SOme questions.

15 years 1 week ago #24556 by britt
Replied by britt on topic SOme questions.
The VA supplies all my meds except for the pain meds. They dont have a PM clinic any longer and most VA PC givers refuse to deal with chronic pain.
The pharmacists seem pretty unmotived about drug interactions I dont get many answres. Ive had a few bad reactions to RX's. Not from interactions but from the meds themselves. I hate my daily doses but its a ritual

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15 years 1 week ago - 15 years 1 week ago #24555 by Alan
Replied by Alan on topic SOme questions.
Did I read 22 different types of meds? 20 prescriptions. I am not a doctor BUT, that has to be too many meds. Are all the different doctors talking to each other?

DX 5/6/2008 TAG3 papillary tumor .5 CM in size. 2 TURBS followed by 6 instillations of BCG weekly with a second round of 6 after a 6 week wait.

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15 years 1 week ago #24523 by britt
Replied by britt on topic SOme questions.
As far as weakness and pain, they are some of the side effects even if the drugs were taken alone. For example, correg causes dep muscular fatigue and weakness while lipitor alone can cause severe leg pains. I have these onditions anyway. While not helping relieve the effects it doesnt seem to make them any worse. Correg is murder on the body. When I first started taking it I had to be admitted a number of times for becoming severly hypotensive. Starting on the lowest dose, they had me take it while I was still in cardiology to assess any immediate effects. I started at 2.5mg. That caused my bp to crash. I dropped to 51/26. Realize also that I had suffered from uncontrolled hyertension for years. Evern with my beta blockers and vasodialtors they couldnt get my top end much under 150. Now a drop like that would be like a normal person jumping off the empire state bldg! WHile I was being monitored in the hospital after the crash one thing was appearant. I could breathe much easier. It was finally diagnosed the my CHF causes edema. Since it wasnt manifested in my legs or feet it went unnoticed. I get pulmanary edema. This causes a fluid buildup in my abdomen at the diaphrem. This causes a "girdle" effect that restricts my ability to draw in ait. It would feel like I barely got a teaspoon full at a time! Along with the correg I started on diaretics. The milder ones didnt help so we ended up at 40mg lasiz and 12.5 mg of spirolactone. The spirolactone has another function. It causes the body to load pottasium. On the lasix i would become depleted and the spirolacton helps relieve that. After a few weeks my body did a 360 and started to handle the correg. Mt cardio kept wanting to bump it up until I was over double the daily max. He kept patting himself on the back when my EF climbed up 25%. I think he felt he earned a nobel prize for his work the way he acted. While I was in for one of the bouts of bladder infection they lowered the dose(thats what I went in for-low blood pressure episodes). Now I take the max dose 25mg 2X/day. I have to monitor my bp. If its under 110 I cant take it or my BP nosedives again. Ive gone 2 days at a time where I couldnt take it and my BP stayed at 110/66.
The lipitor can cause deep bone aches and pains. My level of pain in those areas is so severe it doesnt make it any worse. AFter having 2 major MIs) the first was 100% and required a lifeflite!) I will do what ever it takes to keep my choestorol in line. For the 1st time in 20 years its where it should be.
Whatyou said worries me. Ive had a number of instances where a new dr tries to change my meds hoping for a miracle. Right now the are demanding that I contineue the digitalis and synthroid. Both cause me angina attacks.
Again its a bit vague but it confuses me as well. there isnt a day Im not worried because of the meds I take and the drs I get to see. Due to so many bad experiences I havs hospital related PTSD.
Patricia, I would be elated if I could just up and trash all my meds. nothing would make me happier. When I take my morning meds(thats when i take most) I have to plan for a good hor to allow my body to acclimate or Ill have probl;ems all day.
To add to the fun, the problem I had with the "coma" they had me in is severe shortterm memory problems. I have to be ever so carefull not to doulble take a med. I can sit there not even an hour afterwards and wonder if I took them or not. With most it isnt serious but something like the correg and be deadly for me.

