Nearly died last week...

[Debby]

Just a word of warning to everyone.....I always write down the medications I take, the quantities, and the times because of my short-term memory loss issues. What I overlooked last week was doing my homework on drug interactions. When my husband found me (and thankfully he is a medical professional), my respirations were 5 breaths a minute, which lasted for 4 hours.

Pay attention, please, to interactions with drugs, supplements, herbs, etc...so you don't have to go through what we did. It scared my husband at the time more than me because I have no memory of it....but I'm scared enough now to be very careful in the future.

Please take care of yourselves, my precious friends.

[misslux]

Oh my goodness. I am glad you are okay!

[Tia1]

Thank God that your husband found you. Thanks so much for the reminder, we get so comfortable that we can forget to do our homework. Lesson learned, thanks for sharing and glad that you are ok. Give hubby a big (hug).

[Seasha]

Oh Debby - that is so scary!! Glad your dh found you in time and you are OK now. Such a very important reminder for us all. Thanks for sharing your story!

For all of us - here is a link from Medscape for a multi-drug interaction checker http://reference.medscape.com/drug-interactionchecker

[Debby]

Thanks y'all....I just wanted to get the word out to be SUPER CAREFUL with the medications you take and their interactions...but I so appreciate your kindness and empathy too. It's nice to have a place to talk about these things....I haven't shared this with anyone else because I just feel embarrased about it...

[Fed Up]

Thanks y'all....I just wanted to get the word out to be SUPER CAREFUL with the medications you take and their interactions...but I so appreciate your kindness and empathy too. It's nice to have a place to talk about these things....I haven't shared this with anyone else because I just feel embarrased about it...

Particularly, the 'long-acting' pain opiates. The opiates are famous for stopping breathing, particularly methadone. An accidental second dose cause's cessation of breathing, I saw it once, not on me, another in-patient.

I really fear opiates for that reason. I live with a little dog and can punch the remote to my bed and flatten it, but dialing 911 might be a stretch for her! fed

[Kimba22]

Sorry to hear about that scare, but glad you are O.K.! Thanks for using this as a reminder to us all.

I took extra meds when I woke up in the middle of the night. I know I was groggy and just assumed I never took my night dose because certain symptoms were really bothering me. That extra dose of Robaxin didn't go over to well! I had a hard time waking up and slept the majority of the following day.

I keep my meds in another room now, outside my immediate reach. I know the last thing my family needs is an urgent visit from EMS!

I also make sure my docs know everything I'm taking for possible interactions. I'd rather give them too much information than not enough.

Take good care!

[maitrimama]

so so glad you are okay

Just a quick reminder that because alcohol is also a cns dedpressent it needs to be factored into the equation, that list includes but is not limited to opiates, benzodiazapems, barbituates, muscle relaxants, some anti-seizure mere and alcohol. It can get very confusing. And to to top it all mixing different types of cons depressents often has a synergystic effect.

I am happy your husband was there for you!

[Debby]

M. Thanks for bringing up the alcohol issue. While I don't drink, my neighbor nearly died a few months ago when she combined drugs and alcohol. Thankfully my husband had his radio on, and flew over there, and was the first responder. He saved 2 lives in 2 months for sure....not to mention the rest.....he's my hero!!!

[rdmc]

Just a word of warning to everyone.....I always write down the medications I take, the quantities, and the times because of my short-term memory loss issues. What I overlooked last week was doing my homework on drug interactions. When my husband found me (and thankfully he is a medical professional), my respirations were 5 breaths a minute, which lasted for 4 hours.

Pay attention, please, to interactions with drugs, supplements, herbs, etc...so you don't have to go through what we did. It scared my husband at the time more than me because I have no memory of it....but I'm scared enough now to be very careful in the future.

Please take care of yourselves, my precious friends.

Debby,

Glad to hear you are doing better. You mentioned interactions...aren't pharmacists supposed to tag drugs that interact? I know we can't count on the pharmacists and have to be "on the lookout" for our own health, but I have had my pharmacy call a prescribing dr. back and tell them they need to prescribe something else.

Now that I'm thinking about it, maybe it's not from interaction but allergy related, (for instance prescribing Cipro when I'm allergic to Levaquin.)

My dad takes heart meds and any prescription he gets, we run it by the nurse at the cardiologist to make sure there won't be an interaction with his other meds.

As far as keeping meds straight...I use one of those pill boxes (7 days, 4 spaces per day) and I'm really glad I do...never second guessing myself if I did or didn't take a certain pill.

Thanks for reminding us about interactions.

[maitrimama]

Hi Debby - I just noticed your location, Central Virginia, my daughter and I down visiting my nephew who is in grad school at UVA! Nice drizzly Saturday! - M

[newbie but goodie]

Thank goodness for your hubs!

[bree2013]

Just a word of warning to everyone.....I always write down the medications I take, the quantities, and the times because of my short-term memory loss issues. What I overlooked last week was doing my homework on drug interactions. When my husband found me (and thankfully he is a medical professional), my respirations were 5 breaths a minute, which lasted for 4 hours.

Pay attention, please, to interactions with drugs, supplements, herbs, etc...so you don't have to go through what we did. It scared my husband at the time more than me because I have no memory of it....but I'm scared enough now to be very careful in the future.

Please take care of yourselves, my precious friends.

Hi Debby - So glad you're OK. How scary for your husband when he first discovered you!

Nice to see you on the board -- I read your thread about being dx'd with esophageal spasms. At least that particular symptom has been identified and can be treated. Thanks for sharing this information as it can be useful to some.

Bree

[Kimba22]

Now that I'm thinking about it, maybe it's not from interaction but allergy related, (for instance prescribing Cipro when I'm allergic to Levaquin.)

This got me thinking ... I wonder if the pharmacy could input the medications you are allergic to into their system?

I am also allergic to Levaquin, but my dr. still prescribed Cipro once. At the time, I had no idea the 2 drugs were in the same "family". I got very sick w/ nausea & vomiting (got hives w/ Levaquin). Needless to say, I wasn't very happy when I did a google search and realized they were both in the same class of drugs.

Now, I'm careful to do my own google search before I take a new drug. (That being said, I've still developed allergies to meds after I've been on them for years.) I also do a search under a site called "pill finder" to see what a pill looks like. Once, the pills in my mom's refill rx were the wrong ones! Luckily, she went back & questioned the pharmacist because they "looked different".

I also use the same pharmacy for all my meds. They can't cross-check for drug interactions if they don't know all of them.

[Debby]

Hey Kimba, VERY wise of you to put your meds out of reach during the nighttime hours. I too, have groggily taken some during the night. Now I do the same thing.

RDMC, my pharmacy has my drug allergies on file, but somehow they missed this "possible" drug interaction. I talked to them about it, and the pharmacist was freaked out and started getting emotional. I think it scared her that I could have died. I think the pharmacy itself was afraid of a lawsuit, but I'm not a litigious person.....I feel I have a responsibility too. Thanks to Seasha for the multi-drug interaction link!!!!! I will DEFINITELY use that!

Maitre mama....I'm right up the road from UVA! We pass Monticello (hope you were able to go!) every time we go to Charlottesville! Did you like it here? Where do you live?!