You have to laugh or else you'd cry!

[JollyGreen]

As many on here know, I suffer an ongoing illness. It is a constant fight between medication and symptoms. Last week I was advised by my consultant to change my current drugs. He had written to my doctor and a new script would be supplied. My appointments were a day apart. I then went to see my GP and he advised me on the new drugs. He said I should wait a few days and then I should switch to the new ones. In the small hours of Friday I awoke in a real sweat. I decided to visit the toilet but I realised I could not see my feet. In fact I could not see anything because everything was spinning around. I could not even sit up in bed! My wife tried to help me but I simply ended up in a heap on the floor. It was so bad I couldn't crawl because I couldn't grab the moving floor!

We called the doctor and spoke to an adviser. This bit is funny looking back. She told me there was a correct method for exiting my bed in these situations. "swing your legs to one side and when in the seated position place your hands either side..." I stopped her at this point as clearly she hadn't listened to what I had told her. "NO!!!! I cannot even open my eyes, let alone sit up. I must lay on my back and keep my eyes closed. If I don't the whole world spins around and I will be sick!"

There was a pause and then she replied "Oh okay. Well in that case I must advise you not to drive or operate dangerous machinery!" I couldn't even get off my back so how on earth was I going to get down the stairs, out of my house and into my car????

You couldn't make it up!

It seems the new drugs had a dangerous interaction with the old ones hence my problems. They are just starting to clear up and I can now get out of bed!

[PeterLe]

hi JG
I can relate to two points in your post...
Firstly the spinning; I've had labrinthiitis for three weeks, the first week the room was spinning like I'd had 20 pints! Horrible..
..and the second point about Swinging your legs..Many yeras ago, Id only been back from the operating theatre about half a hour after the snip..when the nurse said " Right we need you to sit up and swing your legs over the side of the bed! I moved my first leg about six inches and passed out!
Regards
Peter

[hgodden]

That's terrible. Most people aren't remotely aware of the sheer scale of problems that prescription drugs can cause, I've witnessed problems first hand with several family members.

Consider this...

"Every year, more than 2 million Americans suffer from serious adverse drug reactions. According to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), these reactions cause about 100,000 deaths per year, making prescription drugs the fourth-leading cause of death in the country.

Compare this to the death toll from illegal drugs -- which is about 10,000 per year -- and you begin to see the magnitude of the problem.

However, if you dig a little deeper you find that these reported reactions only skim the surface of what’s really going on. You see, drug side effects are not always recognized as such. Doctors often attribute them to other causes, people downplay them or do not report them altogether. And when you add in other medical errors, unnecessary procedures, and surgery-related mishaps, well the modern health care system actually becomes the LEADING cause of death in the United States. Consider, for instance, that:
The recorded error rate of ICU’s is like the post office losing more than 16,000 pieces of mail every hour of every day, or banks deducting 32,000 checks from the wrong bank account every hour, 24/7.
The recorded medical errors and deaths equate to six jumbo jets falling out of the sky each day, 365 days a year.
Since 2001, a recorded 490,000 people have died from properly prescribed drugs in the United States, while 2,996 people died on U.S. soil from terrorism, all in the 9/11 attacks; prescription drugs are therefore 16,400 percent more dangerous than terrorism. If deaths from over-the-counter drugs are also included, then drug consumption leaps to being 32,000 percent more dangerous than terrorism. And conventional medicine viewed as a whole is 104,700 percent deadlier than terrorism."

From http://articles.mercola.com/sites/artic ... drugs.aspx

[JollyGreen]

Thanks to H and P for the replies.

P - I have had similar feeling after a general anaesthetic but this was way worse. The room was moving like circles within circles It was like a wurlitzer at the fair that was also turning vertically! My wife told me left as I bellied along the floor and I didn't know if that meant up down left or right!

H - I can see how easy it is for this to happen. The problem was the incorrect advice on how long to abstain from the old drugs before starting the new ones. They said a few days which I took to mean three but I left it almost 6 days and I still had a terrible reaction!

Oh well, I am still above ground!

Thanks again

JG

[LinusP]

My girlfriend studies pharmacology and is always going on about things like this. Basically doctors don't know anything about drugs, talk to a pharmacist before taking anything new. I zone out a lot but I think that's what she said...

[Iron]

My girlfriend studies pharmacology and is always going on about things like this. Basically doctors don't know anything about drugs.

That's quite scary, when you think about it...

JG - Hope your situation improves.

Jeff