Its been 4 days since I started the pills.
Since I only need to take Diane and Ranitidine daily whereas Reductil and Pharmaton are to be taken every other day, I have attributed the constant nausea to either Diane or Ranitidine.
I don't wanna risk stopping Diane just to see whether its the Ranitidine or Diane that's causing the nausea, but I'll be done with Diane in a few weeks, but there's no rest with Ranitidine, so I can gauge which of the two is causing the nausea.
In the meantime, I guess I'll just have to use one of the home remedies like drinking peppermint tea or ginger ale.
The annoying this is that the nausea stays throughout the day.
Today (Reductil & Pharmaton free day), I took Ranitidine at 8am, had breakfast a few minutes after and took Diane after breakfast - around 9am.
By 9.15am, I felt nauseous, by around 10am I was pretty tired (both possible side effects of Diane) and went to bed.
I've been thinking its pretty odd, that I would feel tired (and possibly the nausea) with Diane, since that didn't happen when I took it in 2002, but I figured my body might've changed quite a bit since then.
On Tuesday I'm going for my general check up (blood test, urine test, BP etc) with my GP so I'm gonna check with her about this.
Anyway, when I woke up around 12.30pm, I felt pretty weak, shaky in fact and somewhat uncoordinated (which is normal when I haven't had a meal or am low on sugar).
Made myself something proper to eat and after that, I was ok.
Still feeling nauseous at this point and in fact it tends to be an underlying thing for me nowadays.
Normally its pretty 'light' nausea, meaning to say I don't actually start gagging or anything.
But today, that happened twice, but I didn't throw up - well I wouldn't since I took Diane at 9am and it hasn't been 6 hours since then yet...I don't wanna waste a pill and have to take it again..then go through another long cycle of feeling nauseated.
Other than the nausea, I've been having a slight (but annoying headache) from 6pm Thursday to around 4.30pm Friday. Went to bed on Thursday with the headache, woke up Friday with the headache.
Mentioned this in my previous blog.
Also experiencing tenderness of the tatas (experienced this when I took Diane in 2002), ab cramps (Diane - did not experience this in 02), bitter taste in my mouth (Reductil side effect) and some GERD-ing (normal for me actually).
The Ranitidine is meant to help with the GERD, so I think I'll just have to wait until the pill makes whatever it is in my stupid belly to settle down.
I cannot be sure if I feel hungry or its the nausea, but as of today, no more gastric pangs.
I've had something light around 4pm, just to make sure I don't start getting weak or anything - Nutella on white bread; surprisingly, Nutella has a low GI content. Awesome!
Dinner will be soon then I'm trying out the peppermint tea.
Oh I feel so vomitous!
Showing posts with label side effects. Show all posts
Showing posts with label side effects. Show all posts
Saturday, October 3, 2009
Friday, October 2, 2009
2nd opinion
So after a most unsatisfactory diagnosis that lasted all of 5 minutes with no explanation on what I had and what it means, I decided I should at least google up Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome and find out what it meant.
I also decided to call up another ob-gyn (not my GP) for a second opinion; my appointment was the following day at 11am.
When I met the ob-gyn, Dr Y, I showed her blood test results and what the previous doctor diagnosed me with. Dr Y I asked whether any other tests were done to confirm I have PCOS and I said no.
So she said "Let's do an ultrasound and just check."
So we did an ultrasound and there they were, black masses in my ovaries, both sides.
Dr Y asked me if I was married and if I planned to get married and have kids. I said 'no' to the former and 'who knows what would happen in the future; I may meet someone', to the latter.
Then I told her I read that infertility could be an issue for people with PCOS - she said that was exactly why she asked me those questions and that if I planned on getting pregnant, we'd have to re-look the meds.
She decided to let me stay on Diane, since she said they worked for me in the past (with regard to my skin condition). Her alternative med was Androcur, which was pretty pricey.
Since Diane made me (and will make me) put on weight, she also recommended I take Reductil, known as a 'diet' pil that basically suppresses your desire to eat and convinces you that you're full.
Later that day after some research on the side effects and lots of thinking, I decided Diane and Reductil it is, Androcur will have to wait.
Wednesday (day after consultation with Dr Y), I went to the clinic to pick up my prescription. There I realised that supressing my appetite could make my gastric worse, since I'll be eating less.
So the good dr prescribed me Ranitidine also, which would help with my gastric.
I went down to the clinic's pharmacy and found out that Ranitidine would cost me $150 in total (for 1 month's supply), but was advised by the pharmacist that regular pharmacies would carry them at a cheaper price.
So I took my Reductil, went to Caring and bought 2 months' supply of Ranitadine at $24 for a month.
At 1.30pm I popped Ranitidine and Reductil with water; 30 minutes later, I started feeling nauseous.
I had my lunch, popped Diane and Pharmaton for my low iron and ended up going to the toilet twice one hour apart. True to its warning, I experience dry mouth within 2hrs of popping my 1st Reductil .
My nausea stayed on until 7.45pm when I couldn't stand it anymore and threw up.
My stomach felt better really quickly.
That night for dinner around 10pm I had half a 6" of a Subway sandwich. Odd I already felt full when normally I could eat a whole 6" straight (no naughty jokes pls).
At 2am I was hungry again, so I had the rest of the sandwich.
The next morning I took the Ranitidine and Diane, since Dr Y informed me to take Pharmaton and Reductil only every other day.
