Wow! I really messed up....

[Lulu54]

So we all know confusion and cognitive issues can be a problem with MS patients, right?  Well here's my recent oops that I am still trying to figure out how I did it -

I discovered tonight that I was taking the wrong drug, probably for at least a couple weeks.  I did a double take when I noticed the white pill in my container didn't look quite right. I pulled it out and read the imprint which had the number "80," and immediately registered that was the dosage on my Lipitor that I was first put on last winter after my heart attack.  I stopped it back in March with my cardio's approval,  because I had headaches, body aches and flu like symptoms from taking it.  My cardio told me to keep the pills because we may someday want me to go back onto a statin drug to lower my cholesterol.  So that square bottle has been sitting in the box that I keep all my other pills together.  

Another heart drug that I take is Ranexa, an anti-angina drug.  It also comes in a square bottle and is white.  I am prescribed to take this 1000mg pill twice a day.  

It appears from my pill dose box that I have been taking the Lipitor twice a day instead of my heart drug..... which may explain why I have had this dull headache for over a week and my chronic constipation hasn't been so bad lately.  I had attributed it to stress and not stupidity.  The pattern of my angina attacks doesn't appear to have been any different, so I am very lucky there.


My point in sharing this with all of you is  with all of the prescription drugs most of us take, it is so very important to make sure we are taking the correct drugs in the correct doses.  Please be sure and read your labels and don't mix obsolete drugs with your current meds.

Still shaking my head,
Lulu

[Engineer75]

Hello,
@Lulu
I hope you are fine, Thank god that nothing bad has happened to you.

@Cyn
I also say opposite words a lot and also wrong words. I'm an electronic engineer and sometimes when I talk to my employees I say for example capacitor instead of resistor while I'm talking firmly about a resistor and I know inside my head what I'm talking about but I just say the opposite/wrong word and it surprises people.
Are you Dx with Ms? had you optic neuritis? what is your main symptoms?

Take Care All
Engineer,

[syndismilez]

I have to re read everything several times!!  
One time I was giving my son only half his dose of antibiotics
because I read it wrong!  He wasn't getting any better so I read
the label again- thus realizing what I had been doing!!!
So now I not only read every pill bottle, I reread it to make sure I
don't mix up the words!
I also say the wrong word a lot!!  And right down a totally opposite word!
Just call me mixed-up!!!
Cyn

[sllowe]

Lu -

Guuurrrl!

They should make some sort of "talking" pill box that says "warning, warning, wrong one Lu!" lol...

I did that once w/a xanax and a prednisone.  I was all hopped up on the pred anyway, and they are both small, and were in the same sort of bottle.  Oh, my, was that a long night.....

I'm glad you are ok.

-Shell

[doublevision1]

Great reminder!  As you'll see from my post on amitriptyline, I didn't keep very good track of my meds that day.  I do have one of those weekly pill boxes and have just been lazy about filling it up each week.  I think I'm going to need to start using it again.  There's too many things regarding my health that are outside of my control, I should at least be doing all that is within my control!

[buriedinfur]

I've considered getting those blister packs that they can make up in the pharmacy's just because I often forget if I've taken a dose or not. I know that you can do them up with a pill box at home too, but I suppose there is that chance of you messing up and putting the wrong ones in there too, lol.

Oh brain, where art thou?

[Lulu54]

Robin,
You are right that is a lot - the 80mg was what they put me on to shock my system down as quick as possible but I have heard of higher doses.  I will be able to figure out if I have been making this mistake for longer than a week because I just had a big batch of blood work done last Weds. at a cholesterol/metabolism center.  If my numbers come back low I will know then that those tests are skewed,  When I was on the 80mg dose, my total cholesterol dropped to a ridiculously low 110 in just a few weeks but the good/bad ratio was still out of an acceptable range.  :-)


Q- I too just pop my handful of pills and swallow.  This has really got me bugged that I could make such a mistake.  But it also helps me understand part of my lack of being able to focus my attention recently (also a problem I had on lipitor).  

Hopefully everyone will double check their meds and do so often.  Mistakes can be harmful!

[Quixotic1]

wow - thanks for the warning.  I am often pretty cavalier in taking my meds and have made a couple of mistakes, myself.

I'm so glad there haven't been any consequences for your angina!

Quix

[lmax0021]

Hi LuLu

That is scary and a good word of caution for all of us....

How have you been feeling, other than the headache?  That is an awful lot of lipitor you were taking twice daily....

Robin