[eskielover]

My frustration level with meds has just another notch placed into it today. I have been sick for over a week now with flu, cold, & just the crud (the mental stuff I am going through right now). I called my GP yesterday since he is well versed in the fact that I have a reaction to penacillin & keflex along with about a page of other med side effects......(break out with penacilliy & swollen face/mouth/toung with the keflex). When I was in the hospital at the beginning of this year, I ended up with an infection in the central line I had....& they did find an antibiotic I didn't have a reaction to at the time. Don't remember what it was, but figured he would remember. He prescribed Ciprofloxacin.......I took the first one last night....& when I woke up, felt like my mouth was swollen....but decided to take the next dose anyway. About 1/2 hour after taking it, I ended up throwing up continually for about 10 minutes. I decided to call the Dr exchange (of course it always happens when my Dr isn't available). The on call Dr said to go ahead & take the next dose & see if it happens again.......(I avoid throwing up to the extreme why would I want to try it again?). I know it had to be a reaction to the med because I just won't let myself throw up if at all possible & once it was out of my stomach, the sick stomach went away.

I feel like I am getting to the point where there is nothing I can safely take without a side effect & feeling worse then I already do. It seems like my body rejects everything I put into it. I feel am lucky that the 2 meds I am taking (seroquel & fentynal) for my serious problems haven't been rejected by my body yet.

I know there are numerous other meds that are available, but it seems like I am knocking them out of being a possibility one at a time. I don't know how my body can be so sensitive. I hate trying new meds, not knowing what may happen....& my Dr's don't like trying to figure out what MIGHT work. It's not like I am making up the reactions either because I don't even look at the possibilities until after I have a reaction. The worse part is that my body doesn't have enough reserves to take care of itself with the low weight I have.

Debbie

[Azalysa]

{{{{{{{Debbie}}}}}}

Medications are so strange - there can be such different reactions/side-effects, or none at all, depending on the person.

I'm feeling similar to you but on the flip side - I'm on 4 different psych meds - the dosages have been increased - others have been tried - and nothing seems to be pulling me out of my current illness!

I don't know what the answer is...but I'm hopeful *something* will help (without awful side-effects) for us!

all i want for Christmas are meds with NO side effects!!

[(JD)]

I had to have allergy testing/desensitization to take one med that I really needed! Have you sought out an expert allergist? Not all medications come in liquid form so they can be titrated, but any expert doctor (ENT/Allergist) can, with time, make any med into a solution so they can test you, find your level of reaction and need of coverage.. and make it so you take the shot to allow you to take the medicine and receive the benefits you need!

It's a hassle, but it works. (hmm maybe I should revisit this for an antidepressant for myself? I'm just so "brittle" when it comes to reactions, and my original allergist retired...)

[eskielover]

Sky,

I had no idea that it is possible for an allergist to find something for a patient to take in order to block the bodies reaction so that it can receive the benefit from the med it reacted to. That is very fascinating. Some day when it becomes manditory to take a certain med, I will have to search out an allergist.

Luckily for antibiotics, there are many to choose from...if one doesn't work, then maybe the next one will or the next one until something is actually found that my body can tolerate. So far, I have eliminated penicillan, keflex, & cipro......luckily the biaxin turned out ok after 3 pills. I usually have the reaction on the first pill or second.....so am feeling a little positive about the biaxin.

Like you, antidepressants are impossible......it is rather rough with everything I am going through right now.......my pdoc & psychologist knows that I can't take those meds....& realizes how important therapy is in just surviving right now. Even when I went back to the psychologist I had 8 years ago, she remembered that I couldn't take the psych meds either. I didn't realize how long ago my reactions to meds actually started to become bad.

As a child, there were only a few meds I couldn't take.....now......the list seems to be unending.
Debbie