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Medication's Side Effects - What's Your Experience?
Posted by MadMadMargo • 2/18/09 • Subscribe to this Discussion [RSS] • Report This Topic
Topics: medication, side effects
Ever notice how many TV commericals for prescription medications are playing these days? The number of side effects are alarming. Are you listening?
Have you ever experienced side effects from a drug prescribed by your physician? Or, do you know anyone that has?
This post is a rather humorous look at the side effects for the medication recommended for Restless Leg Syndrome.
"Excessive Gambling and Sexual Urges?"
theturquoisemoon.blogspot.com/2009/02/excessive-gambling-and-sexual-urges.h...
User Comments
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Isn't RLS totally manufactured by the pharmaceutical companies anyway?-
"RLS is a severe and often disabling neurological disorder which afflicts 10-15% of the general population due to dopaminergic abnormalities according to the Mayo Clinic in Scottsdale, AZ."
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Excuse me; I misspoke. It's not fictitious, it's just that RLS has been co-opted by the drug companies for fun and profit:
"The news coverage of restless legs syndrome is disturbing. It exaggerated the prevalence of disease and the need for treatment, and failed to consider the problems of overdiagnosis. In essence, the media seemed to have been co-opted into the disease-mongering process. Although our review was limited to the coverage of a single disease promotion campaign, we think it is likely that our findings would apply to others. It is easy to understand why the media would be attracted to disease promotion stories and why they would be covered uncritically. The stories are full of drama: a huge but unrecognized public health crisis, compelling personal anecdotes, uncaring or ignorant doctors, and miracle cures."
"The problem lies in presenting just one side of the story. There may be no public health crisis, the compelling stories may not represent the typical experience of people with the condition, the doctors may be wise not to invoke a new diagnosis for vague symptoms that may have a more plausible explanation, the cures are far from miraculous, and healthy people may be getting hurt."
"We think the media could report medical news without reinforcing disease promotion efforts by approaching stories like “restless legs” with a greater degree of skepticism. After all, their job is to inform readers, not to make them sick."
medicine.plosjournals.org/perlserv/?request=get-document&doi=10.1371/journa... -
Wow, very interesting. Thanks so much for sharing this information.
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I have a friend (MD, JD) that once worked for Abbott Labs - she claims the pharmaceutical companies and the FDA are killing us.
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Yes, I think that RLS is supposedly actually had by, say, 1% of the population. But because this medication was said to treat it, they started marketing it as if there were a big need.
I actually did a humor post about medication's side effects myself last week-- "Warning: May Cause Deadly Death."
cabbages-n-kings.blogspot.com/2009/02/warning-may-cause-deadly-death.html
It was prompted by the commercial with the side effect of Tuberculosis! (What's next? Bubonic plague?) -
@Jenn - I'll pop over and read your post.
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RX companies are required by law to list potential side effects in their ads regardless of what percentage of people actually experienced them.
I take a daily migraine preventative that initially made soda taste like ass.-
Yeow!
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@MadMargo Heh. It went away; not sure that's a good or a bad thing.
My doctor neglected to me that side effect, though and it's not listed in the literature: "May make soda taste like ass." So I was very confused!
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I have to be very careful when taking any medications (including over the counter medications) because I get every freaking side effect known to man.
I literally take children's Tylenol instead of adult pain relievers.
While I understand that in certain circumstances the drug itself provides the patient with much needed relief or could save their life, making the side effects negligible - some drugs really do have side effects that are worse than the original illness.-
No kidding - I would certainly think so especially in the case of RLS medications.
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I have RLS - a left over my from my pregnancy. One thing I've found to help relieve it (non medicinally) is not getting over tired, gettingplenty of exercise, and eating properly.
Seriously, when my diet is off, and I've been staying up too late? I get it horribly. It drives me and my husband bonkers
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Do you use the baby dropper for your Tylenol? -
I have to be very careful when taking any medications (including over the counter medications) because I get every freaking side effect known to man.
Me too. I have 129 know drug allergies. That's why I avoid pharmaceuticals like the plague. I don't have the same problems with the herbal choices my homeopath prescribes. That being said, I do know that herbs are drugs too and must be chosen very carefully with professional help as opposed to self medicating with herbs from questionable sources and using those that are from good sources in the wrong amounts. It seems the natural plant choices are the ones that my body uptake and utilize without side effects, and wherever possible I choose alternative medicine therapies that do NOT involve either herbs or pharmaceuticals.
