Just a quick thought...
I have been given a prescription for a new med and considering that I work in the pharmaceutical industry, I decided to check it out thoroughly. Ok, here we go.
Some side effects can be serious. The following symptoms are uncommon, but if you experience any of them, call your doctor immediately:
depression
anxiety
outbursts of anger
crying
hearing voices or seeing visions that do not exist (hallucinations)
hostility
thoughts of killing yourself
fever, sore throat, and other signs of infection
burning, crawling, itching, numbness, prickling, "pins and needles," or tingling feelings
double vision
First, I find it amusing that if indeed I am "hearing voices that don't exist", there is an assumption that I will have the cognizance to contact my physician. I bet I would be quite content mumbling to the members of the Lollipop Guild while playing with my dog Toto, which oddly resembles a shoe. Needless to say, he's not too keen on tricks. If I am feeling hostility, calling my physician and remaining on hold endlessly is not going to help the situation, trust me.
If you truly read all the info (like a package insert) on a drug, most would be scared to death of taking so much as Tylenol or aspirin - everything seems so dire. Which is not to say that the info should not be taken seriously. I just wonder if the individuals that write the information realize that they occasionally come across as sounding ridiculous. Sometimes it is just downright comical.
8 comments:
I don't think I would take it. My rule of thumb is if it could give me everything I don't have don't take it. (I do realize that rules out everything but Flinstones Chewables.)
My nerd score was 7.
My favorite side effect is for Larium, a kind of malaria medication - it makes you have really vivid, colorful dreams.
This would be awesome except for the acute psychosis that often comes later :)
I see your point with the Flintstones Chewables, but just between us... I never really did trust Barney - I may have to go with the Bugs Bunny ones.
As far as the acute psychosis, well, if you were psychotic enough you probably wouldn't care anyway! =) What happened to the days of 'take 2 aspirin and call me in the morning'? Oh yeah, everyone died by 42 anyway.
Yeah, I don't think I'd take it either. It made me think of Wow potato chips, which have only one calorie but carry a warning label which says "may cause anal leakage". Eeeww! I think I'll pass on those.
Skrambled, that is definitely a REALLY big WOW, isn't it?!
It's definitely scary--those "Warning" labels. However, if I read every warning label, I wouldn't take any medication. Do you have to take Lithium? What about Seroquel?
Along the same lines, don't you love those commercials for medications where people are running joyfully through sunshine-filled fields while the side effects (which sound worse than the original problem) are being listed off in the background? Those look fun, really...
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