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Why You Should Always Be Careful When Taking Medicine

Phantom

Entry posted by Phantom

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Ugh. The past few days have not been fun at all. My back's been acting up since Thursday after Physical Therapy and the muscle relaxer they had me on was not helping at all. Instead it started to make things worse up until yesterday where all the excitement happened.

 

I've been on this med for just over two weeks now with no effect so the doctor ordered the dose to be raised a level. Well that was last Monday. Since then I experienced all the wonderful side-effects the medicine could offer (dizziness, nausea, lack of balance, and some other 'fun' effects that I won't get into). That is until yesterday when I was at home going downstairs I got hit with a wave a dizziness to the point I fell and went down a few steps before stopping. Now the fun didn't stop there because I also happened to be carrying my tablet as well.

 

Well, you know what they say about applied force, gravity and tablets right? Mix them together and it never works out well. My tablet was no exception and needless to say I was a little more than angry once I recovered from my fall. I ended up having my roommate drive me to Best Buy to get a new tablet (my only portable workstation and link to the world when traveling or in my room or at school cus duh. Digital Textbooks). It was a good thing to because I was ready to call my doctors office and leave a scathing message for them to call me back and get me off that damn med.

 

Well today arrived and I called since I felt calmer and better then I did yesterday (a morning sitting outside having a cup of coffee and reading the news in the sunlight seems to have that effect on me). The nurse who took down my info called me and literally 10min later my Doctor called and was very concerned when I explained what happened (RIP Tablet) and now has me tapering off the med and put me on a new med that should do better.

 

Well I hope it does and this time I'm not going to take any chances. If I don't like the med I won't wait until something happens to tell someone, I'm gonna dame well say something then and there. So. The moral of the story is, if a medicine makes you feel icky, tell someone or something bad could happen.

 

PS: Screw You Gabapentin... you owe me a new tablet...

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Carlos Hazday

Side effects are a bitch! I tried Chantix in an attempt to quit smoking when it first came out. Who knew one of the side effects was depression and suicidal thoughts. A couple of days crying and barely moving made me call the doctor... I quit smoking later, it wasn't as easy as with the drug, but I'm still alive!

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craftingmom

I had a bad reaction to an anti-anxiety--Lexapro.  I had only taken one pill and felt horrible--hot flashes (no I'm not there yet!), severely dry mouth, flashes of pain that made me think I was having a heart attack.  They say the side effects get better eventually, but they were horrible.  I'd rather have my panic attacks than feel like that everyday.  Yeah, I called my doctor the next morning and she put me on Zoloft, a much milder med that has worked fine since.

 

Glad you got off that med if it made you that dizzy.  Hope the new one works for you, Phantom.

 

And Carlos, so glad you realized the Chantix was causing those side effects before anything happened!  Congrats on quitting smoking on your own, I'm sure it was tough.

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Emi GS

Not just the side effects, some times it will become death threat...

I have known some experiences about this... My father lost his small brother because of false medication... And my Aunt(my father's sister) lost her three babies because of of this reason... And her daughter, one of my cousin, got permanently handicapped...

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DynoReads

we just switched cardiologists because the one wouldn't listen to us about hubby's one medicine causing gout/kidney issues. The new one said the med wasn't the cause, but agreed to switch meds. Hubby is doing much better on the new med & no gout/kidney issues.

 

Don't ever hesitate to be your own health care advocate. Doctors are our advisors, not Gods.

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dughlas

I react oddly to many meds ... I experience unusual side effects. As a result I make an effort to understand the potential pros/cons of any med prescribed. You must be your own advocate.

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Valkyrie
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I've had a couple horrible experiences with reactions to medications, too. The first time I believed my doctor when she told me that the side effects would go away, even though I complained about them for a couple months. I wasn't in a place to be a very good advocate for myself, so I put up with them for much longer than I should have.  The second time was fairly recently.  I developed a severe allergic reaction to a medication I had been taking for a month.  It was a shame, too since the med had been working otherwise.  :( 

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Cia
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I've never had a bad reaction to medicine, but a lot of people forget that, in their wisdom, doctors spend maybe a few hours A YEAR with you/reviewing your information. That's if you have a chronic condition. You spend all your time in your body. They may have the medical knowledge, but you're the only person who can truly say how you feel. If something doesn't seem right, and a doctor won't listen to you, get a new one. You're paying them, so you hold the cards!

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