Misleading Media Coverage Of Medicine
www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/11/081126075613.htm
Drug-free Treatments Offer Hope For Older People In Pain
www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/09/070910144556.htm
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yes, once I took a sample med my doc gave me and within three days I felt like I was losing my mind. Well I was. Several months later I had the telly on and my ears pricked when I heard a host of a show interviewing women who had gone mad due to taking some medication and ended up in psych wards, getting into accidents, committing suicide (yes the one I had taken). It wasn't a drug that was being marketed yet it seemed, but was handed out to doctors as samples. I was fairly new to this country and didn't know the process used by the FDA and just assumed the med was fully approved and any side effects would have been discussed.
I will have to look at your link since I sometimes get restless leg. OMG that was funny. Erm, hum that explains a few things hee hee. Naw kidding I don't take meds, although I do have a homeopathic med that helps, and no side effects I know of.-
Wow, what an experience! Glad you were able to find an alternative medication.
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Hubby and I laughed out loud when the tv said gambling was a side effect. What the heck?!!!! Many of the side effects of meds these days sound worse than the thing they are supposed to relieve.-
It's scary. My doctor has learned not to prescribe any medication without breaking out the PDR to cover everything aspect. Last thin I need is a drug that causes weight gain or insomnia.
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I have a friend who quit taking Prozac (PMS/Menopause PMS) because it caused weight gain. Hubby tells me she was a real pain in the butt during her ...
So now she's separated from her hubby.
I would rather be happy and little overweight than thinner, cranky and on the verge of divorce. -
It's a shame that your friend's doctor didn't find an alternative medication for her.
I had a friend suffering from depression and insomnia. She was prescribed a anti-depressant and a sleep medication. After taking the medication several days, her insomnia seemed to worsen - one of the side effects of the anti-depressant was INSOMNIA. Fortunately, she was able to get the appropriate changes made with her meds.
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Interesting article you wrote, Margo. I am 100% against prescription medication being commercialized on television. For one thing, people should not be diagnosing themselves. Also, this is driving up the cost of prescription medications--not only are people becoming hypochondriacs with all kinds of somatoform illnsses that they somehow 'get into their heads' that they need some medication for--the cost of advertising is huge and definitely drives up the cost of prescription medications. It pisses me off, royally--I don't think the pharmaceutical companies should be able to do it.
As far as side effects go, any doctor worth her/his salt should sit down with her/his patient and carefully go over every possible side effect. Not just mention them randomly like the commercials do--but really sit down and talk with the patients (something that's becoming a lost art anyway).
Those commercials do far more harm than good, imo.-
I agree. I find myself noticing these commercials more and more everyday. You are right, they are sucking people in to self-diagnosis. Thankfully, I do have a physician (D.O.) that is very good about sitting down with me and going over any medications. And, to be quite honest, there are several medications I have refused to have prescribed.
Thanks for your input - great points! -
I often wonder what the future world would think of us if the only thing they had to archive our history was television, and advertisements.
Sex crazed? STD ridden? Hypochondriac, or at the very least very sickly?
I shudder when I think about it! -
Future world??? That's what the world thinks of you now!
I find it bizarre they would advertise prescription drugs on TV. -
@Margo--how wonderful you have a good doctor--I do as well. She really listens--but then she is young and new and not yet jaded!
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I'm blessed. I don't take meds, and although I have insurance, I only went for a physical once and never bothered to follow up with the bloodwork.
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first u are biuteful .i am medical and every medica have site efect depend about the time u use and the medicament if toxic or not, visit my blog.www. sudani2006.blogspot.com
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Thank you. OK.
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Its better not take any medications ...its not good all the time some are very dangerous to our health. Try using Herbal "natural" treatment its safer than taking any medications.-
I totally agree.
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Hi
Without being too negative about herbal treatments (as I am all for them as well!), but I have had a few bad reactions with some herbs as well (of the legit type)
If anyone is into herbal medication, just be wary and check they don't interact with anything, or have other known side effects. Please do your research properly first, or go to a specialist herbalists.(as you should with even mainstream drugs) -
Good advice.
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Just because something comes from the ground doesn't make it at all safe or effective. Natural treatments such as vitamins, minerals or herbs are great when they're appropriate to be used with or in place of Western medicine. Without Western prescription medicine: vaccines, penicillin, etc. we'd all still have 25 year old life spans, die in childbirth, and be 5 feet tall.
