Health Care Hijacked

Katherine's Story 

Katherine is a widow in her early eighties who came to me for psychotherapy treatment for depression and chronic pain.

Katherine began having bouts of unexplained dizziness. At one point, she fell down a flight of stairs while visiting her son and ended up spending three months in the hospital while doctors tried to figure out the cause of her dizziness. Eventually, it was determined that the dizziness was caused by low sodium. Katherine was discharged with instructions to restrict her fluid intake, despite the fact that her prior fluid intake had never been excessive. She continued to have bouts of dizziness. The resulting falls left her unable be alone. She was forced to hire round-the-clock private help, and when that proved too expensive, she had to give up her home and beloved pet cat and move to an assisted living facility. 

Katherine continued to experience falls, broken bones, hospitalization and extensive rehabilitation. The cause was always reported as dizziness, attributed to low sodium, requiring continued restriction of her fluid intake. After some time, I read an article indicating that the newer, SSRI-type of anti-depressants have a tendency to cause low sodium in the elderly. Katherine had been on an SSRI drug for many years. I contacted Katherine’s psychiatrist with the information. She told me she was aware of the side effect and had tried to take Katherine off the drug, but she had become more depressed, so she put her back on the SSRI. Katherine was never offered any alternatives to treat her depression, such as less dangerous, older antidepressant medication or St. Johns Wort, one of numerous proven alternative therapies prescribed as preferred treatments in many parts of the world. Her dizziness and falls continued as a result of her drug-induced low sodium until finally she required nursing home care.

Diane's story

Diane started having migraine headaches after receiving a blow to her head in an accident.  Her neurologist prescribed Topamax  a drug that was FDA approved only for the treatment of seizures and that is widely promoted and prescribed for migraine headaches even though there is no scientific evidence of its efficacy for migraine treatment. 

The Topamax had no effect on Diane’s headaches.  She continued to have daily disabling migraines.  Her neurologist referred her to me for biofeedback treatment of migraines but still kept her on the Topamax.  After a period of time, Diane started having blurry vision.  She reported this problem to her neurologist and her eye doctor, but neither showed much concern.  But she remembered something in the package insert about eye problems and asked me to research it.  I found out that the FDA had ordered a black box warning, the most serious warning available, that Topamax poses a risk of closed angle glaucoma, which can cause blindness. 

Sure enough, when Diane went to a new eye doctor, he found that she did indeed have closed angle glaucoma and would have gone blind without laser surgery in both eyes.  If the link were not made to the Topamax, the eye doctor told her, and she had not discontinued it, she would have gone blind, even after havng laser surgery . When the eye doctor contacted the neurologist, he claimed he was unaware of this side effect.

In the meantime, Diane was getting significant benefit from the biofeedback treatment but her insurance refused to continue to pay for it.  In fact, her insurance wrote an exclusion to biofeedback treatment for migraines into their insurance policy.

Diane's neurologist then put her on another anti-seizure medication that is commonly used for migraine headaches, Depakote.  It made no difference in her headaches but her neurologist kept her on it.  After a few months, Diane developed severe nausea, vomiting and abdominal pain that was attributed to stress.  She consulted a gastroenterologist but the nausea and vomiting continued.  She lost over 70 pounds.  I happened to be researching Depakote because I had an eight year old client on it, and I found out that there was a black box warning, an FDA required severe drug side effect alert, that Depakote can cause pancreatitis, a life threatening illness.  The symptoms of pancreatitis exactly matched Diane's symptoms.  When Diane asked her gastroenterologist if he had tested her for it, he said no, he hadn't thought of it.  He denied knowing that she was on Depakote, even though she had written all of her medications on the intake form.  When Diane was tested for pancreatitis, it was confirmed that she has it.

Anita's story

Anita suffered from a severe, painful peptic ulcer that did not respond to the usual conventional medical treatment.  Her doctor advised her to have a radical surgical procedure to cut the vagus nerve going to her stomach. This nerve triggers acid secretion as well as peristalsis, the rhythmic smooth muscle contractions that move food through the digestive system. 

