ALWAYS ask the Pharmacist. MDs are not trained in the side effects of the medications they prescribe, but the Pharmacist is trained in exactly that. They know not only the side effects but the benefits as well as the contra-indications of the meds your on.
An MD once prescribed two medications for me that absolutely cannot be taken together. He was completely unaware of this. When I presented the scripts to the Pharmacist, he immediately called the doctor and asked him if his intention was to make my heart explode, because those two meds, taken at the same time, would have given me a heart attack.
Another time, a doctor of mine took me off a medication I had been on for years. Little did I know that going "cold turkey" like that would find me in the ER in 8 hours. Again, it was a Pharmacist who understood that and informed the doctor that my trip to the ER and all that I had gone through was his fault for not researching this more carefully [I was in the military at the time, and the Pharmacist was so angry about what had happened to me that he reported the MD to the Commanding Officer at that military hospital.]
I would also say this: the BEST patient advocate you will ever have will be yourself. Learn about your condition, research your meds, and by all means TALK to a Pharmacist -- they welcome the questions and may just save your life.
= new reply since forum marked as read
