The Side Effects of Popular Medications and Common Interventions

Side effects of medicine are unwanted symptoms caused by using prescribed medications. All kinds of medications can result in unwanted side effects. Medicines include over-the-counter products, prescription medicines, and things like vitamins and herbal preparations. Active ingredients in medicines can interact negatively. Moreover, taking more than one medicine at a time increases the risk of facing side effects.

Examples of medications and common side effects:

Glycopyrrolate medication

This medication is known as anticholinergic drug. It is used in the treatment of excessive sweating or hyperhidrosis. Glycopyrrolate sweating is a condition that results in excessive production of sweat by the sweat glands. The medication basically stops the ability of the sympathetic nerves from communicating with the sweat glands in the body. This prevents the production of sweat.

What are the pros and cons of glycopyrrolate?

Advantages of taking glycopyrrolate

• It is available in a convenient pill form.
• It is possible to scale dosage. This means one can experiment and find out the correct dose for effective treatment while facing minimal side effects

Disadvantages of glycopyrrolate consumption

• Blurred vision
• Drowsiness
• Increased blood pressure
• Dry mouth
• Irregular heartbeat
• Headache
• Nausea and vomiting
• Fainting
• Fast and shallow breathing

Modafinil

This is simply a synthetic euphoric nature medication. It influences a person’s ability to be awake. When taken, this drug produces the nootropic and moderate level of stimulants into the body. It is mainly meant to improve the level of alertness, cognitive capabilities as well as minimize tiredness.

Modafinil has been approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration to be a treatment for sleep disorders, fatigue and sleep apnea. It is non-addictive, well working, and has almost no side effects.

The side effects of Modafinil are exhibited when combined with consumption with certain drugs and drinks.

• In combination with alcohol, it is extremely lethal due to excessive intoxication
• When the medicine is taken with DXM, there is an increased risk of panic attacks and increased heart rates
• MDMA results in an increased neuro-toxic effect when consumed with Modafinil

Tamoxifen

This is a medication that is used to treat breast cancer. It is a type of hormone therapy.

Some common side effects of the drug include:

• Blood clots
• Hot flashes
• Mood swings
• Vaginal bleeding or discharge
• Increased risk of endometrial cancer
• Increased weight gain

DMT medication

It is a tryptamine drug with hallucinogenic effects that occurs naturally in many plants and animals.

Side effects

• It produces intense auditory and visual hallucinations
• Increased heart rate
• Increased blood pressure
• Dizziness
• Rapid rhythmic movements of the eye

Meclizine medicine

Meclizine is an oral tablet that is only available as a generic drug. Meclizine oral tablet is prescribed for vertigo patients. This is a condition that causes an individual to feel like everything is spinning.

Some of the disadvantages of taking this drug include:

• It causes an anticholinergic effect, meaning it can raise the risk of dementia
• It may cause drowsiness making it dangerous when working with machinery or any activity that requires alertness
• Blurry vision
• Dry mouth

ART medication

This medication treats those with HIV. It suppresses the viral load and reduces the chances of developing opportunistic illnesses. In short, antiretroviral medications prevent multiplication of HIV in the blood thus protecting the body cells and boosting the body’s immunity.

Some potential short-term side effects include:

• Diarrhea
• Dizziness
• Headache
• Muscle pain

Some of the long-term side effects of ART medicines include:

• Depression
• Heart disease
• Insomnia
• High levels of fat in the blood among others.

Individuals are advised to communicate with a doctor about all medications being consumed. A yearly review of all your medications is important. Though most side effects can be managed, some of them can be very serious and may cause death. For instance, some antibiotics can result in allergic reactions such as skin rashes in around 5% of the entire population. However, it is not easy to tell if the reaction was caused by the medicine or the infection.

If you experience side effects while taking medication, it is important to call an emergency number that varies with the location. You can consult with a doctor or a pharmacist about the concerns. This is because there may be a required adjustment of the dose or type of medicine being taken.