Sorry to bore you again on this same subject, but something happened in the wee hours of this morning and I just had to document it.
My Mirapex came late yesterday afternoon. It was too late in the day for me to take it for the 2nd pill of the day, so I waited until bedtime. Good thing I did too.
Now usually I take my last pill around 11:00 and immediately go to bed. Well, apparently I fell asleep while reading in bed and missed my 11:00 p.m. pill. I woke up at 1:00 a.m. however and discovered my pill still in the container waiting for me to take it. I did take it at that time.
It is now 8:30 a.m. and I'm a drunk!! I mean a staggering drunk! I have a doctor's appointment in 1 1/4 hours and I know i don't dare drive like this. It's a good thing Don is home today because he'll have to take me and pick me up, even tho the doctor's office is only 2 1/2 blocks from our house. And I'm very thankful for my walker.
I'm telling you this because there is that much difference (in my body anyway) between the generic and the Brand Name drug. Parkinson's drugs are quite potent and work on the brain to replace the dopamine, which is lacking in PD patients.
I should have remembered this this reaction when they increased my dosage a a few short weeks ago. Now I don't dare take my morning dosage or I'll be flat on my back in bed. I will have to delay first pill of the day until 1:00 this afternoon at least and then perhaps only take a half a pill. Then try to get back on track with a full pill at bedtime tonight.
Who would ever think that going from a generic to Brand Name or Brand Name to generic could ever make that much difference.
I remember when I first met with the neurologist concerning Parkinson's. He did explain that we'll be going through lots of periods of medication adjustment.
Next week we'll cover a different subject, I promise.
Mary
Oh no, Mary. I wish that hadn't happened. That seems such a lame thing to say because of course I wish that and certainly you do too. I just hate that you have to go through all this extra in side effects when the problem iyself is so acute as it is.
ReplyDeleteLove and soft hugs..I hope to goodness the Dr. can do sonething to lessen this for you today.
Medication is so scary. I hope your back on track now. I know even OTC meds can cause problems and I don't have your problems. Took the recommended dosage the Doc. said of Niacin and past out and feel down a flight of stairs. Fortunately no serious injury.
ReplyDeleteHope you are feeling better today. Guess you know now To never take these pills off schedlule. But mistakes are part being human.
ReplyDeleteWow, that's crazy, but I can see how it would happen. My mom is diabetic and when the doctor increased the dosage of her Glucophage she felt very fatigued. She decided to take only a half a pill a day and now she feels much better.
ReplyDeleteMary
ReplyDeleteYesterday Abby bit me and this morning with a swollen inflamed wrist I went to the Dr. She gave me a prescription and although the name brand was listed on the script, they pharmacy prescribed generics. I had to think to what you have just written about generics VS name drugs. Hoping these will work as well as the name antibiotic.
xoxoxox
I hope you feel better. :)
ReplyDeleteI'm cheap... so I usually buy generic everything. Thanks for the warning. I hope you get your meds under control.
ReplyDeleteGod bless and have a wonderful week :-)
*The Old Geezer Blog
My Hubby had the same thing happen when he went from Lamictal to Lamotrigine (generic)...the web was stuffed with angry people! This is an anti seizure med so you can imagine what was happening.
ReplyDeleteHi, Hope all is ok now.
ReplyDeleteCloon's Human: I hope everything will get adjusted back for you to feel better again and be able to function because that must be tremendously hard. You will be in my thoughts. I have always intuitively felt that there was a big difference between brand name drugs and generics and of course you have just demonstrated that for sure. I think that is especially the case with drugs that work with brain chemistry and the nervous system. What a courageous blog you have here. Bravo. Take care and I hope you will be feeling better very soon.
ReplyDeleteHi, you probably know this, but I'll mention it because I didn't, and it caused problems for me. Check with your doctor before cutting pills in half, especially time released medicine. I cut mine in half and it caused all the medicine to be released at once. I didn't know, and got quite a scolding from my doctor when I told him. You are a lot more educated about meds than I am, so I hope I haven't bored you!
ReplyDeletePurrs,
Paula, Twinkletoe Tails Mom