Sicker from Med or Illness

You just had that coronary heart bypass, and you have been prescribed several new medication pertaining to that and other conditions that popped up during your hospitalization for the surgery. You go to see specialists for these new diagnoses, and you get more medication. So you have over ten different medications to take now. You thought you would be getting along much better by now, but something is just not right. Are your conditions getting worse?

You may think that you are getting worse from the illness, but could it be the medicine? You decide to get out the Physician's Desk Reference (PDR) and the Internet to research the medication you are taking. Upon discharge from the hospital you received information sheets about each medicine, but the information seems so scanty. Sure enough, you are right.

The PDR and Internet gives details about side effects and drug interactions you had no idea could occur. You wonder why the doctor didn't tell you one of the drugs could cause blindness, fatal lung disease, hepatitis, hyper- and hypothyroidism, loss of appetite, anorexia, constipation, worsening of the condition for which it has been given, etc., etc. As you read further you find this drug should not be used with two other medications you have been prescribed.

You no longer have to wonder why your recovery has been slower than expected, and why you feel so bad. You have been overmedicated! Here you were thinking you were getting sicker from your diagnoses and surgery.

Take the time to read about medicines you are prescribed. You may find that you are not as sick as you thought you were. Overmedication can easily mimic as well as bring on symptoms of many disease conditions, and make you feel worse than that for which you are being treated.

by J.L. Richardson, MD, family practice doctor, patient advocate, and author of Patient Handbook to Medical Care: Your Personal Health Guide, a Writers Digest International Self- Published Book Award winner.

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