We have to sometimes be careful of what our doctors prescribe

Hi Everyone,

Sometimes we have to be careful of what our doctors prescribe for us. Yes, they generally do us a lot of good but we do have to listen to our bodies.

Four weeks ago I began taking a mega dose of vitamin D prescribed by my rheumatologist because my vitamin D level was low. A week into taking the times two weekly 50,000 units of vitamin D my tailbone area started hurting and it gradually became worse--so bad it even hurt to lay on my back and the special gel seating pad I purchased wasn't doing much good.

I went to a new GP, he's very thorough thankfully. After he looked at the mri results for that area and saying he saw nothing there, I told him about my suspicion. He told me to go off of vitamin D for a few weeks. After a couple days of not taking it the tailbone pain began to subside. I'm five days into it now and the pain is gone!

Please be careful my friends. 

I'm scared to start taking lyrica in January. It has so many scary side effects.

I know how u are feeling! I took two SSRI's together per docs orders and it caused scary side effects like profuse sweating from my head only and major eye issues :( it is such a gamble. Joy I was on Lyrica (75mg) up to 12 a day!! the Lyrica seemed to have less side effects but I did have to take more of it to help me. The tremors and musle twitches are annoying (as i type my fingrr keep tapping the screen involuntarily )and I lose my balance unexpectedly ;but the burning was seriously under control. I am now on Gaba but I also take with Hydocodone and Tramadol. Really hope you have success with Lyrica.

Gia

What a great reminder, almost medfree! I think sometimes that our doctors are so busy that they can not always think things through completely, when they likely write out prescriptions all day. I'm sure the vast majority are trying their best, but hey--they're only human.  There are so many side effects to prescriptions--and even some natural remedies can have negative effects. We really do have to watch out for ourselves.
Great post!!

Before I had Fibro, I had normal side effects from meds. (which means mostly none for a lot of them)

After Fibro, side effects from meds seem multiplied by 10, at least.

For instance, I always took dramamine on plane trips, long car rides, boats, and at amusement parks. When I first got Fibro (but hadn't been diagnosed yet), and took a dramamine, I remember feeling like complete crap. Every step felt like 10 steps... as if I was drunk. Dramamine had always made me drowsy, but it didn't make me feel moody, irritable, "unwell" dizzy, and God-awful like it did after Fibro.

Worst experience of my life was taking a heavy duty antibiotic "free sample" a doc tossed my way. I asked for an alternative. She wouldn't give me one. I took it hesitantly. And then the paranoia, prolongued sleep deprivation, and hellish-hallucination-like nightmares of the most gruesome scenes my brain could create started.

When doc's scribble down prescriptions, I generally toss them away.

Thanks, everyone, for your replies and sharing your experiences.

Good point about our bodies becoming more sensitive to meds with having fibro. I think it's because our bodies become hyper-sensitive with fibro. My body--even to certain foods.

Luvz, you mentioned how busy our doctors can be. I agree, we have to be careful of that too. I recently had 3 mri's ordered by the rheumatologist who prescribed the vitamin D. I had them done and was looking forward to hearing from this dr's nurse about the results and if I should see a neurologist or not about my overall numbness. That was the biggest reason for the tests.

The nurse called the following week and told me my cervical spine looked like a normal woman of my age. I couldn't believe it. This doctor has commented many times in the past that my neck is in very bad shape. It's anterior rather than posterior from a car accident and wear and tear and age. I also have the degenerative disks that go along with that. I asked the nurse about the other mri's and she said she had no other information. My lumbar spine is also in very bad shape. I learned more details about the mri results from the new GP I'm seeing.

This doctor seems too busy for me at this time. I'm hoping this new GP will be good enough for the time being. I'm to see him again in 3 weeks.

Maybe this rheumatologist I've had for 8 years doesn't really want to take the time to work with me anymore because I see her only once a year (she sees her other fibro patients x2 a year) and I can't take any of the many meds she prescribes.

Thanks again everyone.

My neice took Levaquin (sp) for an infection and developed extreme muscle pain and was bedridden for five weeks.  Her mother had to come over from Serbia to take care of her children!  I was given that for a cough but wouldn't take it.

 

Sherrine

Ewwwwww. Leviquin and anything in that family of drugs!  For me, my usually tolerable muscle fasciculations went off the charts so much so that I landed in ER where they gave me Morphine which made them EVEN WORSE!  I too had reactions to 50,000 units of D twice a week but mine was gastro based. It felt as though I was going to vomit 24/7 and the stomach cramping was horrible.  I went down to 3,000 per day and I can tolerate that without any issues. I am finally in the normal range on D testing, but it is in the low normal….as in the last number that can be considered normal……….but then again, I have never been normal on anything!

 

I saw my neuro today, his is also a pain specialist, and he had an odd comment for me. I have always refused prescription pain medication until I tried Cymbalta and had my “acid trip” from Hell on it.  We discussed that a bit and then he said, “I want you to read an article that was in the Wall Street Journal recently about pain medication.  I look back now and I think you were wise for all those years to refuse medication and I am sorry about the Cymbalta incident.”  I realize that for many on here, medication helps them and I am so happy it does, but for me, it only compounds my issues. It’s an interesting read.

 

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324478304578173342657044604.html

Weird that Levaquin affects so many people so extremely! I doubt if I would ever agree to take it, either.

I had an ENT doctor one time just hand me a prescription for some Cluster headache med...I had just mentioned in passing that I was getting bad headaches. 

I was pretty sure at the time that they were migraines, which they turned out to be, and KNEW they weren't Cluster headaches, because I had a friend who got them - and they were nothing like mine.  I just threw the script away when I got home.  It is pretty alarming how they just hand out pills like candy sometimes! 

Debbie

Here is a video that speaks about it on the Wall Street Journal site, but it's not the full article.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324478304578173342657044604.html#articleTabs%3Dvideo