In spite of this we recently had another bad experience mixing medication. It was an inhaler that tripped us up this time. I don't know why I didn't check it. Perhaps I thought an inhaler was different, that it would be okay with pills. Who knows what I thought but this one got through my check system.
About a week and a half after Bob began using this inhaler he complained he was urinating a lot. I didn't give it a lot of thought. A few days later I was giving it a lot of thought.
Early one morning I heard him calling and he had fallen in the bathroom hitting his head. The next morning he fell again hitting the other side of his head. We were off the the ER to be sure he wasn't bleeding into his brain since he takes blood thinners.
When they weighed him I was shocked to see he had lost about 17 pounds in just a very few days. The scan revealed no bleeding but I received no answer for the sudden weight loss.
While we were at the ER our nurse daughter put on her investigative cap and went searching. She did the logical thing, started with his most recent prescription. Bingo, she had to look no further. She texted me what she'd found.
The short of it is this inhaler did not play well with any of the medications he was taking. It caused the diuretic to go into overdrive causing him to urinate off the 17 pounds weight loss, his electrolytes went crazy, even caused his heart to act up as was recorded when they checked his pace maker. He was a mess.
Daughter flew here from Texas and stayed two weeks with us. By then he had managed to scramble back into the land of the living, and has continued to improve, but I can assure you it was not a good experience.
I took great pleasure in dropping that inhaler into the trash bin.
Yikes! I guess you really do have to be your own advocate in everything, including medicine, or is this case you have to be Bob's. Once again i say he is very lucky to have you.
ReplyDeleteYou can easily check for drug interactions on-line. You can make a list of all the meds and it will tell you which one might interact with the others and at what percentage---like a mild or major interaction.
ReplyDeleteCould you share the website you use? I need to check into our medications....
DeleteGosh, what a terrible experience. I'm glad Bob came back from it. It makes me mad that mistakes like this happen. Patients shouldn't have to be in a position to double check everything doctors do BUT we do!
ReplyDeleteI can never understand why the Dr. or nurse doesn't tell you these things. I realize they can be researched on line, but it looks like that would be part of their job, especially the Dr.
ReplyDeleteYour diligence pays off......and Susan's detective work! You know, taking care of Bob is a full time job! Good thing you're retired!
ReplyDeleteAnd Yet!
ReplyDeleteThe doctor's office with all those forms you've filled out, and therefore all that information in their electronic records should have realized this!,
Enough to make a person crazy.
It seems like dealing with Bob's medical needs has become a full time job for three people now. Bob is fortunate to have both you and Susan on his team. You might think that with all the information collected and the advances in technology that allow access to all kinds of information the doctors could do a check on any medication interactions. It must be the forms are just for insurance CYA purposes, nothing to do with informing treatment. I am glad his real team of advocates were on the job and another crisis averted.
ReplyDeleteThat is just positively scary. My cousin was a pharmacist and he often said he was up on interactions where the doctors seldom were. It is a complex world we live in and often with multiple doctors we can end up in trouble. I only take one everyday med but when I get a new one for a passing ailment, I ask my pharmacist if the new one plays well with Sotalol. He has caught a few things for me. Still I guess it it up to us to do all the leg work. Sure glad Bob is OK now. Mercy.
ReplyDeleteDarn. Lesson well learnned. I'll be checking my pills closer if I get a new Rx.
ReplyDeleteWow !!! absolutely fantastic blog. I am very glad to have such useful information.
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I have gotten to the point where I double check with the nurse at the cardiologist and the pharmacist where I get my medications. I also read about side effects of medications on that giant, multi fold, piece of paper with the teeny-tiny
ReplyDeleteprint that comes with most prescriptions. Luckily. my vision is excellent for close up small print, but I can't see distant objects well.