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Medications

As an addendum to the article I wrote, "Are your doctors in the loop?", I want to share another experience and suggest a way to avoid indiscriminate prescribing of meds. I have 3 specialists. Two Mayo docs prescribed 3 new drugs at once. I asked each about my history with drug interactions /side effects. "Nah, they said, "don't worry, this one is just a platelet inhibitor, this one a NEW injectable for cholesterol," etc, My mistake: not opening my drug app, asking the drs to look at the side effects, as well as my symptoms from RA.
Sure enough! I spent an entire night and day with my head in a bucket, sitting on a toilet. My already debilitating heart palps so bad I thought I was dying and...then came the joint pain and dizziness. All of these side effects were listed! I'm a nurse and this skipped past me! Take the time, pull out your phone, use Mayo or WebMD, look up your prospective new drug's side effects, show dr before he leaves the room! I won't take any of these 3 new drugs now. I'm not suggesting you refuse to but nip it before you fill the scripts! Maybe there are alternative drugs or in my case, I DIDN'T NEED THEM TO WORSE MY SYMPTOMS!!

PS. try NOT to start multiple new drugs at once. Explain to your specialists that you can't do that. In my case, I'd only started one, so I knew exactly which one was the problem.

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