Well, it has been a while but I had to get this out there. For the last 3 years of my life I have been feeling kind of lousy. I had a myriad of bothersome muscular pain, occasional dizziness, muscle cramps, shortness of breath and last but not least, escalating anxiety. In the process of trying to figure out what was going on here, I was told I should have my gall bladder removed a couple of years ago. OK, you're the doctor. I thought this would solve the problem. Well, I did feel slightly better but not good.
This all started because somehow I was convinced I needed to get a physical when I turned 50. I entered the doctors office feeling great and came out and felt like crap for the last 3 years. Thanks for that!
I was trying to convince myself that this malaise was just part of the aging process and I would have to deal with it. Fortunately, I was wrong.
I've never been a big medication fan and until my 50th never really took anything outside of some advil, tylenol or aspirin. Well, my doc suggested that I take Prilosec OTC every day for treatment of my heartburn and GERD. I had been taking it for about....3 years. You see where this is going? It didn't occur to me that this drug (with the safe sounding OTC (over the counter) in its name) might have such serious and debilitating side effects. The packaging didn't give me any clues as to what this medication could do.
On a lark, I decided about 8 days ago to stop taking the Prilosec. I was grasping at anything at this point to try to feel better. Within 24 hours every symptom was gone. I felt as if I came out of a haze. I felt like me again for the first time in over 3 years. I still haven't come close to having any of the negative symptoms that I listed above. I have three words to say here "What the FUCK!"
I went up to the internet to research side effects as soon as I realized I was cured of the 3 year curse. I feel like a fool for doing this so late in the game but late is soooooooooooo much better than never. I visited this sight named askapatient.com and any others I could find. I discovered on askapatient that my side effects were not unique. Son of a bbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbb. God damn it! I cannot believe I suffered through this and the info was a few clicks away. While I am frustrated that it took me so long to figure out, I am ecstatic about the way I feel. Pissed and giddy at the same time...
This "Say no to Drugs" thing has a whole new meaning for me. The crap the drug industry peddles seems far more dangerous than the one I used occasionally in college which had me frantically looking for a Oreo cookies. My advice, be careful what you put in your body. Just because your doctor tells you to take something, don't give up your absolute right to decide what you do with your own body. The info is out there....be diligent...be decisive....be smart.
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