This afternoon I saw a patient in my clinic who has been taking her aunt's Lasix pills for a week to treat her "hypertension, headache and fluid retention in [her] legs". That's exactly what her chief complaints are on her chart - she pretty much self-diagnose her problems and treated herself. Her hypertension and other symptoms did get better - the only reason why she's in the clinic today is to get more of the medication because her aunt stopped giving her the pills (good for her). She doesn't even know what dose she has been taking.
Lasix is not the first line of drug to treat her hypertension and she could run into some serious problem if she starts developing hypokalemia at home.
This reminds me of the pregnant patient I saw last month who has been self-medicating with insulin for 3 years....
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment