Hello everyone:

I recently came across an elderly gentleman who was taking medications (vitamins) that he had not told anyone about. Sadly, the vitamins he thought would help him had a negative impact on the prescribed medications his doctors had given him. He ended up in the hospital for several days as his doctors tried to figure out why he had had a bad reaction to medication that they had given him.

In a chance comment to his adult children, they learned that he had been taking a vitamin that he had heard about on television. He said, “But it will help me sleep.” Yes, but when combined with the medication his doctors had given him, it almost made him sleep permanently.

Please make sure that your children and your doctors know exactly what you are taking, even if it seems pretty harmless. Do not begin putting any medications or vitamins that you hear about from magazines or television into your body, until you have discussed it thoroughly with your medical professional. Otherwise, you might not be as lucky as the man I wrote about at the beginning of the blog. His doctors changed his medications twice before they knew who the real culprit was in their patient’s medical challenges. Fortunately, his side comment made all the difference in his treatment.

Best,

Dr. Sheri