Have you been prescribed medication that your body has reacted against?

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When I was living in France, because of what was described as dangerously high cholesterol levels I was prescribed 'statins', three different makes of statins later my GP realised that my body wouldn't tolerate them!
A couple of years later and shortly before a hip opp, I had the usual blood tests which of course showed my very high cholesterol levels, this resulted in them doing tests and much to their amazement I had no discernable furring up of my arteries.

On another score, last year I was prescribed various bronchial medications including pills and 3 different types of inhaler all of which I took religiously until last Friday when I was sent to see a consultant cardiologist because I was experiencing exceptionally painful chest pains which were indicative of Angina (plus ever more restrictive breathing). So the first thing I did before starting the new medications was to stop taking all the bronchial medications................... and..................... bugger me....................... every single one of my breathing difficulties disappeared as well as the chronic chest pains!!

Now for the first time in well over a year I actually feel very fit once again and plan to go out on one of my bikes for a shake down ride after such a very long time whilst I can hear all the quacks scratching their heads in disbelief!
 

fossyant

Ride It Like You Stole It!
Location
South Manchester
Yes, had quite a few issues. There is evidence that 'statins' aren't good for you (side effects especially).

Mine has been meds prescribed for pain. Some worked well on pain, but the side effects weren't great. Had amitriptyline for a shoulder injury (that was eventually operated on) and that made it very difficult to concentrate (not good given a mathematical job).

More recently tried 'dulexetine' for pain with regards my previously broken spine. More severe side effects were complete loss of apetite (just didn't eat - lost a load of weight), problems sleeping, electric brain 'shocks', amplified my tinitus really badly, problems in the 'gentlemans department' and an inability to go to the toilet - really struggled no matter what. GP said, 'oh is't also prescribed for people who go to the loo too much'.

It worked well on my back pain and my family notices I was walking much better, but the side effects were too severe - the appetite and loo problems weren't funny and not sustainable. Never again. Gabapentin and Pregablin are another that don't 'agree' with me.
 

mjr

Comfy armchair to one person & a plank to the next
Yep, statins, four kinds. The worst were the first ones, that I didn't have an immediate severe reaction to because it has robbed me of months of memories, scattered over years. I'm now taking other medications to do similar things while waiting for genetic test results to try to figure out if I just have high cholesterol or if it's likely to cause trouble.
 

byegad

Legendary Member
Location
NE England
I was prescribed an anti-depressant that made me lose the will to live, a total loss of interest in life, including a thankfully temporary loss of all sexual yearnings. I went back to the GP who gave me a different type, which worked as it was meant to.
 
OP
OP
buzzy-beans

buzzy-beans

Über Member
With regards to statins, I once was very fortunate to have a GB who thought the factors of high cholesterol were blown up out of all proportions by the World's medical brains. He based this theory on his experiences shortly after finishing med. school when he went to Africa with a group of post grads, they found a tribe who had next to no contact with the outside world and who ate an almost perfect diet.
They conducted extensive blood tests on them and discovered cholesterol levels (of the supposedly dangerous kind) well off the deep end of being suicidely high and yet they were all exceptionally fit and healthy and there were no signs of any furring up of arteries!
 

mjr

Comfy armchair to one person & a plank to the next
With regards to statins, I once was very fortunate to have a GB who thought the factors of high cholesterol were blown up out of all proportions by the World's medical brains. He based this theory on his experiences shortly after finishing med. school when he went to Africa with a group of post grads, they found a tribe who had next to no contact with the outside world and who ate an almost perfect diet.
They conducted extensive blood tests on them and discovered cholesterol levels (of the supposedly dangerous kind) well off the deep end of being suicidely high and yet they were all exceptionally fit and healthy and there were no signs of any furring up of arteries!
Which probably shouldn't be much comfort to WASPs who are more likely to follow the correlation between cholesterols and heart attacks found in studies of Americans and Europeans, rather than isolated African tribes.

However, it's complicated and personally, I doubt inhibitors like statins are an unalloyed good treatment.
 
Location
Salford
Yes, had quite a few issues. There is evidence that 'statins' aren't good for you (side effects especially).

Mine has been meds prescribed for pain. Some worked well on pain, but the side effects weren't great. Had amitriptyline for a shoulder injury (that was eventually operated on) and that made it very difficult to concentrate (not good given a mathematical job).

More recently tried 'dulexetine' for pain with regards my previously broken spine. More severe side effects were complete loss of apetite (just didn't eat - lost a load of weight), problems sleeping, electric brain 'shocks', amplified my tinitus really badly, problems in the 'gentlemans department' and an inability to go to the toilet - really struggled no matter what. GP said, 'oh is't also prescribed for people who go to the loo too much'.

