Side effects

[KICKSTART]

How many people have problems with side effects from medication? Since i started with kidney failure i have found that i seem to be ultra sensitive to anything they give me , resulting in really bad side effects. Prior to having kidney failure i was the kind of person that wouldnt even take a tablet for a headache. One example of side effects was when taking Atenalol, i started with a really bad cough, so bad i couldnt speak or sleep for coughing.I told my doctor at the hospital only to be told it must be something else causing it, anyway to cut a long story short i stopped taking it for a week to see , and bingo ! my cough went! Most of the tablets i have been on have had some side effect or other from  not so bad to dont want to get out of bed/move. Every time i go to the hospital i inform them of whats going on , im either told ..oh no it cant be your tablets or really ?? well you have to take them for this or that. They make me feel either like im making it up or just imagining it , several times when i have stopped the tablets  the side effects have gone. How do you convince them that your not just making it up ?

[goofynina]

You know something,  due to financial problems, i have not been able to buy some of my meds these past couple of months and i feel fine,  i went to go see my Neph yesterday, my blood pressure was fine, he looked over my labs, nothing alarming, phos is  a little high (and that is the one pill i make sure i have)  its so hard to say if the meds they give us actually are doing ANYTHING for us.   

[jbeany]

I get so frustrated sometimes with this - I had a doc put me on Toprol without telling me that it covered up the symptoms of low blood sugar.  (Thank heavens my pharmacist was on the ball!)  When I told the doc I had to go back off of it, she tried to tell me I had to stay on because my blood pressure was still too high.  Yeesh - killing me will lower it, all right!

The not believing you part of the equation is the worst.  Why do they seem so eager to think we are making things up?  I have enough problems without adding any imaginary ones to the list.  I get side effects from Aranesp.  I know it's unusual, but read the #@$%# label already - I'm not the only person with this problem, or they wouldn't detail all the possible side effects in the fine print.  I refuse to take it at the center, because I know how long it takes for the side effects to kick in, and I won't be able to drive home if I'm shaking like a leaf from the shot.  I've been on dialysis for over 3 months now, and I still get to repeat my reasons for refusing it at the center everytime they start passing out the Aranesp again.

Kickstart, the only way I found to convince them I'm not imagining things was to find a doctor who actually listened to me - one who believed I had an actual brain in that space between my ears.

It only took 4 docs before I found the right one!