I’ve been having a bit of indigestion recently so I bought some tablets at the chemist to relieve this. I read the leaflet inside the box and discover that possible side effects are:
Skin rash which may be severe
Slow, rapid or irregular heart beat
Muscle and joint pain
Blurred Vision
Hair loss
Itching
Severe stomach pain (caused by inflamed pancreas)
++++++++++++++
Allergic reactions
Difficulty breathing, speaking or swallowing
Tightness in the chest
Lumpy skin rash
Swelling of the eyelids, face,lips,tongue or throat
Unexplained fever
Fainting
Anaphylictic shock
Other side effects…there are more?
Feeling sick
Constipated
Diarrhoea
Headache
Dizziness
Fatigue
Tendency to bruise easily
Unusual tiredness
Shortness of breath
Frequent infections
Confusion
Restlessness
Depression
Hallucinations
Imflammation of the liver
Yellowing of skin
Yellowing of eyes
Swollen or tender breasts in men
What-the-fuck?
I’ll stick with the indigestion thank you very much
when they do live human testing, they have to list everything that gets reported … and unfortunately it may not actually be a side effect of the med in question.
When I go down and play guinea pig, we are told to report absolutely EVERYTHING that happens during the test, I could get a UTI from something totally random, and I still have to report it. Doesnt mean that the flu shot gave me a UTI, or that it is even remotely related to the flu shot [the last thing I guinea pigged for was a flu shot] but it will end up listed.
You have to consider if the problem is worth the possible side effects, if you read the paperwork that comes with it of the %age of side effects in the testing group, you can figure out if it is a common or rare occurance.
In general, most meds side effects will be digestive issues, or sleepy/awakeness, or skin irritration. The drastic stuff tends to be fairly rare.
aruvqan is spot on - I work in medical research (on the hospital end of things) and in most studies, you’re supposed to report everything. Head cold? Report it as an “adverse event”. Headache? Report it. Even if there’s no chance that it’s related - and both the manufacturer and the reporting doctor will rate the incident on a likelihood that it might have actually been caused by the treatment - it gets sent in. We actually had a study subject who was murdered, and we had to report it like any other death. Naturally we said it was totally unrelated, but still, the FDA knows about a murder just because that person was in a medication study.
chowder, part of the reason is to warn you that yeah, you’re taking medication and it can affect people differently. Part of it is to give you a hint that maybe if you’re feeling some new symptom, maybe it’s the medication you’re on, and you can talk to your doctor (if it’s a prescription med) or stop taking it (if it’s over the counter) and see if that helps things.
I’ve anecdotally heard that a placebo (no active medication, often used in studies to see if the medication being tested has any real effect) has a high chance of causing headache, dizziness, or fatigue. In other words - people are kind of complex things and sometimes we don’t have a real reason for feeling bad, or sometimes if we do, it’s not necessarily related to a new medication we’re taking.
Every time I see a pharmaceutical ad on TV spouting a long list of possible side-effects, I remember the column that Dave Barry wrote several years ago talking about how these ads are sending two conflicting messages:
True anecdote: in a patient questionaire, under ‘adverse events,’ a woman mentioned that her car had been stolen whilst taking the investigational product. The Clinical Study Report had a comment in the text to the effect of “…in a statistically insignificant number of cases, use of the product may result in automotive theft.” If it’s in the patient narratives, it must be addressed.
Who know? Maybe the product caused inattention, resulting in the keys being left in the car? Maybe it lead to bad risk-assesment, bad judgement, or risk-taking behavior? Whatever, it’s in the narrative, and that’s that. No matter how rare.
Reporting “side effects” is how a drug being studied for high blood pressure and angina became what we know today as Viagra. Really! Initial tests showed it didn’t do much for angina, but whoa, what a side effect…
We give Viagra for pulmonary hypertension, a serious heart/lung condition. Four times a day. And no, not that I’ve noticed (and I assume I would). I guess they’re just too sick.
