for me it was given to decrease the inflammation in the right eye after my double cataract surgery in that eye
ive been on it now for over 30 days
prolensa is bromfenac
it is a nonsteroidal drug that was once marketed as duract used to treat acute pain but was removed from the market due to hepatotoxicity
being a nonsteroidal it has all the nonsteroidal side effects that you see on the ibuprofen and aspirin and naproxyn bottles
when you put eye drops in the eye some of it goes down the tear duct down the back of the throat then down the esophagus then into the stomach
if you are one of those who have indigestion or stomach pain from nonsteroidals then thats what might happen
as a physician i knew all that
so for several days when it came time for lunch i wasnt hungry
yesterday my stomach was hurting me as i thought whats going on here
then
this light came on in my brain
its the prolensa
since
this is what happens anytime i take a nonsteroidal so i usually use acetaminophen for pain or headaches
i knew all this but what if i didnt know or understand
i had three more weeks to take this stuff
now i have zero weeks since i stopped taking it
after my cataract surgery twice in two days i ended up on 5 eye drops
now im down to one as of today
since ive figured out whats going on
but
what if i didnt know
my guess is no one else would have figured it out
theres more stories
i am on aricept (donepezil) for my mild cognitive impairment due to alzheimers disease
when i started taking it i knew all about the side effects and knew what to expect
i knew that it would take a few weeks before some of the side effects would get better or go away
some never would
now i ordered that drug when in practice and when i was given the prescription to take the doctors that would be me and my neurologist didnt really explain all this
when i became a patient i read up on the side effects and was ready
originally the worst were blurry vision nausea abdomen pain insomnia leg cramps mild vertigo fatigue vivid dreams some hyperactivity when first taking it
if you happen to catch me an hour or two after ive taken my aricept (donepezil) and had my three cups of coffee you will find me more talkative than usual and you will find me more likely to be doing busy stuff
as the day goes on all that hyperactivity gets replaced with fatigue
i knew all these side effects were coming and i knew i just needed to power through them so i did
now my major side effects are some sleep loss vivid dreams occasional leg cramps morning hyperactivity and afternoon fatigue
the other side effects seem to be less bothersome
not understanding these side effects and not knowing they will get better keep many folks and their families from allowing patients to continue taking the aricept (donepezil)
what happens to people who dont understand all this
not long after retiring i developed pneumonia and was started on an antibiotic called levaquin (levofloxacin)
it was one of the better ones to use for my age group for pneumonia
after a day of taking it i noticed that i couldnt sit still and i couldnt sleep at night
now
i knew from reading and experience that was a side effect of that drug
so
i stopped it and was switched to a different antibiotic
my side effects went away
fast forward to my double on one eye catarct surgeries where i was given an eye antibiotic to take
it was a first cousin to the levaquin called moxifloxacin eye drops
yes the drops go down the tear duct eventually in the stomach where its absorbed there
yes you can get side effects like when you take the oral form
so after a couple of weeks i got to where i couldnt sleep for several days
then
this light came on
its those eye drops
so
i stopped them and within two days i returned back to my usual sleep habits
what do people do who dont have this understanding
you know when you read all those side effects there are so many that its hard to tell which is important or likely
eg
the side effect to the antibiotic eye drop occurs only less than 1% of the time
those are usually ignored unless you are one of those less than 1% patients
in fact
the levaquin and the moxifloxacin eye drops have the side effects i experienced by binding to sites that two of the alzheimers drugs namenda (memantine) and aricept (donepezil) bind to which may be the reason that these antibiotics caused the hyperactivity and insomnia
neither my neurologist or the ophthalmologist knew this
but
i did
and
im glad i did since i might have gone nutso if i had kept taking that stuff for another two weeks
i stopped them and feel much better
what do people do if they dont understand all this
i was also on a steroid drop after my surgery
some of it also goes down into the stomach and causes some of the side effects that oral steroids do but probably not as much
it probably was also contributing to my insomnia and my abdominal discomfort
my blood pressure pill i took in the morning caused my blood pressure to drop two hours later
i would get dizzy and have to sit down while gardening
i understood that so i take it at bedtime and have no issues now
i guess some patients just get worse so they reach a point where the drug surpasses its benefits with these side effects
some get sicker some die im afraid
whats the solution
i dont really have one for you non medical folks
at least
i can read about them and understand them
thank goodness for google
the organicgreen doctor
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