Fear of Medication

[Duckie]

I read an article few years ago about a teenager who didn't know she was allergic to medication.

Well she took it and it almost cost her, her life. She had to relearn how to walk, talk and everything. She ended up into a coma I believe.

Anyhow last night, I got home from emerg because I thought I had puemonia. Which turned out to be true. Dr gave me meds and I realized it was the kind that I remembered I couldn't take. I got very sick and tingling all over from it.

Wanting to get well and being sick, Hubby got my medication for me and said," Better take some now, so you can get better." Well I looked at the two pills for a long time in my hand. Thought well, it can't be that bad.

Well I started to feel werid immediately after I took them and I went NUMB like on my legs.

The Dr changed my meds, I have written it down now knowing that it is infact that drug that caused me problems in the past.

I just hate that feeling of out of control. Scary.

[fairyfloss]

hi duckie
i can relate to you and your fear of a medication,my fear is actually ALL MEDICATION!!! i am in the process of "self talk" whenever i take meds especially one i have never took before.i was convinced i was going to suffer every side effect and it was pure mental torture.i still suffer anxiety when swallow tabs,but i do realise it is only anxiety and not side effect, i am slowly getting there. are you allergic to just that one or is there more?

[Duckie]

I am so happy I am not alone. I do fear alot of meds only the familar ones I know I am comfortable enough with. Even when I had a root canal done, my word I thought I was going to die! The freezing they use is all natural stuff but it does make your heart beat really fast. I was in panic the whole time!! Thankfully Hubby was with me and held my hand and rubbed my leg. I'm sure the dentist was like wondering what the heck was wrong with me. I can't tolerate anything that I don't know anything about.

The meds I am on now, I think make me throw up. I only threw up once day about an hour after I took it. But I am trying not to be a huge baby about it.

Other than that, thank you for replying. There is another one I had that I took when I got migraines for panic attacks to calm me down. It made my aura last 7 hours longer!!!!!!! Holy smokes I thought I was going to lose it. Yes it calmed me down made my headaches worse. I stopped taking them immediately. I flushed them down the toliet. I couldn't take it. I am a very accurate person as far as how long my symptoms are with my migraines. The aura is a half an hour from START to FINISH! Then it goes away and I can keep puking my guts out and deal with the awful pain in my med.

Anyways off my soap box now.:shrug:

[parisdeb]

hi duckie, i also have a phobia of all medication, i cannot take a thing! i have dental treatment with no meds and i have refused tetanus, i cannot even take a cough sweet, what can we do???

parisdeb x

[fed up with it]

Oh, me too. I am unable to take anything either, i was so bad after i had an allergic reaction to penicillin, now i am so scared even after eventually taking an iron pill which i had to take i had a major panic attack. I need to have teeth extracted but i am so scared of the reaction to local even though i have had it before. its a nightmare.

[april tones]

Me too!! Im that bad i went pain free giving birth lol" and i will again with my 2nd in 5 weeks!! id rather pain than panic!
Mine stems from use to take ecstacy,speed,etc for yrs then had major reaction after 3 yrs, had breakdown,severe depression and paranoi, then had anti ds and hallucinated!
I take paracetmol but i have to talk out loud how many im taking and what time in case i take to much and forget lol!! x

[sMINT]

I remember one time I was given tablets to calm me down but they worked me up so much. Im such a hypochondriac that I always read the "Possible side effects" then convince myself that I have them.

[helen2203]

I am so happy i've come across this thread, as I too am scared of taking medications, the problem start when i took an over the counter medication for pains and got so ill, I've also found out i have bad reaction to any strong medication so i am on no medication at all.

It's nice to know i am not alone nor going crazy.

[fairyfloss]

hello everyone
i know i have already replied to this thread but do you find it a comfort to know that fellow friends are sufffering the same (not that i wish this upon you! no way) its just that we can speak so openly about it and not feel a freak!! But as i mentioned in my thread,i am actually taking "meds" and facing it "full on" and so from 1 sufferer to another,"please dont despair,because there is hope for yoos and there is light at the end of the tunnel" I know because ive been there and im heading through that tunnel now and i can see the light getting bigger and brighter every day! lol Feel free to PM me any of you.If i can help you in any way,i will ok.All of you take care xx

[Rhiannon_julia]

Hey there,

I have exactly the same problems, Im emetophobic and with all medication listed in the possible side effects is always either nausea or vomiting and I therefore will convince myself itll happen to me. Even if I force myself to take them ill then be in a constant state of panic which seems pointless when it comes to my meds for the anxiety and depression I suffer. The doctors tell me I must take them but I just dont see how. Am in need of help. Im so glad to see that im not alone in this.
Take care
xxxxxxxxx

[PHOBIA MAN]

for self talk, think of the most common phrases and change them to mickey mouse's voice, do this over and over until you can't get the old voice back. update this as often as needed.
Also use the parrot technique...imagine a parrot on your shoulder that butts in every time you NEGATIVELY self talk and questions the self talk eg.
YOU "I'm always sick every time I take these"
PARROT " Every time? are you sure?"
YOU "I just know i'm gonna freak out"
PARROT "you will if you think you will, you'll be fine"!!
Get the idea? this allows your logic to step in and weaken the emotion.


hi duckie
i can relate to you and your fear of a medication,my fear is actually ALL MEDICATION!!! i am in the process of "self talk" whenever i take meds especially one i have never took before.i was convinced i was going to suffer every side effect and it was pure mental torture.i still suffer anxiety when swallow tabs,but i do realise it is only anxiety and not side effect, i am slowly getting there. are you allergic to just that one or is there more?

[PixieL]

Hi, i have the same problem, im scared of all medications i even hate taking vitamins, even the chewy ones! but i do take those cos i dont get out much and dont get much sun so i need the vitamin D. Mines more a phobia of chokeing though, on the tablets.

[ElizabethJane]

Hi I'm allergic to many pain relieving meds including anything with codeine in it morphine tramadol NSAIDs like ibuprofen I can't take because I take lithium. Yes it is scary. Before planned surgery I can discuss with the anaesthetist what they propose to give me. They can still get it wrong. I had severe back pain and a locum doctor gave me tramadol. I was so ill. If I am conscious I can tell them and I get lots of lovely bracelets to wear on my wrist. What if I am unconscious after an accident? I'm seriously considering a medi alert bracelet which would give all the information needed. It is hard as I needed major pain relief after my hyst. Much of what they gave me made me so ill. I eventually battled it out with paracetamol and a hot pad.

[MOJO]

Hi Everyone!

I too have this problem. If there is a side effect I just KNOW I will have it! My doctor has told me to stop reading the leaflet with the side effects on but I always give in and have a sneaky look. The leaflet can be huge but my eyes are still immediately drawn to the SIDE EFFECTS heading!!! However, I was prescribed Citalopram a few weeks ago for my anxiety and decided not to read anything. I took a pill at bedtime and ended up having the worst panick attack ever! So it made no difference and when I read the side effects afterwards it said that the pills can make panic attacks worse! I would never have taken it if I had read that first! The pharmacist told me that I had obviously had a really bad reaction to the medication!:ohmy:
I just wanted to say to Duckie that I am (really!) allergic to adrenalin which the usual injection at the dentist contains. I used to have the exact same experience at the dentist, beating heart, feeling faint etc. It was the dentist who told me I must be allergic to it and I now get an adrenaline free injection. I no longer have any problems with that. I also had to tell them in hospital before I had an operation and they put a red allergy band round my wrist before I went to theatre. I guess the anaesthetic for ops also contains adrenalin?