I had a fairly good breakfast; neither too heavy or too light and around 1pm had lunch, also not too heavy, but quite good.
Probably less than 10tbs of rice and 1 small chicken.
Frankly, this would've been the amount of food I'd eat before I started taking Diane.
Around 2pm I started feeling really sleepy, which apparenly can be one of the side effects of Diane.
I woke up at 6pm with a slight headache, which I initially attributed to the sun (for some reason, whenever the sun shines directly on me, I get headaches or migraines, sometimes I even feel nauseous).
The headache was manageable, but I didn't wanna take any aspirin.
It lasted through the night and in the morning when I woke up, I still had the headache.
At 9am I had eggs and toast for breakfast (found out that PCOSers need loads of protein and fibre), with Diane and Ranitidine right after.
Around 3pm I went out, still with the headache and now starting to feel nauseous, too.
I went to La Village, straight to the pharmacy and after checking with the pharmacist, got meself some Actifast Panadol.
He also told me I could have a max of 2 Ranitidine if my tummy was bothering me, which it was.
So I took one more Ranitidine and after lunch, took 2 Panadols.
30min a bit of head massaging later, the headache finally went away, but the nausea remained.
Its now 6.50pm, almost 4 hrs after my last meal. If experience has taught me anything, its that I need to have something substantial in my belly every 4 hrs at least whenever my gastric is acting up, which it has been even before I started popping all these pills.
I hope toasted ham and cheese will do it; pointless to take Reductil when I'm still eating like a horse tho.
God save me....I hope the headaches won't last the whole week.
I also decided to call up another ob-gyn (not my GP) for a second opinion; my appointment was the following day at 11am.
When I met the ob-gyn, Dr Y, I showed her blood test results and what the previous doctor diagnosed me with. Dr Y I asked whether any other tests were done to confirm I have PCOS and I said no.
So she said "Let's do an ultrasound and just check."
So we did an ultrasound and there they were, black masses in my ovaries, both sides.
Dr Y asked me if I was married and if I planned to get married and have kids. I said 'no' to the former and 'who knows what would happen in the future; I may meet someone', to the latter.
Then I told her I read that infertility could be an issue for people with PCOS - she said that was exactly why she asked me those questions and that if I planned on getting pregnant, we'd have to re-look the meds.
She decided to let me stay on Diane, since she said they worked for me in the past (with regard to my skin condition). Her alternative med was Androcur, which was pretty pricey.
Since Diane made me (and will make me) put on weight, she also recommended I take Reductil, known as a 'diet' pil that basically suppresses your desire to eat and convinces you that you're full.
Later that day after some research on the side effects and lots of thinking, I decided Diane and Reductil it is, Androcur will have to wait.
Wednesday (day after consultation with Dr Y), I went to the clinic to pick up my prescription. There I realised that supressing my appetite could make my gastric worse, since I'll be eating less.
So the good dr prescribed me Ranitidine also, which would help with my gastric.
I went down to the clinic's pharmacy and found out that Ranitidine would cost me $150 in total (for 1 month's supply), but was advised by the pharmacist that regular pharmacies would carry them at a cheaper price.
So I took my Reductil, went to Caring and bought 2 months' supply of Ranitadine at $24 for a month.
At 1.30pm I popped Ranitidine and Reductil with water; 30 minutes later, I started feeling nauseous.
I had my lunch, popped Diane and Pharmaton for my low iron and ended up going to the toilet twice one hour apart. True to its warning, I experience dry mouth within 2hrs of popping my 1st Reductil .
My nausea stayed on until 7.45pm when I couldn't stand it anymore and threw up.
My stomach felt better really quickly.
That night for dinner around 10pm I had half a 6" of a Subway sandwich. Odd I already felt full when normally I could eat a whole 6" straight (no naughty jokes pls).
At 2am I was hungry again, so I had the rest of the sandwich.
The next morning I took the Ranitidine and Diane, since Dr Y informed me to take Pharmaton and Reductil only every other day.
I had a fairly good breakfast; neither too heavy or too light and around 1pm had lunch, also not too heavy, but quite good.
Probably less than 10tbs of rice and 1 small chicken.
Frankly, this would've been the amount of food I'd eat before I started taking Diane.
Around 2pm I started feeling really sleepy, which apparenly can be one of the side effects of Diane.
I woke up at 6pm with a slight headache, which I initially attributed to the sun (for some reason, whenever the sun shines directly on me, I get headaches or migraines, sometimes I even feel nauseous).
The headache was manageable, but I didn't wanna take any aspirin.
It lasted through the night and in the morning when I woke up, I still had the headache.
At 9am I had eggs and toast for breakfast (found out that PCOSers need loads of protein and fibre), with Diane and Ranitidine right after.
Around 3pm I went out, still with the headache and now starting to feel nauseous, too.
I went to La Village, straight to the pharmacy and after checking with the pharmacist, got meself some Actifast Panadol.
He also told me I could have a max of 2 Ranitidine if my tummy was bothering me, which it was.
So I took one more Ranitidine and after lunch, took 2 Panadols.
30min a bit of head massaging later, the headache finally went away, but the nausea remained.
Its now 6.50pm, almost 4 hrs after my last meal. If experience has taught me anything, its that I need to have something substantial in my belly every 4 hrs at least whenever my gastric is acting up, which it has been even before I started popping all these pills.
I hope toasted ham and cheese will do it; pointless to take Reductil when I'm still eating like a horse tho.
God save me....I hope the headaches won't last the whole week.
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