It worked well on my back pain and my family notices I was walking much better, but the side effects were too severe - the appetite and loo problems weren't funny and not sustainable. Never again. Gabapentin and Pregablin are another that don't 'agree' with me.
I was prescribed amitriptyline for pain. Took one in the car outside the pharmacy. Got lost on the way home
 

numbnuts

Legendary Member
I was prescribed amitriptyline for pain. Took one in the car outside the pharmacy. Got lost on the way home
I was on a 100mg a day with them after I damaged my spine took me 28 years to get off them
 

steverob

Guru
Location
Buckinghamshire
Went through quite a scary experience when I was a much younger lad. Had a spell of really quite bad acne flare up well after puberty had long since finished and obviously wanted something done about it as it was cramping what little style I may or may not have had. All the usual over the counter remedies had failed and after going to the doctor, the first thing he tried also had no effect (can't remember that drug name).

He then prescribed minocycline (99% sure it was - if not it was certainly one of the tetracycline family) and within days I was noticing a real improvement. About this time, a stomach bug was going around the area and most of my family and my work colleagues seemed to get it, so when I started getting cramps and a complete loss of appetite, I didn't think much of it. Over the next few days it got a little better (as everyone else recovered completely) but I was still not feeling right. I just could not face food, even when I was hungry. I'd take a few bites of a sandwich and have to throw the rest away. There were certain meals where I was forcing myself to eat even though I didn't want to, cause I knew I needed to.

With hindsight it's obvious that it was a reaction to the drug, but as these symptoms didn't occur until I was on minocycline for a good week or so, and because the drug was having such a good effect on the acne (it had virtually cleared up completely by 2-3 weeks), it just didn't cross my mind that the two were connected. After another week or so, I went back to the doc about my stomach complaints and sure enough, he didn't link it either and we started trying to treat that separately - going through indigestion remedies and all sorts of other possibilities.

Now I was quite a skinny fellow in my youth - 6 foot tall with a typical weight of about 11 1/2 stone (sometimes higher, sometimes lower), so I didn't exactly need to lose any weight, but the fact that I wasn't eating much meant weight was falling off and it was starting to show. After about a month, I was actually looking quite gaunt (especially in the face) and one day I weighed myself and it came up that I had gone into single figures for stones - something I hadn't been since I was about 11. At that point I actually broke down in tears because I honestly thought that I might be dying - seems a bit melodramatic now, but I really was fearful of what was happening to me.

By this point I'd had a number of blood tests (all came back negative / inconclusive) and the doc had arranged for a hospital appointment for me - I was being recommended for a drug trial for a liver issue that seemed to match most of my symptoms and they wanted to take me in to see if I was a suitable candidate. With all this going on, I completely forgot to get my prescription renewed for the minocycline and ran out. I'm glad I have a lazy streak running through me and that it took me another three days to request the repeat prescription and then I sat on that another two days before going to the pharmacist, because in those five days without the drug, I suddenly (shock horror!) started feeling better.

My appetite came back - and my god how I ate when it did - and I started feeling normal for the first time in over two months. Of course, the acne came back as well, although not quite as badly as before. Then I had the fun job of telling the doctor about my accidental findings and getting all the hospital appointments cancelled (they seemed rather disappointed not to get the chance to experiment on me!).

Eventually I was prescribed a different drug for my acne - a topical solution this time, but once again I can't remember the drug name - and this ended up being the answer to my problems in that it cleared up my skin and with no side effects! After about six months I came off it for a test period and the acne didn't return, so I didn't need it any more. Of course, from that point onwards I started putting on all the weight I'd lost and then a lot more besides - I was never skinny again, even to this day (now lucky if I come in under 15 1/2 stone)! Maybe I should have kept a supply of minocycline around after all...
 
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classic33

Leg End Member
Lignocaine, not really prescribed it but had it used on me. Once at a dentists(bit her finger), twice at A&E. In all three cases it triggered a heart attack and a fit/siezure/episode/call it what you want.

42 years come the 6th March, one lot has been the cause of bone thinning and damaging my liver. Simple painkillers have led to trips, under "blue's & two's", to A&E. Now need admitting if they want to use them. Last used in Febuary 96.
 
Apart from having my stomach go mad due to paracetamol at the moment I've also got Nefopam. I'm bloated up like a ruddy hippo and trying to take as little as possible, but it's better than constant pain.
Codeine nearly killed me a few years ago, and thanks to being asthmatic I'm very limited in what I can be prescribed.
 

gbb

Legendary Member
Location
Peterborough
Yes. I can't remember the type, but a painkiller that left me so stoned I couldn't function.
I wished I could remember which one did it for me but a specific branded painkiller leaves me feeling like I have the flu, aches, tiredness, generally REALLY feeling like cr@P for 24 hours.

Another one, Ethambutamol I think it's called, prescribed when I contracted TB at work, gave me vision problems. Well known side effects, they used to give me weekly sight tests, constantly monitoring vision. I was switched to something else PDQ.
 

Bazzer

Setting the controls for the heart of the sun.
Mrs B reacts very badly to prochlorperazine commonly known as Stemetil. - To the extent that she appears to have untreated rabies, which is both scary and very distressing.
 
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