RATTLE AND UMM

The 'rattle' refers to the tablets I have to take and the 'umm' as to whether they are efficacious or not.

It seems that as you get older medicines become part of the daily diet. I remember making fun of of dear old mum over the variety of medications she had to take in her old age and now that jesting has come back to bite me on the bum as it were.

I went to the doctors to get a prescription renewal a few weeks back. I have 3 medications relating to slightly raised cholesterol and hypertension. Two of them were known here in Canada but the third, bendrofluazide, a diuretic they didn't have a clue about. They prescribed something else that I started taking but ended up having a bad allergic reaction to it. I came out in a painful rash on my arms and legs that I at first thought was a psoriasis outbreak.
Back I went to the doctors (a walk in public surgery) and another doctor examined me.
The outcome of this was three referrals to specialists:

• Heart specialist which had me undergoing ECG, echo sounding tests, treadmill fitness tests and a 72 hour heart monitor test. All clear and no problems apparently.
• A colonoscopy done last week. All clear and they said come back in 10 years.
• A skin specialist clinic appointment (January).

Now the Canadian public health system is brilliant. These 3 referrals to specialist have happened almost immediately (compared to what happens in New Zealand), are all at clinics within easy walking distance of where I live and they are all free. At home I had to pay for Southern Cross medicare to get such service.

The skin rash thing that I thought was a psoriasis flare-up got extremely bad a couple of nights ago to the point where I couldn't sleep. I surfed the net and looked up the contra actions relating to the newly prescribed drug and sure enough a side effect is a photo-sensitivity in some people that causes rashes. I had something similar a few years back as an allergic reaction to a penicillin-based antibiotic.
Back I go to the doctors and met with a third doctor. I explained the problem and offered a solution being the prednisone that fixed me last time. I had the web print-outs top show him.

 I think he was a bit miffed and took ages doing his own research but in the end prescribed me the prednisone which I have to take a course of. The stuff is magic and already after 2 days the rash is disappearing. This doctor also prescribed a replacement medication for the replacement medication that I had the allergic reaction to.

I am now taking: the two that I'm familiar with; the replacement for the replacement; the antidote to the first replacement. Bloody Nora I feel like a maraca.