At the time, Anita questioned the wisdom of this surgery, confused about how she would adequately digest her food.  Her doctor assured her she did not need to worry about this.  After the surgery, Anita developed a condition called gastric paresis, in which food does not move properly through the stomach to the intestines, triggering frequent nausea and vomiting. It is now known that 30% of the patients who were treated with this surgical technique went on to develop gastric paresis.  Anita’s condition continued to worsen over the years, on several occasions requiring manual removal of congealed food from her stomach. Anita’s condition continued to deteriorate until it was life threatening and she had no alternative but to have her non-functioning stomach surgically removed. 

 At the time that Anita was diagnosed with the ulcer, it was well established by research studies in both animals and humans that emotional stress was a significant contributor to excessive acid secretions that can lead to peptic ulcers. There was even some evidence that teaching patients stress management and relaxation techniques, especially in connection with biofeedback, a technique which feeds back information on the patient’s physiology to help them learn to control it, was effective in healing ulcers. 

Anita was a survivor of severe childhood trauma and was chronically anxious.  None of her physicians told her about the connection between ulcers and chronic stress or referred her for psychological treatment, instead subjecting her to a risky, expensive procedure for which long- term effects were not known. This compromised her digestive system so severely that psychological interventions were no longer helpful. In addition, Anita’s experience – being harmed by the medical people she needed to trust and rely on – re-triggered her childhood trauma and severely increased her anxiety. This “oversight” caused Anita untold suffering and our healthcare system more than $100,000. 

 John's Story

John was a small businessman in his 50s who had suffered from anxiety for many years. He had had some psychological treatment that was somewhat helpful for his anxiety and was managing it relatively well, taking an occasional Xanax, a short-acting older drug for anxiety, when he had occasional exacerbations of his anxiety. However, his psychiatrist retired and his new psychiatrist refused to prescribe the Xanax and insisted he take a new type of drug used for depression and anxiety, an SSRI, Zoloft. Shortly after starting the Zoloft, John had a manic episode and ended up in the hospital. Although he had never had a manic episode before, and Zoloft is known to sometimes trigger manic episodes, John was diagnosed with bipolar disorder and placed on more drugs. At the time he was referred to me, John had been barely able to work for four years and reported that since taking Zoloft his life "has been hell", with severe depression, including suicidal ideation (another possible side effect of Zoloft). John reported that he had gone through "at least 50 medications" and was currently on four different psychiatric medications. John decided to gradually go off of his medications but got so physically ill while trying to do so that he could no longer make it to my office.

