Red Cent Posted January 25, 2015 Share Posted January 25, 2015 An interesting discoveryA few years ago, my family doctor (GP) prescribed a light pain medicine for the arthritis and osteo-arthritis. Looking back it was not long after I started to show some symptoms that nobody related to anything. Imagine that. The symptoms manifested into a high much like too much caffeine and some light headedness. This was related to eating because it only occurred around lunch time. 'Course my "lunch" time is usually 4-5 o'clock because of my inability to get out of bed. Not ill, just lazy.As time went on, I had to really watch that our errands would not catch me in the middle of the mall and the "shakes" would be noticed meaning I needed food and drink. Quick.Well, the other night, I was piddling on the PC and happened to run across this aforementioned medication, more specifically a warning about the medication. The medicine is Tramadol. This is described as a light opiod and two of them and two Aleve gave me acceptabale comfort for about 4-5 hours. No, not 8 hours. 'Course, I am aware of the destruction Aleve can cause to the stomach so I generally only took two on Saturday and Sunday. Cowboy you know.Reading about the medication, it described my symptoms and summed it up with a word - hyperglycemic. Further reading disclosed that the medication causes serious cases of hypoglycemia and some were fatal. Needless to say I went cold turkey. Stuff ain't addictive. Too light of a med. And, you guessed it, no more symptoms.I am among a group of a few, compared to millions, who are affected by the drug.Thought you may be interested and I would ask anyone that does, or you know that does take drugs for daily pain, ask about the Tramadol. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Billy Bristol Posted January 25, 2015 Share Posted January 25, 2015 Any time I get new symptoms I always check both interactions and side effects of anything I either last started or was increased. Just recently I could not get a runny nose to stop for weeks. Looked up side effects of 2 new meds. One of them listed this as a rare side effect. Stopped taking it and no more runny nose. Told Doctor and he changed the med to something else. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trailboss (Santa) Dave Posted January 25, 2015 Share Posted January 25, 2015 I take meds for much the same reason as well being Diabetic. If I do not eat right and get the Insulin dose right I can be in big trouble. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nasty Newt # 7365 Posted January 25, 2015 Share Posted January 25, 2015 Good information. Thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yusta B. Posted January 25, 2015 Share Posted January 25, 2015 Was taking Lisinipril for high blood pressure. Every fall I got a dry cough. A year ago I was driving at about 65 & got to coughing so hard I passed out. Went into a ditch, up over a culvert, flew 75ft (later paced off) landed with a totaled F150. Doctor called it post-tussive syncope. You develop enough pressure in your chest to prevent blood from reaching your brain. I didn't fade out - it was like a light switch. I some how missed either crossing a lane & killing someone or hitting some 12 to 15" trees. Real thrill ride - don't want to do that one again ! Benicar fixed the problem. Who knew ?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tyrel Cody Posted January 25, 2015 Share Posted January 25, 2015 Was taking Lisinipril for high blood pressure. Every fall I got a dry cough. A year ago I was driving at about 65 & got to coughing so hard I passed out. Went into a ditch, up over a culvert, flew 75ft (later paced off) landed with a totaled F150. Doctor called it post-tussive syncope. You develop enough pressure in your chest to prevent blood from reaching your brain. I didn't fade out - it was like a light switch. I some how missed either crossing a lane & killing someone or hitting some 12 to 15" trees. Real thrill ride - don't want to do that one again ! Benicar fixed the problem. Who knew ?? Benicar doesn't work for me. All kinds of digestive problems and almost positive that caused my B-12 to bottom out 3 years ago. Some something on TV a while back about a class action suit against it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yusta B. Posted January 25, 2015 Share Posted January 25, 2015 Yep - it's a crap shoot to find the meds that work for each individual....... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hellbender Posted January 26, 2015 Share Posted January 26, 2015 An interesting discovery A few years ago, my family doctor (GP) prescribed a light pain medicine for the arthritis and osteo-arthritis. Looking back it was not long after I started to show some symptoms that nobody related to anything. Imagine that. The symptoms manifested into a high much like too much caffeine and some light headedness. This was related to eating because it only occurred around lunch time. 'Course my "lunch" time is usually 4-5 o'clock because of my inability to get out of bed. Not ill, just lazy. As time went on, I had to really watch that our errands would not catch me in the middle of the mall and the "shakes" would be noticed meaning I needed food and drink. Quick. Well, the other night, I was piddling on the PC and happened to run across this aforementioned medication, more specifically a warning about the medication. The medicine is Tramadol. This is described as a light opiod and two of them and two Aleve gave me acceptabale comfort for about 4-5 hours. No, not 8 hours. 'Course, I am aware of the destruction Aleve can cause to the stomach so I generally only took two on Saturday and Sunday. Cowboy you know. Reading about the medication, it described my symptoms and summed it up with a word - hyperglycemic. Further reading disclosed that the medication causes serious cases of hypoglycemia and some were fatal. Needless to say I went cold turkey. Stuff ain't addictive. Too light of a med. And, you guessed it, no more symptoms. I am among a group of a few, compared to millions, who are affected by the drug. Thought you may be interested and I would ask anyone that does, or you know that does take drugs for daily pain, ask about the Tramadol. Until now t I thought Tramadol was just a veterinary medicine. One night a couple years ago our old Catahoula hound just wouldn't get up off the floor so we took her to the vet. X-rays showed bad arthritis in both hips. They put her on Tramadol for pain, along with an anti-inflamatory drug, and she's been on both ever since. We reduced her Tramadol dosage from 4 pills a day to 3 after a couple of months because it zonked her out most of the time. She's still in pretty good shape. One thing about Tramadol though is that dogs find it tastes horrible. At first we just tried choking it down the way we've always given pills to dogs, including this one, but I've never seen so much head thrashing and slobbering and foaming as what went on. It's not just our dog--I found out online how much dogs hate the taste. For a long time we were hiding the pills in pieces of hot dogs but after a while she caught on and either managed to eat the hot dog and spit out the pill or just refused the hot dog completely. We now buy those pill pockets they sell for dogs at Petco and that's been working fine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chuck Would, SASS # 53289 Posted February 1, 2015 Share Posted February 1, 2015 My 83 year old Father had some dementia. Some days were better than others but he still drove every day. He didn't go fast and he didn't go far. He cooked and did chores around the house. He had a medical problem that had him in some pain. They gave him Tramadol. That drug magnified the dementia and all of the related symptoms. Once he got off of it he was back to "normal" after a few day's. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Warden Callaway Posted February 1, 2015 Share Posted February 1, 2015 I can't tolerate any medication. I'm taking Lisinopril to control high blood pressure. I too get a cough and sometimes about throw up from coughing so hard. Although my cholesterol test all come back good to within range, my doctor prescribed a statin. That stuff does awful things to me. I've told the doctor that I've been on a statin twice before and told him the results. By A1c (blood sugar) test are always a little elevated. He prescribes Metforman. I tried to take half the dose prescribed but still have miserable side effects. Last spring I came down with some episodic and took ibuprofen. The more I took the worse I felt. In talking to a shooting pardner who happens to be a pharmacies, he said a lot of people can't take ibuprofen. I am one of them. I stopped taking it and started to recover. Aspartame (artificial sweetner) is awful stuff. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boon Doggle Posted February 1, 2015 Share Posted February 1, 2015 ALL medications have side effects. Some are far worse than others, and some effect different people in different ways. Consider yourself lucky if you can find a Dr. that listens to you and is willing to work with you on finding the proper meds that you need. I'm blessed by having a wife that is a herbalist, and finds alternate medications for what the Dr's prescribe. Note that I am not saying that you should not follow your Dr's orders, just that sometimes there are other alternatives out there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J-BAR #18287 Posted February 1, 2015 Share Posted February 1, 2015 While your doctor should be considering side effects, it's clear from the above posts that some doctors don't. Your pharmacist is probably easier to get on the phone, or visit in person, and can also be a good resource for you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yusta B. Posted February 1, 2015 Share Posted February 1, 2015 I can't tolerate any medication. I'm taking Lisinopril to control high blood pressure. I too get a cough and sometimes about throw up from coughing so hard. Although my cholesterol test all come back good to within range, my doctor prescribed a statin. That stuff does awful things to me. I've told the doctor that I've been on a statin twice before and told him the results. By A1c (blood sugar) test are always a little elevated. He prescribes Metforman. I tried to take half the dose prescribed but still have miserable side effects. If you ever get to the point where you feel the least bit dizzy from this, force yourself to stop coughing & take at least one very deep breath. I sure wish I had known that. And talk with your Dr. about trying some different BP meds. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Waimea Posted February 2, 2015 Share Posted February 2, 2015 Wife has been hypoglycemic for most of her life. About 25 years ago she discovered chromium as a dietary supplement. It has made a world of difference in her life. Your mileage my vary. I am not a doctor, lawyer or anyone considered remotely smart. Waimea Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Warden Callaway Posted February 2, 2015 Share Posted February 2, 2015 My mother had some typically health issues but would be willing to adapt to any other health problems she became aware of. She went to a different doctor about once a week. Each prescribed medication. It got to where she was taking pills for everything. Fortunately she only used one pharmacy that caught some conflict. She got so over medicated she had to spend about three months in the hospital and rehab to get off some of it. Most of the time she didn't know us but tell of conversations with people that had been long dead. She passed away two years ago. Mary and I were cleaning out some stuff from the house and recovered a 5 gallon bucket of prescription drugs that she had kept in a cabinet. That didn't include non prescription medications. Just about a month ago I ran across yet another pill box. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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