Dr. Quack

Yesterday, I was really sick. I had caught a cold from Bert and I could tell that it had turned into a sinus infection. Those of you that suffer with sinus trouble know how painful those headaches are. That, with my runny nose, ear ache and sore throat made me stay home from work. I called my doctor's office and they said I would have to wait until Monday for an appointment. That was not OK...if you work, you know you can't just stay sick and keep taking time off. So, I decided to call the clinic that my insurances covers just for instances like this.

I was finally able to get up and take a shower and head to this clinic, grateful I switched insurances and have more than the ER as my backup. I went in, filled out some paperwork and and took a seat in the lobby. The clinic only takes walk-ins, so I thought it was pretty good I was seen in just 40 minutes.

Now, let me interject here. All of the doctors I have ever had have been overly cautious about prescribing medication. Even for a very painful outpatient surgery I had two years ago, the doctor wouldn't give me any pain pills. She told me to take four Advils instead...and I sure was glad I had some leftover happy pills at the house or I would've passed out from pain. But ANYWAY...

I went into the examination room and a nurse came in quickly and then the doctor came in shortly thereafter. He was very different than any other doctor I have ever seen. Flamboyant and prescription-happy is how I would describe him. For my diagnosis of sinusitis, he gave me an antibiotic (that's fine) and a steroid (um, OK) and he said he would give me something to help with my sore throat. That, my friends, was a big ol' prescription of Loritab. What? I was expecting some prescription losanges...not narcotics. But hey, I figured I'd fill it anyway so I can have it on hand, just in case. My personal prescription for a sore throat is a peppermint hot chocolate from Starbucks, so I opted for that after leaving the clinic.

So, I take my meds yesterday. It was awful. My heart was racing...I mean RACING. I slept between three and four hours last night. I woke up and I was all shaky. I felt so weird. So, I got on the internet and looked up side effects for the steroid. I knew it was to reduce the inflammation in my nasal passages, but I was totally freaked out when I started reading about it. He prescribed me 40 mg/day...that is what is given to cancer patients, people with Lupus and people with MS. It is prescribed for sinusitis in very small doses...as small as 3 mg and at the highest, 25 mg/day with each day tapering off. And everyone was reporting awful side effects.

What?!

The shakiness has almost worn off and I am just on my antibiotics today. Good thing I take Claritin-D because the Quack Doctor didn't even prescribe me a decongestant for my sinuses. It was all so strange. But hey, I do feel better today. So that's good.

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