In Their Own Words:  Reader Contributed Horror Stories

Harry's Story

Seven years ago On Dec 13, 1997, when I was 35 years old and in excellent health, I went to the doctor for minor urinary tract discomfort that started to occur after making love with my wife, I went to the doctor expecting him to perform testing to see if I had an infection, but instead he said “we don’t test in these circumstances anymore, we just prescribe a broad-spectrum antibiotic that kills a wide variety of pathogens.” After 10 minutes in his office, I was whisked out the door and on my way to the pharmacy. After starting the antibiotic he prescribed called Cipro I began feeling anxious and edgy. After a few days on the drug I began to experiencing hallucinations and a higher rate of anxiety where I was euphoric one minute and then crying the next. I called my doctor and he assured me it was the infection causing my symptoms and to keep taking the antibiotic. Then I started experiencing muscle pain in my legs, lower back and pelvis region along with a massive headache. Plus I still had the anxiety which started turning into panic attacks that left me feeling like I was having a stroke. I called both my doc and my pharmacist and they all told me to keep taking the antibiotic because the drug would not cause my symptoms. So I listened to them and kept taking the drug. I then remembered the 1/3 page computer printout I received at the pharmacy when I had the Cipro prescription filled that listed two minor side effects that could occur. They were upset stomach and diarrhea. It also said not to take antacids or zinc and magnesium containing foods within 2 hours before or after taking the antibiotic. That is all it said. Nothing about any other side effects or reactions were written anywhere on the page. Scared and not knowing what to do, I stopped the antibiotic and then went back to the doctor. The doc pointed out how I shouldn’t have stopped the antibiotic half-way thru the course. He said he would prescribe a different antibiotic after I questioned if the drugs could be causing my symptoms. He prescribed another antibiotic called Floxin. After taking it I was still experiencing the panic attacks and severe unbearable chronic pain in my muscles and joints. Because I was on a so-called “different” antibiotic, I figured it wasn’t the antibiotics causing my symptoms because the doc had put me on a different antibiotic and the symptoms where still present so it must be from an infection. I did not know at the time that Floxin was in the same class as Cipro, only it was a stronger version. By now I was in constant severe chronic pain and still having anxiety reactions and panic attacks. I had blood in my urine, my sugar was out of whack and my blood pressure was very low. On numerous occasions I passed out from low blood sugar where after going to the ER was given orange juice and sent home. Continually, I kept either passing out or felt like I was going to pass out. I didn’t know if it was from the panic attacks or the hypoglycemia. It took almost 2 years of going back and forth to emergency rooms and doctor offices before finally figuring out it was my heart that was damaged and I that I needed to have a pacemaker installed. I was rushed in and out of the emergency room too many times to count.I have been admitted into ICU, CCU and 2 mental institutions because of the diagnosis of it being “all in my head”. Then because I was taking narcotic pain relievers for severe chronic pain I was diagnosed as a “drug addict” and someone just trying to get narcotics. As a result, I was sent to a detox center twice, each time for a month, despite the fact that I never had a positive tox screen for any illegal drugs during all those ER visits prior to being admitted to the detox centers. Both times in the detox centers it became obvious that I suffered with severe chronic pain as I attempted to go completely off of the pain medication. The pain was so bad I could not sit still, lie down or do anything. I looked like a fish out of water, squirming in pain and rolling back and forth on the floor in agony. It was quite obvious to the doctors I suffered from chronic pain and so I was released into pain management. I progressively got worse and for over two years I could not even get out of bed except to go to a doctor visit or hospital. Because the doctors didn’t believe my symptoms were from an antibiotic during those first few years (now they do), they referred me to a psychiatrist. My family also assumed the same thing as the doctors, that I was crazy. In addition, from all that was going on in my life, I found myself now going thru a divorce. I then attempted suicide. That was about my lowest point. I thank God everyday now that I survived. Now, the doctors do believe that the antibiotics, called fluoroquinolones (FQ) caused my injuries, however, there are no cures available as of yet.

I have been diagnosed with irreversible nerve damage, muscle damage, heart damage requiring the installation of a pacemaker as well as fatigue and muscle weakness and severe, never-ending chronic pain in my legs, arms, back and neck. The anxiety reactions and panic attacks that I suffered during the first four years of the reaction were actually diagnosed as tiny seizures but they have resolved after I started an alternative therapy which I believe helped cure my anxiety. I have other secondary problems as a result of the nerve damage I won’t mention here. I cannot stand up for more than 15 minutes.

Just prior to my adverse drug reaction to Cipro and Floxin, I was taking over the family business. My wife had finished her doctorate degree and joined a medical practice and I had a B.S. degree in Environmental Science and then completed the Master Plumber’s program and received my Master Plumber’s License. For the first time in our lives, we both started making good money and we were in the process of buying our first house. We were living the American Dream until those tiny pills turned that dream into an American nightmare.

Joe's Story

I have had my life ruined from taking an antibiotic called Cipro. I came back to my Dr. to tell him that Cipro had given me severe insomnia and anxiety and had printed out some material I found on the net to back me up. When I showed him the papers and started to explain what had happened to me after I had taken Cipro for a UTI, he tossed the papers on the floor and said that Cipro was a great drug and I was out of line. I asked him for help and he refused to believe that cipro had caused any of my problems. I had not slept for days at this point and had to go to the ER for help. That Dr. sent me a letter a few days later telling me that he would no longer be my Dr. It has been 28 months now since I took Cipro for 10 days. I am still suffering from joint and nerve pain and severe insomnia . My health was fairly good prior to taking Cipro. I'm a 53 y/o male.

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