Read the instructions!

Many people say Filipinos don’t read. They either rely on spoken directions or simply accept what “experts” or professionals tell them. To be fair, a majority of us defer to experts because of their degrees, licenses and experience.

But through the years, I have learned that what works for a million won’t necessarily be safe for one person, like a young child named Charlotte who became ill from a routine school vaccine. This was way before COVID was even a thing.

She got ill in a bad way, but the process of elimination excluded the vaccine as cause of partial paralysis. A medical expert explained to me that the child may have had a pre-existing medical issue or complication that was made worse with the improper introduction of the vaccine.

That was when I learned and memorized the term “adverse reaction” or getting worse from a medicine or treatment that otherwise was meant to cure you. In spite of her damage, Charlotte carried on through life, often in a wheelchair and recently graduated magna cum laude and was immediately hired.

Unfortunately, I did not learn my lesson well from that incident and went on with life, also taking medicines based on trust and confidence in a physician. Pre-COVID pandemic, one of my physician friends prescribed a pain killer that was aggressively marketed by pharma and pushed by GPs and specialists alike.

The pain killer was indeed popular, so one day I took one before writing one of my columns. In about an hour I momentarily fainted. My doctor friend told me not to use the medicine, hydrate and keep him posted.

I decided to read the leaflet for the meds, and I found out that one of the adverse reactions was fainting. I also learned that there were isolated cases associated with cardiac-related incidents.

Since then, I would, when I have the time, read the leaflet and fine prints that come with medicines, but I generally react to the information with indifference or make a mental note only to forget.

I have had a series of angioplasty and in the last 14 months I’ve had incidents of atrial fibrillation. When the second bout happened last April, my condition finally got my attention.

AFIB is not a simple case of erratic heartbeat like I viewed it. You are literally a walking time bomb, and top of the class as candidate most likely to get a stroke, brain bleed or heart attack. I was so shocked I started to read everything I could about the condition, the medicines, etc.

Many readers who are taking maintenance medicines don’t think much about it, but I was shocked and disappointed that my favorite suha or pomelo is not recommended for people on maintenance medicines.

I shared the info among friends and most of them never even read that bit of information. So, OK, I can abstain from pomelo. But there are other things out there that can harm you, mess up your medication or simply scare the life out of you.

I just had that experience these past few days because I did not want lengthy consultations with doctors up to their necks with patients. We commonly refer to it as failing to share information or advise our doctors about diet and lifestyle.

I will unabashedly admit I use a hospital issue “wee-wee” bottle or urinal at night to avoid trips to the toilet and sleep disruption. Another reason for using the plastic bottle is it minimizes accidents like walking into a chair, a door or the like. Many senior friends admit to this practice.

One unintended benefit, if you would call it that, is the “wee-wee” bottle also shows you how much you pissed at night and the quality of your urine. It’s all about the shade and if you really draw the short straw, a certain scent will tell you you’re screwed.

I have never once had any urine concern until last week when my piss seemed darker than average. After three days, I had piss the color of rum and I knew I had blood in the mix. What worried me was that I felt no pain, no symptoms or indicators.

So, I reached out to my doctor friend, who advised to me lay-off certain meds, get a urinalysis, blood tests and hydrate like fish out of water. All that helped improve the situation and based on all my tests, I was OK except for an RBC marker.

All this motivated me to research on each and every tablet I was taking, especially on the adverse reactions. Two of my meds apparently trigger the red pee symptoms because I am on so much blood thinners. But what caught my attention was one label that warned patients about citric juices or fruits.

I may have stopped eating pomelo, which I miss, but as it turns out I was overcompensating with three large ice cubes of calamansi juice every morning, three to four cups of coffee and not enough water for the summer. I was having daily cocktails guaranteed to scare anybody.

I’m not out of the woods yet until the doctor says so, but next time I will be asking all the questions and reading the instructions.

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