Another Medication Issue (I think)

Several days now of not being able to sleep despite being extremely tired. When I go to bed I have joint aches I don’t remember having before. So I went online and looked at the one medication I’m taking, Norvasc. The med literature does not mention insomnia or joint pain but mentions some of the other effects… but digging deeper, the FDA website shows FREQUENT complaints of insomnia and joint pain and people using this drug are vehement that the drug company doesn’t include these effects in the literature. This is particularly important to me, because my current nephrologist does not believe anything which is not in the literature, ESPECIALLY if it is on the Internet. So I have to convince him to change my meds, or quit taking it and have to find another doctor (he said he would “fire me” if I stopped another med on my own).

I’ve also had more confusion and memory problems than before, and have come close to falling more than a few times. I was blaming it on “stress” and “getting older” but these, too, can be traced to the drug, according to patient reports.

Comments (2)

  1. bgoldnyxnet

    Instead of waiting for the doctor to “fire” you, you should fire him. A doctor is supposed to keep up with this sort of thing and not just rely on the data from the drug company.

    Anyway, if you have persistent joint pain and more than one day worth of insomnia, that’s worth a doctor visit all on its own.

    Some people become doctors because they want to heal people. Some become doctors because they want the money and/or status. The latter should be avoided at all costs.

    Reply
    1. zaivala

      Only two groups of nephrologists in town. And with limited transportation, this is the only one I can easily get to. And my regular doctor requires me to have a nephrologist. But in theory, if I call the nephrologist and let him know about the drug effects he should do something, and if not then I will fire him.

      Reply

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