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Too many mistakes

MONIREN profile image
17 Replies

I've been struggling with bad angina and blood pressure all over the place. My long time gp left end of year, next one struggled to make decisions. Finally found another new one at same clinic, she is young but very thorough. She kept asking when I took my medications, 24 in Webster pack. I asked for a hospital pharmacist to review meds, she couldn't find any problems. Got the pharmacy who does Webster pack to do a printout, the gp I only saw a couple of times didn't write out strong enough Metroprolol, only 50 mg once a day instead of twice a day. Plus 2 medications put in Webster pack wrong times. Felt like none believed my symptoms. Hopefully now there might be improvements. So thankful my new gp was persistent and believed me. It's hard as a female, because I don't fit in the perceived box they have of heart attacks. I've already had 3 heart attacks and 5 stents, keep my cholesterol under 4, yet I still clot. I had years of deep depression, now I can't change the damage that was done. I have other health problems, trying my best. Just trying to get others to keep an eye on their medications and keep trying to be heard.

Take care. Moni

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MONIREN profile image
MONIREN
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17 Replies
BeKind28- profile image
BeKind28-

Hello :-)

I am so sorry to read what you have been going through all because no one would take you seriously but thank goodness that you found a different Doctor who did and could see you were right sometimes these new trained Doctors can be a lot better than the one's that have been around for a while who can sometimes get complacence

With the correct dosage of meds now I really hope things improve :-)

I also understand not fitting into the normal box maybe not with my heart but with other things in life and not a nice place to be as well as when you suffer long enough with anxiety or depression I to believe it can get to a stage where it is irreversible but we have to keep trying :-)

Let us know how you get on :-) x

MONIREN profile image
MONIREN in reply to BeKind28-

Thank you for your kindness in replying, I'm sure you have difficulties as well. I think there are many professionals that are too ready to prescribe instead of thinking of another way. I'm on the treadmill of too many medications, every time they just add another one. I'm not trained and don't understand enough to fight against it. Please take care of yourself. Moni

BeKind28- profile image
BeKind28- in reply to MONIREN

Hello :-)

I wished I had the answers for you , I relate to more and more tablets been prescribed and how it makes you feel and I just hope it helps a little to know that you are not the only one that feels this way and we are here to listen when you need to talk :-) x

MONIREN profile image
MONIREN in reply to BeKind28-

Appreciate that!!

BeKind28- profile image
BeKind28- in reply to MONIREN

:-) x

Bluehope81 profile image
Bluehope81

Thank you, Moni, you are an inspiration to keep pushing and working our way through, and you are right everyone should check their medications from to time, thanks for sharing,

MONIREN profile image
MONIREN in reply to Bluehope81

Thank you for your kindness in replying. Take care. Moni

Heyjude31 profile image
Heyjude31

Hi Moni, I am so sorry to hear of your challenges. It is so distressing and debilitating when we can’t get satisfactory answers. Thankfully it sounds as though your current doctor is listening. I read in your bio you are also diabetic and these experiences can play havoc with our blood sugars which is also distressing. I think you are both brave and strong to keep on going to get the right answers. A lesson for us all. Take good care, Judi x

MONIREN profile image
MONIREN in reply to Heyjude31

Thank you for your reply. I find it difficult to convey what my symptoms are in the first place. I did thank my gp for not only hearing but also listening. Take care. Moni

Heyjude31 profile image
Heyjude31 in reply to MONIREN

You take care too x

MountainGoat52 profile image
MountainGoat52

Hi Moni,

Sorry to hear about the shortcomings in your care. Hopefully with the new GP things will improve significantly.

Just a thought... if you still have a tendency to clot with a cholesterol level of 4, then have you had your homocysteine level checked? After my heart attack there was a lot of head scratching as to the cause as I was not typical. I had tests for LP(a) and homocysteine and the latter was found to be high. It is easily treated by taking vitamin B.

All the best,

Gerald

MONIREN profile image
MONIREN in reply to MountainGoat52

It is always good to think outside the box. I do have low iron and part of b12. I get b12 injections and strong iron tablets. My biggest problem is stress, I'm my husbands carer, he isn't well. We have help through the Australian Aged care program. But I will look into it and chat to gp. Thank you for the suggestion. Take care. Moni

Smitty1956 profile image
Smitty1956

Hi, Moniren,

I am so sorry that you have had to go through all of this. Three HAs and 5 stents sounds like so much to have to deal with—but, yet, it sounds like you have managed to find a way. To me, you sound like a strong person!

