Is it really worth the risks?

[golding]

Last week, I was reading that Requip for restless legs syndrome can cause hallucinations. Do you think this is a serious side effect? Would it stop you from taking the medication? Would you still take a medication if you knew that it could cause brain damage, or hallucinations or narcolepsy (sudden sleep), or some other serious illness. Would you take a medication if the risks outweighed the benefits?

[egann]

Last week, I was reading that Requip for restless legs syndrome can cause hallucinations. Do you think this is a serious side effect? Would it stop you from taking the medication? Would you still take a medication if you knew that it could cause brain damage, or hallucinations or narcolepsy (sudden sleep), or some other serious illness. Would you take a medication if the risks outweighed the benefits?

At this point, the only side affect I'm worried about is weight gain. Or the inability to loss weight. Or intensified cravings. I used to take this no smoking pill. I stopped because it gave me terrible nightmares. I have sincce quit smoking long ago, but the side effects were aweful, constant dry mouth, night sweats. that's enough for me. It would really have to be a life saver!

[emmanuil54]

Honestly, I try to stay as far away from prescriptions as possible. I'm not some kind of naturalist or anything. But, I'm always hearing about some new lawsuit brought on by people who have taken prescription drugs. If I'm not dying, I'm not going to take it. And, if I were dying, I wouldn't need to take it. I get pretty bad migraines, or sinus pain most weeks. So, I might have to start taking a prescription for that. Not looking forward to it. But, even over the counter medications (that used to be prescription only) can actually cause as much damage. When Aleve first came out, people tried to take it every few hours like Tylenol, even though dosage is only one or two pills daily. And, lots ended up with liver damage. I think I heard someone mention renal failure. Renal, is that the liver? Or, kidneys. Maybe hepatic is the liver. Someone help me out on this one. I can't remember. It's been years since my medical training. Must brush off the old books.

[darrick34]

Definitely not. The human body isn't something to be trifled with. I would rather have a doctor counsel me on certain medications before they are prescribed to me.

[sheridan93]

I saw a commercial for an asthma medication. One of the side-effects is shortness of breath. Sometimes the side-effects are worse than the symptom the meds are treating. I think they need to clean the slate, start over, and instead of making 8 billion different medications, just expand the good ones. I know, I know. I'm dreaming. I don't like taking any kind of medication. I don't know what I do today will do to me tomorrow, or in 20 years. They have medicines with side-effects like kidney failure, stomach pain, liver damage. I can't believe the FDA will okay those, but not allow a person with RLS to smoke pot!! Sorry, wrong discussion. But, my point is the same. Requip causes hallucinations and who knows what else, while pot would probably quiet a persons legs without terrible side-effects. They might want to take a bag of chips or something while they go sit and relax.

[wattekinson86]

If the side effects sound bad to me from a medication I simply look for another one. For example, I have restless leg syndrome. I take mirapex instead of requip. No side effects in my experience. Most health problems have such a variety of meds that can be tried. And of course, a med may lists loads of different possible side effects, but you may experience none. I think it's always worth giving something a try.