Side effects of medication

The best source of information about my prescribed medications ,both their interactions with each other , and any side effects on me, is free for the asking, from the pharmacist who dispenses them.

If like me you collect yours from a local chemist, if you have a question just pop in and ask to speak to the pharmacist.
I've done this for 40 years and been surprised how often they are better informed on medications, right down to very specific brand differences, than the prescribing GP.

I agree.
Our Pharmacist is always happy to discuss meds and even has a small consulting room.
And if my husband or myself get new meds he rings a couple of weeks later to see how we are getting on with it.

I don't read the paper in the box- I just go on whether I feel better or not. Some medicines are only short term so can put up with small side-effects. If they are long-term then I might discuss any serious side effects with my GP. Sometimes it is about the balance...

My experience is just that - personal experience plus common sense!
Which outweighs the other though?

Could you take paracetamol instead of NSAIDs?

Some years ago I was given a pain relief medication with a listed side effect of if you stop taking this you could die!
I refused to take it until the doc explained that I would only be taking it in the short term and the dosage was small. When I didn’t need it any more I had a few nervous weeks.

Personally, I take as few pills as I can possibly get away with. Always have.

Even vitamin tablets.

I always start by looking up what foods are good and bad.
Then move on to things like, does heat or cold have any affect.

etc etc
until the only thing left it pills. If I have to.

Did I have the covid jab?
No I did not
Though I caught covid even before Mr Boris had done a lockdown.

Have I had it since.
Absolutely not.

Though I would start considering it when I am about 80. If I get that far.

I take several prescription drugs as I have several auto immune conditions and AF
I decided in my forties when RA was limiting my work and personal life to take the meds despite fear of serious side effects.
I’m 76 and still creaking. I take magnesium for the same reason as rosiesmaw and occasionally have a break for the reasons identified 🌞

There are several types of magnesium supplements. Magnesium citrate causes diarrhoea and is used as a bowel prep before gut surgery under a different name . Magnesium glycinate doesn’t have the same effect and aids sleep, cramps etc. The other issue is dose . Many supplements don't have sufficient active component to be effective. Research and medical advice always recommend. No medication is without side effects and it needs to be balanced to ensure you are taking the best route.

That’s helpful, thank you.
I was debating which I could cope more easily- loose stools or excruciating cramps a!
Holland and Barrett here I come!

After months of a cough that kept me awake all night,every night and a horrible scratchy throat I eventually found the cause in my Ramipril. leafletI,ve been on it for decades ,my blood pressure rarely hit the 120/60 the GP said was normal .So Itook myself off it and after two weeks I called the GP and told him what I,d done,the reason I’d done it and the result.

He wasn,t happy that I had taken action without consulting him but as the side effects had lessened considerably he suggested I give it another month and call him
It’s now seven weeks and I can’t sleep through the night with no cough….and my blood pressure is within the range he wanted in fact sometimes it’s under 120/60 .
My GP appointment today however was over 200/100 ." White coat syndrome so I have to fill the monitor list fora week and go back Despite me giving him two weeks of readings that were all excellent .

Can sleep through the night

Mollygo

Some years ago I was given a pain relief medication with a listed side effect of if you stop taking this you could die!
I refused to take it until the doc explained that I would only be taking it in the short term and the dosage was small. When I didn’t need it any more I had a few nervous weeks.

At the age of 40 I was told I had to take medication for the rest of my life.

I stopped taking it altogether almost ten years ago and I am very much still here...

paddyann54

After months of a cough that kept me awake all night,every night and a horrible scratchy throat I eventually found the cause in my Ramipril. leafletI,ve been on it for decades ,my blood pressure rarely hit the 120/60 the GP said was normal .So Itook myself off it and after two weeks I called the GP and told him what I,d done,the reason I’d done it and the result.

He wasn,t happy that I had taken action without consulting him but as the side effects had lessened considerably he suggested I give it another month and call him
It’s now seven weeks and I can’t sleep through the night with no cough….and my blood pressure is within the range he wanted in fact sometimes it’s under 120/60 .
My GP appointment today however was over 200/100 ." White coat syndrome so I have to fill the monitor list fora week and go back Despite me giving him two weeks of readings that were all excellent .

