Tuesday, November 6, 2018

A doctor’s guess

Hello everyone, first off I want to thank you all for your well wishes, words of encouragement, condolences, advice, and most of all your thoughts on my last post. Your input means the world to me and I want to thank each of you for that.

Life goes on, and so on we go!

An important lesson that we learned concerning medication in the last couple of months I want to share with you. Cindy's Dad Ray has been referred to a pain management doctor to help control his chronic pain, this doctor has run Ray through the mill on his medications. And in an attempt to lower the dosages (because the State says so…) adjustments have to be made.

Ray’s medications have been flip flopped so much that we have lost track, and Ray’s pain level has increased to the point where it was unbearable for him. Cindy suggested to the doctor that he should return Ray’s medications back to the original dosages, because at those dosages the pain was at least tolerable. The doctor had a better idea instead “We will just add this many milligrams of drug XYZ to his regimen, this will help with the pain” he said. This should have been our first clue of potential problems arising because Ray was already on drug XYZ!
The doctor's solution to this was prescribing another medication that he felt would help, he checked Ray’s medication list and called the new prescription into our pharmacy. Cindy picked up the prescription and began giving it to Ray as prescribed three times a day, and at the end of day one Ray said he was feeling a bit better, the morning of day two we found that he had slept all night long, Cindy woke Ray up after lunch and gave him the mid day dose.

After supper Ray fell asleep in his chair and at bedtime we attempted to wake him for his nightly pill regimen and to get him into bed, it took literally an hour just to get him out of his chair and into bed. (Ray is a big man so needless to say this was not easy!) We decided that either his condition was declining so rapidly that we were losing him, or the medication change was affecting him negatively.

We withheld the new medication and monitored him throughout the night. Ray began improving and upon investigating the new drug we found that Ray had been prescribed a very high dose of a muscle relaxer, needless to say we stopped giving this medication and the first words out of Ray’s mouth when we got into see the pain management doctor was “You know Doc, if I was able to get out of this wheelchair I'd be kicking your Ass right now!”

The moral to this story is that you should always have your Doctor explain what each new medication is, and to read the description of each one before beginning to take it. Funny thing now is the doctor has adjusted all of Ray’s medications back to where they were at the beginning.

The not so funny thing is that Ray is not so trustworthy of medication time now, we almost have Ray convinced that this was really not an evil plot that we came up with to kill him…

Cindy tells him “I promise we weren’t trying to kill you Dad”, as he begins to question each one of his pills at each and every one of the times she gives out his medications.

Can't say I blame him though, and I have found myself counting my own pills when I dump them into my hand from the pillbox. It doesn't hurt to keep an eye on her because we have been married for a long time now…

Have you had any medication mishaps like this?

27 comments:

  1. Glad to see you're back, Jimmy!

    I have not had such a medication mishap from a doctor. All my problems stem from pharmacies. Like Walmart, which gave me Genius's allergy medicine (when he was just elementary school age) with his name and address, but a totally different medicine than prescribed. I'm glad I'm a stickler about reading labels.

    I looked it up, and turns out it was a blood pressure medicine. Which the pharmacy tech admitted when I took it back. Thank goodness I didn't give it to Genius! All they said was, "Sorry. We got it mixed up with a lady's blood pressure meds." I hope they called that lady!

    I don't blame Ray for being suspicious now!

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    1. Thank you Val,

      Yes you would think that they would be a little more excited about a mix up like that, it's scary to think how many times this could happen everyday. I sure hope they contacted the lady too.

      Not only is Ray suspicious he will never use another muscle relaxer!

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  2. I am really glad to see you back in the blog world. I hope you stay around.

    If Ray doesn't have a doctor who specialized in geriatrics it might be time to look for one. They really understand medications in the elderly like none other. He is write to be suspicious. We all should be! An electronic pill dispenser with alarms and doors that only open when it's time to take a certain drug is a comfort for some elderly people.

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    1. Jean you are right, we all have to be suspicious when it comes to our medications, especially when a new one is prescribed. A doctor who specializes in geriatrics makes good sense, I think this would be a better fit than a pain management clinic...

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  3. Lovely to see you back. I am sorry that life is continuing to be 'challenging'.
    I have had less than stellar experiences with pain management specialists. Sometimes I think they overbook themselves to the extent that they are unable to give patients the individual attention they need.

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    1. EC you are absolutely correct that pain management overbooks their patients, we have spent hours sitting in the waiting room and then another lengthy wait once called back to only see the doctor for about ten minutes tops, not much quality care in this situation.

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  4. I'm glad to see you back.

    Speaking of medical screwups

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CWGi1k1BHV0

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    1. Thank you Adam, It's good to see you Buddy!

