I have a hell of a time taking pharmaceutical medicines (and am a cancer survivor), which is why I've done so much research into holistic medicines and changed my life drastically at the age of 52 when I left the legal career field and became a licensed esthetician and certified aromatherapist and herbalist. If a prescription drug has side effects - and what drug doesn't? - I'm pretty much guaranteed to have them.
Most side effects are just bothersome, with the benefit of the drug outweighing the side effect(s). But some side effects are quite stunning and fall into the "who knew this could happen?" category. For instance I have high blood pressure (hereditary) and diet and exercise have not improved this, so my doctor has given me several different medications to try. Here are the results (I can't remember the medications' names, except for the final one):
1) First medicine: Dry cough. Doctor noticed it when I went for a 6 month check up and immediately took me off that medication (the cough was severe)
2) Second medicine: Upper respiratory illness, just like the flu but without the fever. Lasted one day, usually once a week. I finally looked up the side effects, and sure enough: upper respiratory illness was a side effect. Doc took me off of that one and put me on another.
3) Third medicine: Urinary tract infection. I had not had a UTI since before my hysterectomy in 1996. I got three within 3 months of each other, looked up the side effects, and bam! UTI was a side effect. Doctor gave up looking for an alternative, but increased slightly the diuretic I had been taking for several months (I suffer from edema, sometimes grossly so).
4) The diuretic: Chlorthalidone. I had been taking this for about a year, and when I was having issues with all the other medications, this one seemed perfect - no side effects, no dehydration, no nuthin'. Except for the last several months I've been having bouts of pancreatitis. The pain begins in your upper abdomen (usually upper right quadrant) and radiates to your entire upper/middle back. It's crippling, and nothing makes it abate except heating pads or hot baths help. I had a severe bout yesterday that I felt was coming on Sunday evening, but by mid-morning, I was bedridden (again!). Finally out of desperation because I needed to know if it was drug-related or should I go to the doctor today and possibly be hospitalized, I googled "chlorthalidone pancreatitis" and found this lovely bit of news from the NIH (see below). Damn! I also found other articles that stated that of all the incidences of diuretic-related pancreatitis, the symptoms began after taking the drug(s) for at least 6 months. I didn't take the diuretic yesterday or this morning (and won't be taking it again, ever), and I feel much better already, thank goodness.
My whole point in writing this is as a warning: if you're on prescription meds and little (or large!) illnesses keep popping up on you, it may just be your meds' fault. I mean, who knew that you could get a UTI or an upper respiratory infection or dry cough or even potentially fatal pancreatitis from meds? I didn't! As for my high blood pressure, I'm still working on it from a holistic treatment viewpoint, because obviously I can't take the prescription stuff.
If you're suffering a wonky illness and are taking meds, google the drug's name followed by the illness, like I did with "chlorthalidone pancreatitis." You just may be a bit surprised at what pops up.