Well, well, for years my husband was on Ramipril and he was up in the night coughing with an itchy throat. They kept saying was his sinuses, and he does have trouble with his sinuses, but due to it being discovered that my husband has atrial fibrillation he now takes 5mg bisprolol - probs wrong spelling - which are beta blockers and so brings down his BP, therefore he hasn’t taken Ramipril for many months and surprise, surprise the irritating cough has not occurred for many months.

My daughter was given medication for backache. Being a scientist the first thing she did was read the leaflet. The "more serious" side effects were vomiting blood and death. She queried this with a friend who is a pharmacist. He said "This is for rheumatoid arthritis, which you haven't got! Do not touch it"

A friend with psychotic depression was prescribed a drug whose side effects mentioned suicidal thoughts. You couldn’t make it up !

I take magnesium tablets but they don't give me the dreaded dire rear, perhaps they're not high strength.
In fact, because I'm taking iron tablets which can cause a different type of *dire rear^, they do help alleviate that!
Remember our mothers dosed us with Milk of Magnesia occasionally, if we had a problem with going to the loo?

As for anti-inflammatories, the GP bannd me from taking
them. They are not good for the kidneys, apparently.

Calcium tablets to help prevent bone loss? Can leave deposits in heart, kidneys, blood. Vitamin D ditto.

Medication prescribed to teenagers for acne? Read the contra-indications.

I take Bioglan magnesium, RosieandherMaw, it seems to alleviate cramps without causing the other problems.

paddyann I'd read about the dreaded 'Ramipril' cough on GN and told DH about it. He was certainly suffering as you were. The GP changed the prescription and lo and behold that irritating dry cough disappeared.

Greenfinch

A friend with psychotic depression was prescribed a drug whose side effects mentioned suicidal thoughts. You couldn’t make it up !

It’s not made up. It is an understood outcome of treating severe depression that some people may be sufficiently drawn out of their deeply depressive state to be able to contemplate suicide and possibly act on these thoughts. It’s shocking but it can happen.

Aveline the GP told me he thought it was allergies so told me to take antihistamines….then it was caused by the. central heating going on,could be dust mites in your bed Mrs paddy …change of temperature during the night ? Might be athsma?
I got so fed up with the wrong diagnosis that I just thought about it
What did I do before bed that might cause it overnight and the ramipril was the only thing that I took every night ..so I checked the leaflet and there it was top of the list of side effects .
I wouldn’t tell anyone else to just come off a prescribed drug but I felt I needed to see results before I went back .
I am delighted that I and my long suffering OH can now sleep all night .
So here I am T almost 72 with only my HRT I,v e ditched the things he prescribed for things I don’t have .

Thanks argymargy. I hope those people are well monitored and their families are told. My friend never had this explained to her so consequently she refused to take it having read about the possible consequences.

I’m not allowed NSAIDS, risk of stomach bleed, paracetamol only, MrJ uses a magnesium spray for his occasional night cramps.

paddyann54

After months of a cough that kept me awake all night,every night and a horrible scratchy throat I eventually found the cause in my Ramipril. leafletI,ve been on it for decades ,my blood pressure rarely hit the 120/60 the GP said was normal .So Itook myself off it and after two weeks I called the GP and told him what I,d done,the reason I’d done it and the result.

He wasn,t happy that I had taken action without consulting him but as the side effects had lessened considerably he suggested I give it another month and call him
It’s now seven weeks and I can’t sleep through the night with no cough….and my blood pressure is within the range he wanted in fact sometimes it’s under 120/60 .
My GP appointment today however was over 200/100 ." White coat syndrome so I have to fill the monitor list fora week and go back Despite me giving him two weeks of readings that were all excellent .

That is a huge difference for "white coat syndrome" and I'm someone whose blood pressure increases a lot for that - and not just the 5 points I think they allow for that.

Errrrm.....wondering if you "have to....go back" really or is that just what the doctor said? I'm very cynical by now about whose best interest a doctor is speaking in. The mere thought of the current "You're only allowed to speak about one problem during your appointment" diktat is so wrong - given that it's frequent to have more than ailment at a time and that they're often connected.

Me I'm off to see an acupuncturist soon (who has alternatives for the needles I won't let any medic use if I can help it) and it makes so much more sense to me to tell a health practitioner all the bits that are wrong - because even I can see some of them are connected. I'm just going to write out the list of "everything wrong" and put it in order of priority as to what is affecting my life most at the top.

A little alarming to find out that I'm the same one out of the 5 elements that govern temperament as Margaret Thatcher LOL. But I can handle that better than side effects from drugs.