I have been taking 75mg of metropolol daily for about 14 months. It does seem to keep my heart rate lower (thank goodness!) since my HA. What you were taking (100 mg daily) does seem like a whole lot! Are you feeling better now that the dosage has been corrected/lowered?

Thank you for reminding all of us to check our medications and dosages, and to be our own best advocates for good medical care if we are able to do so. After all, doctors are just fellow humans, who can sometimes make human errors.

I hope that you can feel better now that you got all of your medications correctly sorted with your doctor and pharmacist. Your post has important lessons for all of us! ❤️

MONIREN profile image
MONIREN in reply to Smitty1956

Thank you for your reply, it is high, but then most of my heart medications are at their highest levels. Been on Metroprolol for 12yrs, except for a year on Bisoprolol, which wasn't successful. My cardiologist wasn't cooperative and said if I wanted to go back to Metroprolol my gp could do it, so the mistake was made. Still waiting for the change to make a difference. Early days. Take care. Moni

MONIREN profile image
MONIREN in reply to Smitty1956

Just an update, my gp has found another medication was at wrong level. Ivabradine, double the strength it should be for unstable angina. So that was 4 medications either wrong times or wrong strength. She wants an echo done, trying to contact my cardiologist. She allowed me to pause Repatha, fortnightly injection for cholesterol, I can barely walk because of pain. My cholesterol has never been a problem, always around 3. Last week started pain on right side at back, not sure if it's an infection in kidneys. Can't get to see her till Wednesday, it's Saturday here in Australia. Hope everyone is coping. Take care. Moni

Smitty1956 profile image
Smitty1956

Oh my gosh! I am so very sorry that you have had all of this trouble with your medications. I can possibly understand how a mistake might be made with one medication—but with four?? That seems like incompetence.

Again, I am sorry that you are suffering because of all of these errors. I can relate to your back pain. Several months ago, I started having terrible back pain over what I felt were my lungs. The pain was primarily on my right side, but sometimes both. I honestly thought that I was having lung issues because of this pain and difficulty breathing. That is mainly why I had a CT scan on May 17th.

My doctor had mentioned the possibility of pulmonary hypertension so off to get the CTScan. From that exam, the doctor noted a possibly enlarged heart and an enlarged diameter pulmonary artery. I was sent to a cardiologist, who ordered an echocardiogram in August.

I got the report from that testing, but I will finally see the cardiologist this coming Friday to find out what the report actually says. I had to wait from August to November to find out more. No one has mentioned anything about my lungs in the meantime.

My last flare-up of back pain (in the last month) was located lower in my back, and, like you, I suspected kidney issues. Since April/May, I have been cutting back on my diuretic, HCTZ, because it was possibly causing some kidney damage, so, now, I worry a lot about that. I was taking a combination drug of Lisinopril/HCTZ (40 mg/25mg), but she has now written the prescription for each drug separately, and I take the HCTZ only every other day. In fact, over the last month or two, I have sometimes gone up to 4 days without the HCTZ. I will need to check with her on that.

I apologize for giving so much information about myself. I just wanted to say that I can totally understand your worry and anxiety over your medications and these new pains/health concerns. We would probably all like to think that dispensing medication is an exact science, but it just isn’t. We all react to things differently. Some ingredients might cause an allergy, or awful side effects for me, while you might be fine with the same ingredients. It seems like it takes a great deal of tweaking, or trial and error, to get dosages right for us.

I do hope that you can get all of this sorted soon. Be sure to let your doctor know about all of the back pain and any other symptoms that you might be having. As others on this site have suggested, make written notes about these things so that you can share specific information with your doctor(s).

Thank you for updating me, and best wishes for getting it all quickly sorted. ❤️💕

MONIREN profile image
MONIREN in reply to Smitty1956

Wow, sorry to hear about your health problems. I said to my gp last week, that it's difficult to isolate a health problem when you have a few different conditions. I hope you get yours sorted. Take care. Moni

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