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15 years 1 week ago #24521 by Patricia
Replied by Patricia on topic SOme questions.
Well thats a real horror story.....it sounds like Dr. House got ahold of you!!
with some of your drugs you've got potential for major drug-drug interactions.....gemfibrozil and Lipitor for instance
Albuterol and coreg is a major drug-drug
some of your weakness could be due to some of these interactions.
Why not go to
www.drugs.com/drug_interactions.html
enter your drugs and read for yourself. This is really mind boggling for me.
Pat

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15 years 1 week ago - 15 years 1 week ago #24515 by britt
Replied by britt on topic SOme questions.
I was recovering after angio plasty following a 90+% blockage at the Cinci VA. They decided to play games with me and held me at a coma level with atavan. When my wife found me I was laying on a bed with only a towel over my groin and had about 12 lines coming into me. My wife got a call late at night. My IV had infiltrated and they were having trouble due to the number of meds they were giving me. They asked her permission to put a shunt in my shoulder. I dont know why they even asked her but thankfully she refused.. She tried to get me released while I was out and they said she had no say in the matter even tho she is my power of attny. They obviously wernt monitoring me close enough as I had another 100% due to a clot. Whether it was due to a bad IV or from the stent Ill never know. They dont know how long I was out before they found me. I awkoe a week later at UC. They had to gradually wean me from the atvan as I was going into seizures. When I awwoke My memory was shot. I didnt even recognoze my own wife. I also couldnt talk and they had to bring in a speech pathologist. In a few days I had most memroies back and could talk. I couldnt walk. My legs were on fire due to my knees being strapped to the bed rail while I was comatose. It seem to have killed the nerves. It was a month before I could walk. Ever since I have had constant pain in my legs from the hips down. Also my knees are shot there is no connective tissue left. I cant do a a knee replacement due to my heart and also PAD. My circulation would make healing difficult. I alost ahd a huge scab on my arm. One of the first people I remember were from CDC Atlanta. I had some kind of raging infection they couldnt isolate. It turned out the scab on my arm was MRSA, that was before they had a name for it.
After I was discharged i spent almost a year unable to sleep due to breathing problems. At first they thought it was from pneumonia caused by mt being tube fed down the wrong pipe while unconscious. I developed double non viral pneumonia. After being in out out af the hospital at least once a month they finally dianosed me with CHF. At that time my EF was less than 13%. And they couldnt figure out why i had breathing issues!. After starting on correg I have increased my EF to close to 40%. Thats all artificial. If I quit the correg today it would drop again.
Heres what I take. Some of these are more than 1X/day

Vistoril 75mg/bedtime-sleep
Plavix 75mg/daily
baby asprin 81mg Am
Carvedilol 25mg 2Xdaily
Nitro .4mg PRN
Lipitor 80mg bedtime
Gemfibrozil 600mg 3X day
Lasix 20md daily
Sprronlactome 25mg daily
lisinopril 20mg daily
Ducosate 2 tabs 2X daily
prilosec 20mg am
Flunisloode 2puffs 2X, ALbuterol 2puffs 2X daily
Ipratropium bromide 2puffs 2X daily
Isosobride dinitrate 10mg 2x day
allipurinol 300mg daily
metocloprimade 10mg 3X daily
synthroid 12.5mg/day
amitriptyline10/mg 2/bed time
remeron (?)1 /bed time
niacin
Trazadone 300mg at bedtime-sleep
Flexeril 10mg 3x day
Morphine ER 100mg 3Xdaily
Morphine 30mg3Xdaily

As of today I am so week due to my heart that I can barely walk 100' Also with the pain from my lower back down I cant stand more than a few minutes at a time. Since having an edema attack in my left foot 10 months ago, the feeling never came back. It so numb it is as if I haad a novacaine injection. I have to be doubly careful now. Not only do I have PAD(the dopler showed 52% left leg and 58% right) healing below my knees is iffy. Add to that my VA nurse called me on Xmas eve to inform me that my latest blood work showed type 2 diabetes.
I know its kind of vague. What happened to me at the VA is always going to be a mystery. All I know is what Ive pieced together 2nd hand from my wife and the dr at UC med center.
Thats about it in a nut shell

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15 years 1 week ago #24512 by Patricia
Replied by Patricia on topic SOme questions.
Britt......40 pills a day? CHF......whats your ejection fraction. Where is the pain coming from that you're on so many pain meds?
Not trying to be nosy but honestly why not take all your records to Cleveland where they have the best Cardiologists in the country and some of the best Urologists.......Maybe there's a better solution. This all sounds pretty crazy to me........Pat

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