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@dinsquared
Hey! I'm still 5 feet tall! (Gotta lay off those herbs!)
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Hi
I regret ever going onto gabapetin (nureton sp?) for my back pain. It is a pretty strong nerve blocker that can do weird things to you. I can't prove it but when I first went on it, among lots of horrible side effects, i started getting tinnitus ( see one of my blog entries for more info about it). It wasn't for months after i came off the medication, that I developed severe tinnitus that I suffer with 24/7 now !!! I have had if for over 14 months .. Previously I never had any indications of tinnitus, and I haven't got hearing problems, or worked around loud noises. Of course the Docs say its not the meds that caused it, of course they will never admit to it ! grrr. But it seems a weird coincidence ! Now I am on mild antidepressants just to be able to cope to with it to some extent, and we all know antidepressants have their own set of problems. Can't win sometimes
I am meant to also try some other strong meds for my pain and fibro, but I refuse to now ! I'm to scared to try anything else ! -
Wow, sorry to hear that. I often wonder if members of the AMA and the FDA are trying to kill us.
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In the early days of the Kellogg Report, 13 categories of illness were identified. Of the 13, twelve were diet related. If that were true, doctors would immediately expose their patients to nutritional analysis and therapy. Do they? So anything coming from the AMA and their cohorts should be viewed with suspicion. We are the blame. We want to be free to eat anything; do no exercise. Then, fix the problems with medication. What should we expect?-
And just how unbiased am I supposed to believe something from Kellogg is, especially with relationship to food/diet?
Has this been vetted and published in a peer-reviewed journal? If so, point me to it. If not, then take it with a HUGE grain of salt. -
When Mr. Kellogg came out with his corn flakes in the late 19th century, he was administering water and yogurt enemas. What does that have to do with the AMA?
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I am the allergy queen. Every new medication I get I have to research before it enters my body. I always read the "side effects" panel on the product insert. Most times things are just fine...but there is a reason I started doing this.
I have degenerative joint disease, a sort of hyper-osteo arthritis. Some years ago my doctor put me on a new anti-inflammatory drug. At the time I was driving a sports car and, being springtime in California, I drove it around with the top down. After a few days I noticed little tiny (about the size of the head of a pin) water blisters start appearing on my arms and hands. Soon I had them on my neck and back of my neck and a few were starting to appear on my face. They were too small and too dense to be chicken pox, which I had already had, anyway.
Then they started breaking and the open wounds itched. My doctor was at a loss...he covered me in calamine lotion for the itch and put me on Benadryl which helped a bit, but made me so sleepy I couldn't drive or work. My husband decided to read the package insert for the anti-inflammatory and, sure enough, down there in the fine print, among the "rare side effects" was "photosynthetic uticaria"...a rash where the sun touches your skin. No wonder the rash was confined to my arms, hands, neck and face! I stopped the drug and the rash disappeared, although I carried tiny white scars for years afterward.
The drug is no longer sold in the US...too many side effects, I guess. But when I moved to South Africa, guess what shows up in the pharmacoepia of anti-inflammatories? Uh huh...my blister-inducing friend.
Now I read package insert so I know what the side effects are just in case something pops up!-
It's truly scary. I don't take any medications currently, but, when I do, I question the physician and the pharmacist then I read and read and read all I can - the internet is a great source.
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I don't take any drugs unless it's absolutely necessary. I use Nasonex for my allergies and take Paroxetine to help me sleep, but have tried a lot of other drugs and didn't continue with them because of the side effects. I did a lot of recreational drugs back in the 80s. I don't know if that screwed up my system or not. -
Talk about side effects! Damn!
Part of [guitarist Diana Levine's] arm had to be amputated after she was improperly injected with the anti-nausea drug Phenergan made by Wyeth as part of treatment for a migraine.
news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20090304/bs_nm/us_drugs_wyeth_court-
So? If you improperly use anything there will be consequences. If you improperly drive a car, you can get your limbs amputated, or lots of people killed including yourself.
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Yes, some medications can really do you in. So far I've been lucky with mine. I did have to take spironolactone before surgery. It did reduce libido, which is fine. Even so, I still had multiple orgasms. But the stuff really hurt me in the form of cramping. I had some of the most terrible cramps that left me unable to walk sometimes.
As for being mad, I don't need any meds to take me there. Some of you already know me in that regard!-
We love you for your madness.
