Medication fears

[Guest guest]

Do understand a fear of meds might not be as irrational as it might seem.

Medications are not something people should take lightly. The key is to know

the meds, know the possible risks, and then weigh out the pros and cons of the

risks vs benefits.

Even before I was a nurse, I knew people who did have fatal negative drug

reactions to medications and also life changing negative side effects to meds

that were irreversible.

The drugs my own children have taken, they have also come under fire this past

year for being dangerous, - sadly, my oldest child, the drugs she took, I

learned of the negative possible side effects first hand via personal experience

with her, but child protective services forced me to medicate her with them

anyway becuz she had the diagnosis for which those meds are routinely

prescribed, irregardless that she had already had life threatening side effects

from them. It was only AFTER the FDA made it public in the spring of the

dangers that CPS listened to my fears and allowed me to STOP the meds for my

child. But that was after 2 suicide attempts.....triggered by antidepressants.

Medicating is a personal choice to be made by each person weighing out the risks

and benefits of the medication.

My husband has multiple cancers from Agent Orange. He refused treatment. He

has been OK now for 3 or 4 years. My best friend has melanoma, and while

statistics say chemo only helps lesss than 20% of the time, she opted for chemo

(she is only 34) in spite of losing an eye, now, and having an 11 pound tumor on

her ovarie, and more in her spine, both lungs, and brain, she continues to do

chemo, and having severe and absolutely horrible negative side effects that keep

her semi conscious and in severe pain 24-7 since last March. My husband is

afraid of meds, my best friend is pro meds, give her every drug available, never

mind her meds have caused pulmonary embolism, clots in her legs, multiple

strokes, kidney failure, she must wear a catheter, she vomits nearly nonstop,

she gets blood transfusions daily....her cancer continues to spread more and

more every week..but she is very pro med. she takes Xanax 4 times a day,

morphine via pump every hour, steroids, and they have had her in psych ward 4

times since March. Her kids have stopped visiting her months ago, due to how

psychotic she is from being so ravaged from cancer.but she told her husband she

will not stop the meds. The docs have told her the treatment is robbing her of

her life more quickly thna the cancer, but, she is pro meds.

If your mom is not interested it may be that she has seen someone have a

negative result from some med. It could be that to her the benefits do not

outweigh the risks. But please do be careful in how you think about someone who

is refusing meds. We all could do with a little medication respect. They are

powerful things and there are very real risks involved.

Keep in mind, there is often a cost associated with things. For something

positive there is also often something negative. We usually do have to take the

good with the bad. BUT to make the decision, a person really needs to

understand their illness, as well. RA is not just pain. It is a system wide

illness that CAN affect heart, kidneys, brain.

For me personally it took a neighbor of mine dying from RA to make me realize

this was not just about how brave I could be about the pain. Then as I

gradually got sicker, it did become all about the pain. I was 40 years old and

I spent well over a year laying in my bed, in my urine, unable to walk, dress,

feed myself, comb my hair. My knees, feet, toes, wrists shoulders, fingers,

thumbs were SO painful the air current in the room caused me to scream primal

screams, I was delerious from the intense pain. I literally begged my family to

kill me. My youngest is 9 years old, my husband is terminally ill...I HAD to do

something for my RA. I had good reasons for taking any risks from the drugs.

To have put my family thru me being that way another day- ACK------I would truly

rather be deaad. I WILL take the risks. That is MY choice, I do not make the

choice for other people. Every single time I take my meds, I remind myself of

the risks possible. But then I also remind myself of how I was for that year.

I LOVE life and since being given a life back, I DO do all kinds of things, Oh

sometimes I do still use a scooter or a walker.....who cares? I CAN go to the

open houses at school again, I CAN go to the zoo again, for me if the meds

shorten my life, at least I have had this time. The alternative for me was a

crying screaming smelly lump of flesh in my bed.

Informed choices, KNOW the illness, KNOW the meds and treatments available, and

weigh out the pros and cons of everything.

Meds are not harmless, they come with strings attached, and they CAN be

dangerous. Meds demand respect.

Sorry if I sound intense. This was the topic of my thesis and it is what I

advocate about most for the disabled childrens organizations I am part of. I

also lecture at the VA hospitals about it.

[Guest guest]

--- In , " dreamer_plus " <dreamer_plus@w...>

wrote:

>

> Do understand a fear of meds might not be as irrational as it might

seem. Medications are not something people should take lightly. The

key is to know the meds, know the possible risks, and then weigh out

the pros and cons of the risks vs benefits.

I agree.

Sierra

[Guest guest]

>

> Do understand a fear of meds might not be as irrational as it might

seem. Medications are not something people should take lightly. The

key is to know the meds, know the possible risks, and then weigh out

the pros and cons of the risks vs benefits.

I agree.

Sierra