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  5. So nice to see you back :)
    Glad you got Ray's medications sorted too, it's a problem with doctors just pulling out the prescription pad without properly checking what a patient is already taking and how much.
    I'm not on a lot of medication, just one for high blood pressure and one for high cholesterol and my usual asthma/hayfever stuff, but I always ask is it okay to take this with that and so on, so the doctor knows what's going on.
    Out here the government is instigating a new "my health record" system (hello big brother, watching us) that links to all doctors and pharmacists, so they can pull up your record and make sure you're not taking too much or anything you shouldn't be on. It's actually a way of tracking those who go from doctor to doctor getting prescriptions for strong pain pills that can be broken down and made into "street drugs" for sale.

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    1. I agree with you, the doctors have so many patients that they seem to rush through every appointment causing them to make these types of mistakes, properly checking the medication lists would go a long way in preventing these types of mistakes.

      We are getting like that here also River, it is amazing how much of our medical information is being shared...

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  6. Sometimes some pills don't play well with other pills. I'm glad this got sorted out and it's good to see a post from you. I've missed you both.

    Have a fabulous day. 😎

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    1. Very true Sandee, sometimes pills don't play well with others, now we know which one he will never take again.

      Good to see you my Friend.

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  7. I'm so glad you're back, Jimmy. I was wondering about you just a few days ago and hoping you were okay.

    Medications are so often a problem with the elderly. It's ironic that your father in law is right back where he started, and really unfortunate that he had the whopping issues in between. If you do have a geriatric doctor available, I'd agree with the others who suggest some help from that direction.

    Take care. Again, glad you're back.

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    1. Jenny, I agree finding another doctor other than the pain management clinic would greatly benefit him, he does have a primary doctor that we need to talk with again because he is the one who referred Ray to pain management, supposedly they have to prescribe his meds..., we definitely need to make a change to someone who specializes in geriatric patients.

      Thank you my friend, it is good to see you.

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  8. Hellooo, Jimmy. How nice to see you back in the fold again. You have been greatly missed.

    Taking multiple pills must be a continual worry. It's a good job you and Cindy are there to check on Ray's daily intake. I heard that medication in UK is being scrutinised. heaven help those who need it. I used to have the signing off phrase 'keep taking the tablets' - perhaps it's as well it was dropped.

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    1. Hello Valerie, Yes medications are a really big issue, I have began placing mine in pillboxes for the week to help keep me on track with mine, we do this with Ray's as well. I don't know your 'keep taking the tablets' sign off phrase just may be a good reminder for the rest of us to make sure we have taken our medications for the day, it could be a good thing...

      Good to see you my dear friend.

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  9. Welcome back--you have been missed!!

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  10. Jimmy!!!! I have missed you! Don't leave like that again!! Blogging is good fro you! Now about the medications. I'd love have what Ray was having that day. haha. I can't say I have ever mixed meds because I currently only take Tylenol for pain and wine for a muscle relaxer.
    Lisa

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    1. Hey Lisa!! Your idea of medicating would be more what I would prefer, I would rather go that direction than to be tied up with all of these pills.

      Good to see you Lady!

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  11. I very seldom take a medication, not even a Tylenol, most medications scare me, but even scarier than that, there were times I thought my mother was going to poison me, especially when she went on a rampage and started pacing back and forth. Trust me, that was scary!

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    1. That does sound scary Lon! Taking medications only when you need them is definitely the way to go.

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  12. Sad to say I have them all the time. My daughter helped a lot by having me write my daily prescriptions on my bathroom mirror and write them down with dry erase pens so I will know I have taken them. Only problem is remembering to write them down. Glad to have you back Jimmy.

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    1. Thank you Annie, writing your meds down is a great idea. Cindy fills my pillboxes and I know if I have taken them if the pills are missing for that day...that is if I remember what day it is.

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  13. You already know that I'm your biggest fan, so I'm thrilled to see you back! That being said, it's the pits that you all had to go through the nightmare of fear and worry while getting the meds right. Praise God that you are all diligent enough to pay attention, and to get the matter resolved so promptly. Absolutely, the doctor has a responsibility to explain the meds and any potential issues. Thank goodness, all is going a little better. Hugs...RO

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    1. I am honored to have such a good friend as you RO! As far as doctors and medications go they say you have to be your own advocate when it comes to healthcare, and as we get older we sure have to step in and help one another. Thank you so much my good friend.

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  14. Jimmy, glad to see you posting again. Your father-in-law is lucky to have you look out for him. Pain management clinics have been getting a bad name lately; I second the idea of a geriatrics doctor.

    I don't take any medications, so I have no horror stories. A few years ago I had to have a tooth implant and the dentist gave me three prescriptions. The one for an antibiotic made sense, but what about the steroids and the prescription-strength ibuprofen? The dentist's assistant said the steroids were to "help me heal faster" afterwards and the ibuprofen was twice the strength to "help me with the pain." I told them I wasn't going to fill the one for the steroids because I heal pretty good on my own and for the pain I would just take twice as many over-the-counter ibuprofens. They couldn't argue with my logic - ha!

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Thanks for stopping by, jump in and tell me what you think, or just say Hi, I really appreciate your comments.