POISONED FROM PRESCRIPTION DRUGS

Dorothy A. Seese
October 20, 2005
NewsWithViews.com

The pills in your cabinet could, under certain circumstances, be making you worse without your knowledge. They might even be causing side effects of which you are unaware or that are easily misdiagnosed until they get to the point to which I recently came, and survived a potentially fatal condition by a trip to the hospital via ambulance and the E/R. What was the problem? I had no idea. What was the cause? I had even less idea other than it felt like some kind of poisoning. I cannot say that the two previous episodes, or this last episode, bore much resemblance to anything but a stomach "bug" of some kind. Or ... as it was ... toxic poisoning. When I was diagnosed at Boswell Memorial Hospital here in Sun City (which, in my experience, is a very good hospital), it turned out I had acute renal failure and urinary tract infection -- a diagnosis that totally puzzled me as I've never had kidney problems. Why did this happen?

Prescription medications. I was indeed being poisoned. One is the remaining Cox-2 inhibitor on the market and the other is a popular severe pain reliever used in place of narcotics, since spinal problems caused by a fall in 1993 have given me severe, chronic and increasing pain over the years.

I spent several hours in the E/R on Friday, October 14, 2005 before the various tests were completed, analyzed and a physician admitted me. I think it must have been a general ward of some kind, but as usual the people at Boswell were extremely nice to me (I just couldn't understand why I couldn't get some food until after I saw the treating physician). I am sure the nurses reported that I had yelled out "My name isn't Terry Schiavo, you aren't supposed to be starving me to death and I either want a doctor or a lawyer." A screaming lil ole lady can get attention that way.

From now and henceforth, to the end of days, I am not to take Tramadol, any NSAIDS, or a Cox-2 inhibitor.

Amazingly, once they flushed my system intravenously and gave me an antibiotic through I.V., I made a fairly fast recovery, at least enough to come home on Sunday, October 16th in the early afternoon, with my discharge notes, temporary prescriptions and follow up orders. I was fairly weak, but felt far better than when I left by ambulance, I wanted to nap since people cannot go to sleep in a hospital for more than two hours before someone wakes them up to take samples, give pills, change meters, or anything else to disturb sleep.

I'm not writing this so I can whine about my problems. I am angry with the pharmaceutical houses that produce these medications. Bextra and Vioxx have already been pulled from the market. Fourteen months ago I was in the Cardiac Care unit at Boswell ... myocardial infarction ... after two years on Bextra. (And no, I have not sued anyone.)

I also feel an obligation to relate my experiences with these drugs because so many new ones are being advertised on television (albeit with a caveat of possible side effects that would scare a robot). We have a lot more "illnesses" or a higher intolerance for our slightest ache or pain than did our forefathers, who seemed to be stronger in many ways, both physically and morally. My mother's people were Arizona pioneers from Houston, Texas, for grandpa's health. Pioneers were either tough or died. Granny lived to 90, gramps died at 85, so I figure they were pretty tough.

The symptoms I had were vague enough to be almost anything. General sense of tiredness, which could be the result of constant pain in spite of the medications I was taking. A fractured spine at the small of the back, and scoliosis from the lower back almost to the neck, pull the heavy back muscles all kinds of directions that nature never intended. Spinal stenosis hurts. Period. That happens to be a narrowing of the spinal canal and impingement of nerve roots. It is extremely painful.

What would occur, and did occur in November of 2003, again in September 2005 and this last episode a few days ago (October of 2005) is a sudden urge to throw up, without any prior nausea. Having purged any stomach contents, massive sweating would follow, accompanied by a feeling of extreme weakness and a need to lie down or fall down. Once lying down, it seemed as if there was no desire or strength to get up. At times there would be a feeling of a fever, but I haven't owned a thermometer for years and at the point of maximum weakness with the episode in progress, doubtless would not have cared whether I had a fever.

I did call a neighbor lady who came over as I said "I'm sure this is not contagious." It wasn't. She was the one who dialed 9-1-1 and the medics arrived in a fire truck with ambulance close behind. She followed and met me at the E/R, stayed with me until I was admitted. By that time the E/R folks had put me on morphine for my chronic pain and (probably the greater reason) to keep me quiet. That is not easy at times.

The symptoms I described above are all that I had in these three episodes. What I do see, now that I've had my system flushed of the toxins, is that the lack of interest in writing, the willingness to let others do more for me, the feeling that I was aging a year a day, and that my strength was failing, were all symptoms, very vague ones, of the toxicity. I am not sure even if I had I visited my doctor while not in a toxic episode, he would have known what was wrong, because of my bland medical history. The first time I was in a hospital, I was being born. The next time (other than an in-out E/R visit) was for myocardial infarction, at age 69. I'm now 70, it's been 14 months and I have been in for the second time since birth to have a life-saving procedure.

