Strange how things work out. I had an adverse reaction to a prescription that I filled and neglected to look up the possible drug interactions.
Well, yesterday morning, the same thing happened to my husband. Not so much a drug interaction, but too many prescriptions being given to him.
Husband had a toothache - he went to the dentist (our regular dentist is on holidays). So he saw another dentist on Wednesday - dentist told him he had an infection - that the tooth that was causing problem was cracked below the gum line. So an appointment was made with his regular dentist and an oral surgeon for Tuesday next week. In the meantime, the dentist he saw gave him a prescription for anti-biotics, a prescription for Tylenol-3 with Codeine and Caffeine (so it says on the label), told him he should also take Aleve and also put some gel stuff on his gum to ease the pain.
When my husband got home and told me this, I kinda said 'that's a lot of stuff isn't it?'. Husband was in so much much pain - so he had already filled out the prescriptions, had picked up some Aleve and the gum numbing thing.
He, poor thing, was in pain all day. I did tell him to be careful with the Aleve as it said to take no more than 1 pill every 12 hours. Told him maybe to just try the Tylenol 3 and see if that worked. Well, of course it didn't work right away. So in went the Aleve, as well as the Tylenol 3 plus the anti-biotics plus he put some of gel on his gums.
My husband must have gotten up after I fell asleep. I woke up at around 3 a.m. and went downstairs only to see my husband sitting in his chair. I asked him how he was feelilng - he said 'better' - since he had made a 'mold' for his mouth. I was half asleep and said 'good' - then went to back upstairs when it downed on me and I went back and asked him what he meant by a 'mold for his mouth'. He opened his mouth and showed me the tin foil that was wrapped around his top teeth - he said he had put the gum gel in the foil and then wrapped his upper teeth. Strange. I told him maybe he should remove it now. He said 'nope'. Then he went into the kitchen and took 3 aspirins (yeah aspirins we had in our cupboard). I told him he was taking too many things.
I won't go into men being men - I just figured I would keep track of his meds in the morning. At 5 a.m., I heard my name being called. I jumped out of bed and there at the foot of the stairs was my husband, weak and sweating. He kept saying he was having a stroke. Now my husband has a mini-stroke in 2004, so I was not about to argue. I rushed down, prepared to call 911 - when my husband got up and got his jacket and went to our car, telling me to hurry - to drive him to the hospital (which is only 5 minutes away). He had walked straight, he had talked without slurring his words, he looked fine. So, I quickly threw on some clothes and off we went to the ER. Figure we got there about 5:15 a.m. There was no-one else in the ER so I figured he would see a doc pretty quickly. At Triage, nurse asked him questions, my husband kept saying he thought he was having a stroke, talked about his stroke in 2004 (much of which he did not remember, but he filled in the blanks nicely).
The nurse did her thing - light in his eyes, pulse, etc. etc. We sat in the waiting room - saw a doctor at 8 a.m. - they ran some blood tests, did an electrocardiogram and sent him for a CT Scan of the brain. Then we waited for the results. Finally around 9 or 9:30 doctor came to talk to us - of course just before doc came to talk to us - husband told me he was going outside for a smoke. So doc told me there was nothing to worry about - I told him about alll the meds he had taken the day before, etc. Doctor said 'oh that explains it'.
Doctor told husband to stop taking the Tylenol 3 (you think? duh) - told him to keep on taking his anti-biotics, to see his dentist next week and only take his Aleve if he really, really could not stand the pain. As for the gel, he advised my husband not to use it if at all possible. He then told my husband that I would be the one that would give him his meds when they were due to be taken.
So - the moral of this story? Yes, be in charge of your own health, but if you see that someone is overmedicated, take charge. My husband was very weak and disoriented and not thinking clearly - and I blame that - not on his tooth ache - but on his taking too many pills - was there drug interactiions? I haven't googled them all yet - but my educated guess is that he was just plain over-medicated. If something does not feel right, go with your gut feeling.
My husband seems fine now. His tooth still bothers him a bit but not as much. He is taking his anti-biotics and takes an Aleve once every 12 hours (once an hour before he goes to bed and when he gets up in the morning). He has slept quite well last night ( better than I did :o) I have his Tylenol 3 put away as well as the gum gel. The aspirins are also put away. As is our regular Tylenol. I have a timer that goes off when it is time for him to take his anti-biotics and everything seems to be going well. It will be good when he sees his dentist next Tuesday so they can remove his cracked tooth.
Just be careful what you are taking - make a plan of when to take what you need to take - don't over-medicate yourself by adding stuff. And do not trust your health by what a doctor (or in this case, a dentist) may prescribe. Be very careful with Tylenol 3 wtih Codeine and Caffeine. And if you notice strange behavior from a loved one or someone who lives with you - look at what they are taking if they are taking meds. Count the pills if you must. When one is over-medicated, one can 'forget' when they took a pill and double up. Be responsible for your own health, but also be aware of the health of your loved ones and do not be afraid to intervene.
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