Use caution when taking medicines
@lindaharding627 (1442)
United States
November 12, 2011 6:46am CST
Every year medicines are mislabeled. I did not know how bad the problem was until a recent health scare. I had some claritin tablets in a blister pack that I have had for awhile. My claritin tabs have always been round. The last three tablets in the package were oval shaped. I took one of them and noticed about half an hour later that I was spacing out and did not feel right. As the night progressed, I began feeling shaky and my heart was racing. I finally called my husband and told him I needed to go in. I was having chest pains. The doctor was younger and kept asking if I „took anything.„ i told him I took a claritin. He ran a drug test and it came up positive for barbiturates. This would be phenobarbital. The tablet looks similar to claritin bit is oval in shape. Transsferred from the local hospital by ambulance to a larger cardiac center and spent the night and day there before being released. Always follow your gut instinct. If the medicine does not look tthe same double check before taking
1 person likes this
5 responses
@jugsjugs (12967)
•
12 Nov 11
I know how dangerous medication can be if you do not check it before you take it.I feel that there are a few people that never check the use by date, as well as if they are on other medication that may not agree with some of the medication that you are already taking.
@GardenGerty (160626)
• United States
12 Nov 11
I can see exactly how this happened though, and I would probably have taken it. I get a store brand of Claritin, loose in a bottle. They are oval. I would have looked at that blister pack and said, "Hmmmm, they must have run out of name brand and substituted store brand." I still would have taken it. Boy you had a real scare, and mistakes like that do happen. I have had a pharmacist write the wrong dosage on something for my first husband once, but because I looked it up in a PDR ( pre internet) I knew it was wrong. The doctor had written it right, but the pharmacist did it wrong, and it could have killed him.
@nanayangel (7879)
• Philippines
12 Nov 11
Hi there Linda Harding 627!
I am sorry to hear that and I hope that you are well now. That's really scary. We should all be vigilant then. We take medicine to have better health and condition and it's just sad and scary that mistakes like that are committed. People who handle these kind of things should be very careful in doing their job because it may harm or even kill people.
@microengineer (587)
• Indonesia
12 Nov 11
I am sorry to hear that. It just like a horror. Good thing the facilities there is good. After reading, it make me remember to check out my medicine stock. I usually check it out once a year. Just to make sure that the medicine is available and still within the expiry date. I also usually throw or dissolve the medicine to sewage, when it was expired or does not have label at all. It is already 2 or 3 months late. Thank you for the sharing, it is very important message for others.
