement "hormone".  Not everything that requires a prescription can be considered a drug and to me, that includes Levothyroxine, but maybe I'm splitting hairs.  

I also take exception to the comment: "It’s widely used to treat “hypothyroidism,” when the thyroid produces low amounts of hormone, resulting in tiredness and lack of energy – despite some controversy over whether those people are being helped by the medicine."   It's true that Levothyroxine is widely used to treat hypothyroidism, however, tiredness and lack of energy are far from the only symptoms caused by hypothyroidism and for those of us that have it, there would be little controversy over whether or not the medication is helping unless the dosage we've been prescribed is not adequate. The only ones who would argue this point are doctors or others that have never experienced these symptoms.

It's an interesting read anyway, so I'll get off my soapbox and let you form your own opinion.  

https://www.goodrx.com/blog/the-most-popular-drugs-in-america-by-state/?rs_oid_rd=1535712820538771&utm_medium=email&utm_source=sendgrid.com&utm_campaign=em_newsletter&utm_content=us_of_drugs_v2&e=7b190e56e9aed2904911dd0f52fc5d94&c=fixed_0_2018-01

For those of you that might need an alternative to high prescription costs, even if you have Medicare or insurance, take a look at goodrx.com.  You can't use it with Medicare or insurance, but in some cases, it can still save you a considerable amount of money...

Some of us are involved in the weight loss challenge, trying to lose a pound a week.  That doesn't sound like such a hard thing to do, but for some of us, it's really a challenge.  

We've had discussions about what we eat, much of it centering around the amount of sugar we eat.  We all know that sugar is bad for us and we shouldn't be eating/drinking it, right?  And for most of us, it does make a difference in our weight when we eat more/less sugar... sure it does.

Look at the title of my journal though... had you ever really thought about what happens to the fat you lose?  I hadn't given it that much thought. I, pretty much, thought it dissolved and went down the toilet...

According to the following article some of it does, but not the way we might think it does.  Who would think we actually exhale or sweat out our fat?  

https://www.cnn.com/2018/03/26/health/lose-weight-where-does-it-go-partner/index.html

I've read that what we eat is 80% of weight loss, but that never seems to work for me, no matter how strictly I stick to an eating plan; I have to have that exercise.  If the article is correct, I guess there's a good reason for that.