Read That Leaflet

Reading the leaflet attached to a drug pack before ingesting the drug can save you.  This can really save you! 

My god mother is a hypertensive patient. Once, she went to see the doctor and the following drugs were prescribed: Lisinopril, amlodipine and Indapamide. She carried on with the medications and felt really better. However, some weeks down the line after she started the medications, she began having this strange cough. Initially, she thought it was an ordinary cough and she was hoping it would subside after sometime. But, the cough continued and became worse. 

At that point, she proceeded to the pharmacy and she was given a cough syrup to help with the cough. She said, “whenever I take the cough syrup, the cough subsides only very temporarily and comes back even worse than it was”. Again, she thought the cough could have resulted due to an allergic reaction to something she is ingesting, and had to do a few adjustments to her meal. Still, the cough persisted!

When she spoke to me about it, I strongly encouraged her to go to the hospital and get medical attention. Then, she decided to call her doctor to have a chat about how she was feeling. Immediately, the doctor asked for a list of the blood pressure drugs she was  taking. Then, he  asked her to discontinue one of the drugs ; lisinopril, and told her that the cough will gradually reduce  until it stops totally when she discontinues the drug. She adhered to the doctor’s instruction and the cough reduced and disappeared as the doctor had predicted. 

Apparently, one of the side effects of lisinopril includes a dry tickly cough that doesn’t go away. So, reading the leaflet of a drug before ingesting it would go a long way in informing one on the RED FLAGS to watch out for when consuming any drug. Taking out that extra 2-5 minutes reading the leaflet attached to the drug before consumption could turn out to be a life saver. 

So, going forward, please endeavour to read the leaflet that comes with the drug and do not hesitate to seek medical attention when you start noticing something strange. Remember to take good care of your health. Do not self-medicate. Always get medical help from medical professionals. And, stay safe and well!

Have a great weekend ahead 

Gpland

xoxo