Prescription Side Effects I Hate to Hear About
66Can You Handle the Truth?
Medicine labels give way too much information.
There are lots of things there you really don't want to know, like "possible side effects".
Over the counter products are bad enough, but prescription medications which come with 37 pages of warning printed in microscopic type, can really be scary. The best thing about that is you usually don't (or can't) read all the warnings.
However, now that prescription products are widely advertised on TV, it has become impossible to avoid hearing the warnings.
A little magic ritual can't hurt.
These days you can get the cures without the magic.
The cure might be worse.
Daily we are assaulted by information such as, "Warning: this medication is proven safe and effective in clinical trials on rats, however it may cause: headache, dry mouth, dry skin, dry eyes, dry nose, dry ears, difficulty swallowing, difficulty breathing, ringing in the ears, sleeplessness, nausea, unpredictable diarrhea, unforeseeable vomiting, gingivitis, hair loss, navel lint, itchy palms, swelling of the tongue and burning of the feet, or burning of the tongue and swelling of the feet."
Other medications have lists of things which seem much worse than the ailments they are meant to treat.
They "may" increase the likelihood of stroke, heart irregularity, blood pressure fluctuations, abnormal tendency to bleed internally, aneurysm, liver damage, spleen swelling, incontinence, occasional unexplained sharp abdominal pain, biliousness, hysterical screaming, aggravated spatial disorientation, bad hair days and poor fashion sense.
Certain individuals, the warnings might explain, can experience higher cholesterol, spots before the eyes, palpitations, lowered white platelet count, green dandruff, water retention, embarrassing muscle spasms, weight gain or weight loss, extreme gullibility, and the vapors.
Often the warnings advise that certain formulas should not be used in conjunction with additional medications, especially aspirin, antacids, wrinkle creams, brandy Alexander's, anti-dandruff shampoo, or Dr Buzby's Miraculous Hornet's Nest Liniment.
While taking certain pharmaceuticals, you are often admonished to avoid alcohol, multi-vitamin supplements, citrus, sugar, salt, starches, protein, escargot, poi, ginkgo biloba, mu shu pork, or chocolate cheesecake.
How do you feel about prescription meds?
See results without votingSpecial Warnings
There are usually special warnings if you are pregnant or nursing, or if you may get pregnant in the future, or if you have ever been pregnant, or if anyone in your family has a history of pregnancy.
Inexplicably, there are no warnings against reading the warnings, which may cause any of the above symptoms plus extreme anxiety, nervous inhibition, low self-esteem, and radical paranoia.
Acupuncture, anyone?
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Actually, I hardly ever take medicine, not even aspirin-- and now you know why.
Thanks to my mother being a "medicine junkie" and shortening her life in the process, aspirin is all I EVER take. Our forebears somehow survived toenail fungus (which can be cured almost instantly by soaking your feet in Listerine, btw), occasional bouts of heartburn, hair loss and E.D without popping pills for every little thing. Any medication is composed of chemicals. As those incessant TV ads show, putting chemicals in your body isn't necessarily a good thing if combined with other meds. Even a high school chemistry student knows what can happen when the wrong chemicals are mixed. It boggles the mind that it's "okay" to do the same thing in our bodies because a doctor eyeing a new BMW says it's okay without even consulting a PDR.
A friend with MS was recently offered a sample med by her doctor, who said "We don't know what it does or that'll even help you, but take it anyway for 3 days and let us know what happens". You betcha she didn't take it! Afterwards, she stopped taking a couple of other meds prescribed by the same doctor, and actually felt BETTER.
As usual, great hub!
The funny thing is that people call Chiropractic quackery!
Hi Rochelle,
This line of yours is the mater stroke: "There are usually special warnings if you are pregnant or nursing, or if you may get pregnant in the future, or if you have ever been pregnant, or if anyone in your family has a history of pregnancy."
Ha ha!
As for as medicines are concerned, ignorance is bliss!
By the way, thanks for your fan mail!
CVR
People are always hopeful for the magic potion or pill.
You would think we would know better by now.
It's interesting that aspirin was known to the ancient Greeks-- if it had been discovered closer to our time, it probably would have required a very strict prescription-- and be very expensive.
My mother always treated aspirin or paracetamol in the same way as she would have approached Class A drugs such as crack or heroin. Got a headache? Drink some water, get an early night. Period pain? Hot bath, hot water bottle, early night. Cold? Whisky, honey and lemon, hot bath, early night (you might see a trend, here, in the early-night aspect of her health advice).
But it is a bit alarming to look at the leaflet in paracetamol or foot cream, and see potential side effects ranging from a headache to death!
If whisky, honey and lemon doesn't help, you are in real trouble.
I'm sure there are many life-saving medications, but too many are over-prescribed. And yes, as you asked before, such medications are (heavily) advertised on TV here. They must include the most dire of warnings, but I think they tend to convince people that these are necessary and normal.
marisuewrites 3 years ago
Some times, it's better to close your eyes and swallow the medicine!! don't look, don't question... LOL unless you don't trust your doctor, and then question EVERYTHING - and I seldom trust the doctor.hahaha i enjoyed this!