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ditto
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I've only had an allergic reaction which resulted in my body breaking out in tiny itchy red spots as a result of taking some amoxicillin. I'd taken this med in the past but never had a reaction. Now it seems I'm allergic. MD said this is normal.
Prescription drugs in general scare me especially after being a workers comp adjuster and seeing MDs prescribe tons of narcotics and mind altering meds to people with relatively minor injuries.
This makes me want to listen to more of the side effect spiels that faceless announcers spew off right before the commerical's over since I thought it was the normal dizziness and severe abdominal cramps.-
I had the same reaction to amoxicillin the last time I took it - 20 years ago.
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My favourite possible side-effect I've ever heard of was "Uncontrollable flailing of the arms"
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My doctor put me on a statin drug which was supposed to help with my blood pressure, but it gave me Horrible dizzy spells and I stopped taking it very soon. IMHO, side effects are Not funny.-
My husband was put on a blood pressure drug that gave him gout...and he was only 30! His right foot swelled up like he had a massive infection or something and hurt so bad he literally could not walk.
They stopped the drug, his foot was back to normal in a week, and it has never returned. -
yikes. that sounds Much worse than my dizzy spells, which I'm told happen to only like one in 100,000 people
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Something very similar happened just recently to my children's father - He began losing his sight very rapidly and was given approximately 6 months until total blindness. Then, out of the blue, his doctor changed his heart medication and his sight completely returned within a couple of months.
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Birth control makes my boobs bigger, increases my appetite, and makes me have horrible mood swings (I'm sure I wasn't like this before, right? lol).-
I'm the opposite, even tho I don't need to be on the pill, as I had an ablation done many years ago, I prefer being on it for my mood swings ! I'm worse off it ! LOL
I have actually come off it, so that I can have a thorough blood test for my hormones ( have to be off it for 3 months to be able to have the test), and I have been so grumpy !!! eeek . My husband says get back on them ! LOL
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I have taken Nyquil many times but one time I took it I began to have heart palpitations like mad. I have always had them on occasion...but this wouldn't stop. Later of course I was diagnosed with cancer but that was a few years later. I do not know if there was a connection or not. I haven't taken Nyquil since. WAY too scared. haha I won't even go into all the meds I have had to take and side effects...because chemotherapy has a lot of side effects....-
I've, fortunately, have taken Nyquil in the past with no reaction. However, I only take one dose maybe twice a year just so I can sleep during allergy season.
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I've been put on a few medications that have caused side effects. The most notable were: Nexium (I got horrible migraines while on it), cough syrup w/codeine (I had told both the doctor and the pharmicist I was sensitive to it. I thought they understood, so I didn't bother to check the label. When I started to feel bugs crawling all over me after taking it, I knew that they hadn't listened), and then Topamax(for migraines. It made me very, very stupid. I couldn't even say one whole sentence, let alone think straight), while on it I developed a rash that was highly dangerous and required a series of steroids to flush the Topamax out of my system.
After those experiences, and a doctor who doesn't really care, I tend to stay away from the medical field.-
I had a similar reaction to codeine - it was terrible - you are right, I became very flushed and then the bugs started crawling.
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These drug side effects are very bad. Specifically marijuana. Everyone I know who smokes that stuff gets high! Can you believe it? It makes them slower, and typically causes binge eating.
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Yikes!!!
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ROFLMAO
/me passes you the bong
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i was see one patint which was treated from tuberculosis and si was cam to hospital with chang in his skin color it is side efect of treatment.plz se my blog about acupancture and tell me what u think
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In the USA you have to read the list of the side-effects in the commercial. That's so funny. "Warning may cause suicide". Who goes and buys the stuff after that?
Once my doc prescribed some antibiotics. I must have had all the basic side-effects : dry mouth etc.. but the funniest one was that I couldn't get the tastes right. I tried an apple, it tasted like vanilla cake. :-o-
Well, your apple could have tasted like lima beans.
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I was watching Dr.G-Medical Examiner....this man had an allergic reaction to antibiotics, ignored it and kept taking them. He died. The medication label listed signs of allergic reactions and stated to get to a hospital fast.
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Sorry, but in his case, that information came a bit too late.
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My husband was placed on a drug to treat ADD mythoughtsalways.blogspot.com/2008/03/strattera.html
His doctor said if we let it go on much longer we could have lost him.-
What a horrible experience for you both. I glad his medication was changed before it was too late.
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