Are you over medicated?
The patient was a man in his seventies and had travelled all of the way from Florida to see me for a consultation. His family told me that he had a diagnosis of Parkinson’s disease but they were more concerned that he seemed extremely fatigued and “out of it.” He sat in a chair in my office and seemed completely oblivious to the discussion going on in the room. They dropped this bag of medications on my desk:
There were twenty one prescriptions in this bag! Many of the prescriptions that this man was taking listed fatigue as a possible side effect and some were contraindicated to be mixed with others in the mix. Apparently the prescribing doctor(s) were not paying any attention the mixture of drugs that this patient was ingesting.
What should you do?
Whenever you are prescribed a medication you should always know what the possible side effects may be as well as the potential interactions with other prescriptions that you may already be taking. Thanks to the internet this information is readily available today.
