3 ms·

So your doc abrogated her responsibility to warn you about the side-effects of the prescribed drug. You went to the ER, because you were not aware that cramps,

So your doc abrogated her responsibility to warn you about the side-effects of the prescribed drug. You went to the ER, because you were not aware that cramps, constipation, spiking BP, and muscle weakness are symptoms of hypokalemia, which could be resolved quickly by dissolving KCl from the grocery store in water and drinking it. That's patient education that needs to happen before you go to the ER. Just like with the GlacialMD thing, it's no skin off your doc's nose if you have to drop $500-$2000 on an ER copay because you had an electrolyte crisis from the medication she prescribed, and didn't know ahead of time that could be a possibility. And the rest of you out there, learn to measure your own BP. You can't leave it to an annual exam to find out it's getting high, and the BP taken in the doc's office may include the "white coat effect" (or as I call it, the "what will this cost me effect").

beat 7y ago
To be fair, I took that particular medication for over ten years before the crisis. So it's unlikely that the medication itself was the sole cause. And when the symptoms started, I wasn't going to go to the chemist to start concocting home remedies for what I feared could be a mild heart attack. I went to the ER. Again, I don't know how old you are, but I'm old enough to have had friends my own age start dropping dead of heart attacks and strokes. Hence I decided to take the safest route.