Thanks to the pharmaceutical houses wanting to sell new drugs and some damned jackasses called "legislators" have made prescribing narcotic pain pills a state and federal offense regardless of a person's condition, it's difficult to manage my pain now. Why? Because a few high-profile people like a talk show host (more of a monologue host, you know who I mean), a once-beautiful actress who now campaigns for AIDS research, and a few others of note have gone around fetching pain killers that they may or may not have really needed. The narcotic, properly made, is cheap, has been around for centuries, and comes from poppies or leaves. That is no way for the likes of Pfizer, Merck, Glaxo and others to rake in billions a year off our sleepless nights, anxiety over job losses and financial stress, world upheavals, and busted bones if we use old narcotics instead of the new drugs.

The fact is, there are conditions that require pain relief and I don't see that prescribed narcotics are any worse than these new medications with vague but deadly side effects (opium and other narcotics were available at the apothecary without prescription ninety to a hundred years ago). If a person is going to become an addict, they can do it legally at the local booze dealer. The once-adored woman's "tonic" by Lydia Pinkham, popular around the turn of the century when it was a disgrace for a woman to drink, had a very high alcohol content.

People are often far more concerned with their senseless, mostly imaginary "image" to others than they are about genuinely taking care of their health. The doctors are concerned with not being sued by the lawyers who could care less about the patient, just the money dude, just the money. Lawyers even advertise on television and radio to get people who have used certain drugs to call them and join a class action. That is hardly a way to get to the root of the problem.

People are looking for relief from their distress or physical pain. If they're looking for a windfall, then they and their lawyers should both be deported to Siberia in January.

I've received dozens and dozens of emails from all manner of folks who have a cure-all for what ails me. When you figure out how to do a spinal transplant at a reputable hospital, please contact me, but not before. I am on the mailing list for every book being published on "miracle" cures by eating everything from asparagus and walnuts to tofu pizza. I buy my organic foods at organic grocers, but that doesn't cure spinal stenosis or massive scoliosis from a fractured back. I've considered acupuncture, but we have only a few recommended acupuncturists in my area, one has even been recommended by a doctor. Problem? No one on Social Security can afford the procedure. My HMO doesn't pay a dime. And I am not sure it would work.

One thing I have learned from this is, if I don't feel normal, it probably isn't overnight aging, lupus returning, or something that will go away tomorrow or the next day.

I don't fear narcotics like Percocet at my age. What can happen? I turn into a junkie at 80 and am found wandering around the back alleys of Phoenix at night looking for a fix? I start hanging out in opium dens? SHEESH. No, my problem is legislators, frightened doctors and litigation-happy lawyers with no interest in the actual problem of the patient, just what they can get by way of a jury verdict ... money!

But my message to those on prescription medications is this:

DO NOT IGNORE any changes that aren't readily identifiable. Go get tests until you get an answer. If the doctor says you're just aging, ask why so suddenly? After all, we got here a day at a time without feeling it. If you really, really cannot afford a doctor visit, call around to pharmacies and ask about what you are taking and what your symptoms indicate. I know the cost of medical care is high, it might get lower if more of us went back to the 1960's routine of putting up with a few symptoms instead of wanting a "FIXIT" pill for every wart and ingrown toenail. For those with serious conditions and/or extreme pain, get to know your pharmacist so that you can really chat about your meds. I travel out of my way now, since my pharmacist was transferred to a newer store, just because I am able to talk with him. If nothing seems to fit, you better check in at an Urgent Care or some other facility and make sure you aren't developing something that could be fatal.

Then watch your Rx's carefully for any and all possible side effects. As to slugging down a hill of pills, it's better to tolerate a little more pain than to be put out of your misery permanently because the drug makers are raking in billions and can't get enough. True, they have solved many really intolerable conditions and made a lot of strides toward helping or curing our worst diseases. But they also have given us a lot of new conditions that didn't exist even fifty years ago. I've been around 70 years, granny was the original "health nut" of her time, I know. And she brought me through a lot of sino-bronchial infections using a plaster of olive oil, coal oil, turpentine and wool flannel wraps around my chest. That's child abuse now.

Thank God I lived in an age before America went crazy ... with doctor visits for everything, a pill to fix everything, and a desire to retain the strength of a 20-year old into middle age and senior life. We have gotten off balance in everything, especially running to doctors and then to lawyers.

Our major health problems, in order, are coming from 1) government gone goofy;
2) doctors getting rich from our every twitch;
3) lawyers getting rich off our desire to be young, strong, beautiful and totally pain-free forever; and
4) pharmaceutical houses telling us "yes, you can have it all."

And I own that ocean front property here in Arizona ... just lost the map to get there.