This might be my all time, most hated quote from patients. Especially when I was working at the cancer centre. These people are being pumped full of poison that is pushing them towards an inch of their lives - naturally you will feel like shit for a few days. When I offer you some way of preventing the nausea, vomiting, diarrhea and heartburn that will surely ensue, don't tell me that you 'dont like taking pills'.
Case #1 - A patient comes in for her third round of chemo and I go in to drop off her steroids to prevent her from becoming a human fountain a few days later. I then ask her how her last round went. She says that she did, in fact, become a human fountain and could hardly get out of bed. I asked her how she took her meds (a pharmacist trick to see if they listened to us time without being condescending). She replied, oh, I didn't take them, I figured I was on enough medication and didn't need to pop pills. She went on about how sick she was. If the cancer wasn't going to kill her, I would have. Anyways, I told her that if she wanted to feel better, she needs to take her meds that I'm giving her. Moron.
Case #2 - A patient came in for another round of chemo and ended up puking all over the floor before the drugs even went into her. This sometimes happens when people associate a certain setting with past nauseating experiences, which is why we gave her gravol, dexamethasone and ondansetron before she came in. She failed to take them of course, because she "didn't like taking pills". Argh.
Case #3 - This one is from community experience, and isn't so much a case as it is a collective observation. If you don't take your blood pressure/antibiotic/antidepressant pills you most likely won't get better. I know you sometimes can't feel the effects of too little blood pressure/antibiotic/antidepressant drugs in your body, but it does affect how you feel. Take your damn pills.
That pretty much sums up my rant for today. I figured since I'm staying home from work due to the flu I should do something pharmacy related... such as bitching. Cheers!
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...if they don't like to take their pills, I sure as hell hope they like to die...
Did I tell you about the mystery illness where a middle aged lady came back from Mexico ended up in hospital with heart failure, various flu like symptoms and large purple welts all over her (not from her husband, either.... I can read your mind...)
Anyways, she had been seeing a Naturopath, and she picked out her own herbals... because her body would now what it needed and her fingers would *tingle* as her had passed over it. So she brought in about 10 bottles of various tinctures and tablets and teas.... Most of the labels were in Chinese, she didn't know what they were, where they were from or even how old all this shit was. Plus, she didn't take any anti-malarials because she didn't like "poisoning her body with drugs".
I wasn't impressed.
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