Please ask your pharmacist and read label!

[Kapohocat]

Over the weekend, the results of the autposy for our friend's daughter in HA came in. Needless to say the senseless death of a bright intelligent responsible 19 year old girl upset everyone. The results showed a "accidental overdose"... not from illegal drugs BUT from a prescription that was given after her outpatient surgery. The drug prescribed was NOT to be taken within 12-24 hours after anesthesia. The dr told her and her escort to "pick up prescription on the way home and take it before pain started" ...as anesthesia wore off. The warning label that came with the prescription said nothing about it. The tox screen said she had Less than the prescribed dose in her system. The ME said it was a combo of the anesthesia and the prescription that caused respiratory arrest.

The mfg info sheet that is in the bottle before it is broken up into prescriptions HAD this information but not the info sheet given to the patient. (and thank you Mike @ Safeway for changing their's right away!)

So please please please ask your pharmacist when picking up prescriptions about drug interactions... read the warnings, ask to see the mfg warnings also.

Also ask the anesthesioligist to sign off on any prescriptions written by the discharging dr that are given after outpatient surgery (that is supposed to be SOP but offices get busy).

Nothing can bring Amanda back but my friend wants to keep other people's children from dying.

[Carey]

Just a note, EVERY pharmasist is able & should be willing, to give you a copy of the information sheet that comes with the suppliers packaging. Ask for it & read it prior to taking any medication (there are many food/drug interactions that most of us would not even think about, so that reduce the effectivity of the drug, others can increase the potency of a drug) ALWAYS ALWAYS check mfg written instructions, esp. when changing, adding a drug and at least once a year for long time prescriptions (the information can change over time). Some are available on-line, but it is best to get the one sent with the drug you are takeing.
Aloha, Carey

[JerryCarr]

It is also very important to be aware of the possible side effects and interaction of any over-the-counter medicines one might be taking. With more and more prescription meds being sold OTC, the possibility of problems is rising in this regard.

Also, the ingredient list for many popular drugstore remedies such as Nyquil should be closely examined. These medicines sometimes contain things which certain people should avoid, such as alcohol.

Aloha,
Jerry

[malolo]

Thanks for starting this thread Kapohocat.
I'm very sorry to hear of your friend's terrible loss.

This next bit probably belongs in a thread of its own, but since it's related, I hope you don't mind if I post it here:

"Infections contracted in hospitals are the fourth largest killer in the United States, causing as many deaths as AIDS, breast cancer and auto accidents combined. One out of every twenty hospital patients gets an infection. That's two million Americans a year, and an estimated 103,000 of them die.

Amazing, yah?
(That's 171 sets of towers since 9/11!)

The rest of the site is easily as scary:
http://www.hospitalinfection.org/infectionfacts.shtml

This next bit?
15 Steps You Can Take to Reduce Your Risk of a Hospital Infection?
I'm forever printing it out, giving it away, or pointing folks to the link.

Like you, I prefer that people live long and prosper.
http://www.hospitalinfection.org/protectyourself.shtml

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~



Edited by - malolo on 10/30/2006 20:35:43

[toucano]

One thing that people often forget to mention to their doctor or pharmacist are the herbal remedies that they take because they do not think of them as "drugs".

For example ginko biloba has quite a few possible adverse interactions, including:

Anticonvulsant medications
High doses of Ginkgo biloba could decrease the effectiveness of anticonvulsant therapy in patients taking carbamazepine or valproic acid to control seizures.

Blood-thinning medications
Ginkgo has blood-thinning properties and therefore should not be used if you are taking anticoagulant (blood-thinning) medications, such as aspirin, clopidogrel, dipyridamole, heparin, ticlopidine, or warfarin.

[nanasohana]

Last week while at work John got some material in his eye and had to go to the Doctor. When he picked up a prescription for drops for his eye, he happened to read the label and it said "ear drops". He asked the lady why it said that and she said "oh its for ears or eyes". The parmacist heard this and ran up and said "oh no..that can't be used in the eyes..that would have lead to a big lawsuit...hahahaha" and took it and changed it. Uh...sure glad john noticed.

[Kapohocat]

Thank you all for the kind words...

In regards to staph, the Big Island two years ago had one of the first big outbreaks of CA-MRSA - similar to the staph at hospitals but the outbreak was community related not hospital related (and not from swimming at the hot ponds...)

In construction community, it spread (we think) from one carpenter that had staph. of course tools are shared and jobsites arent the most hygenic places... but then others who had nothing to do with construction got it. I got it and it looked like a centipede bite at first. Now I clean and cover any scratch or injury with polysporin right away no matter how minor AND clean all our tools with cholrox wipes every week... tried to get the guys to do it but ... they think I am kookie for doing it. But then they only had to take anitbiotics orally - i had intravenous in ER....

Here's some info:
http://www.health.ri.gov/disease/communi...060705.php

[HiloHaole]

It's a state law in Hawaii that a pharmacist (not one of the techs) must OFFER counseling on a new prescription. That's the law!!! The patient has the right to refuse this offer. Some medications used for the eyes can be used for the ears; however, the reverse is not true. The flippant attitude of the pharmacist was inappropriate when remarking about such a serious matter.