Fred: Problems with multiple medicines (II) – Accidents and making mistakes with medicines
Listen to patients and health professionals speak about their experience with taking multiple medicines.
Fred
Male
Age at interview: 76
Number of medicines: 7
Cultural background: British
Fred became increasingly ill when two of his medicines interacted. This was not picked up until it was a medical emergency and his life was in danger.
Well, it's a bit of a story too [laughs] like most illnesses. We had a little bit of trouble about this time last year with the heart and the specialist put me onto this medicine, Crestor and Sotalol. It wasn't Crestor. It was another thing. And I said, ‘I think this stuff's killing me’. And he said, ‘Oh, it shouldn't, but I'll change it’. He changed it to Crestor and didn't stop the Sotalol. Well, that's what he should have done. He should have stopped the Sotalol, because I just kept on getting crook and vomiting. Be walking along and get dizzy and vomit a bit more and put up with that.
The doctor keeps telling my wife to expect my demise at any time and telling me not to make any appointments, because it will cause the family too much distress when they have to ring up and cancel them. Next thing, now this night and I'm thinking of all of this and I'm crook, I'm vomiting, going on and shivering. I said, ‘Well, you better get the ambulance’. So we went in there. What's causing the vomiting? They took me off all fluids and that and that didn't help me. Gave me a drip … The next thing, ‘We better admit you for the night’. So they admitted me and then the next thing they put this heart monitor on me that they relayed back to the office what was happening. The heartbeat's down to 20. They're rushing around, working things out, and decided that it was the Sotalol. Took me off that and I haven't been vomiting or shivery or anything like that since.
The Living with multiple medicines project was developed in collaboration with Healthtalk Australia.