I was over medicated!
I always thought that over-medication only happened to people who “enjoyed” their poor health and saw several doctors every month but now I know that isn’t true.
It began late last September when I was hospitalized with the reoccurrence of a bleeding stomach ulcer, something that has been going on now and then for 20 years. After a few days, and two units of blood in the ER, I was released and sent home with some prescriptions – one to control stomach acid, one for blood pressure, and another to help my anemia. I saw the doctor and had regular labs done after that and each time, the blood work came back with some sort of problem. Too much of this and not enough of that usually so some more prescriptions were added.
I was back in the hospital on Thanksgiving because, it turned out, my blood pressure was extremely low and I passed out. After a few days and many tests I was released with some new prescriptions.
All this time I wasn’t feeling any better and by Christmas, I felt worse. I was weak, had chronic diarrhea, was light headed, had lost 40 pounds, had no energy and all I wanted to do was sleep but my doctor just suggested another med to help. It finally got to a point where I could barely walk to and from my car at work and sometimes needed the help of one of the maintenance men to make the trip. The simplest sort of house work was nearly impossible because I had to rest so much. I could barely make the bed. One of the reasons I lost weight was because it took so much effort to get to the grocery store that there wasn’t much food in the house (I live alone).
About two weeks ago as I was getting ready for work, I had all the bottles of pills lined up on the table, getting ready to take them, even though I sometimes had trouble keeping them down. Ten bottles of meds! That’s when it hit me. What I was doing was crazy! All those pills were hurting, not helping me. So I quit. I walked away from them and left them, untaken, on the table. I know that is not approved but I didn’t see any alternative. On day two of no meds I was much improved and within a week I had all my energy back was symptom free and able to function normally. I cleaned my house, shopped for food and had friends over for dinner.
I saw my doctor last week and told her what I had done. There wasn’t much she could say at that point and it is just as well because I was ready to tell her off. I know that a lot of the blame is mine because I didn’t stress my symptoms when I saw her, but that doesn’t let her off the hook. I’m just now discovering what a mess I made of my finances during my “medicated” time. Some bills were paid twice, some never paid. My homeowner’s insurance policy lapsed. Months of my life are gone now. A friend told me he could see what was happening but my mind was so clouded that there was no way to get through to me, even though he tried.
But now I’m back. Yeah!!