Yesterday, Sukie (thank you Sukie, you are a trooper) wrote: 

>"I think this is a common oversight. Many people forget that some meds
>of any type (including herbal), some foods, or some supplements should
>be avoided with certain medications. Sadly, the outcomes are not
>always as harmless as this choice was this time."

Oh, I have to agree, as someone who has had *very* bad results with
some very common drugs. Valium was probably the worst. I have been
prescribed valium and a close relative to it exactly twice in my life.
I suffered what is called a "paradoxical effect." At first I got all
warm and sleepy, then I opted for a nap. After about half an hour I
was wide awake and *crazy*, actually violent, which is not something
common to my nature. I don't remember much of these events, suffering
something from them called "retrograde amnesia", which is a fancy name
for a walking blackout. Horribly, mortifyingly embarrasing. Dangerous.
All from a very common drug. I have had four surgical procedures in my
life, and I have to tell the anesthesiologist "NO BENZODIAZAPINES!!"
(Drugs in the valium family.)

My mother took a valium once, she conked out. She woke up to believe
that a giraffe was calmingly licking her leg.

Bad juju. Seems to run in the family.

I'm not trying to kick our ferret friend for slipping her ferret a
valium, here. I'm trying to say that Sukie is *right* on the money
about how devestating the consequences can be when certain drugs are
mixed, or mixed with "herbal remedies" or "suppliments" that can be
bought right over the counter. The thing about "home doctoring" an
animal is that unlike a person, an animal can't report bad symptoms
to you. The animal might feel like hell warmed over, but they can't
*tell* you, and their natural response is to try to pretend that
nothing is wrong, show no weakness.

I don't think that is kind.

If you want to doctor yourself that way, well, that's your right. I
will never forget the time I walked into my aunt's house with another
aunt (her older sister) in tow. On the kitchen counter was a big
plastic container of what called itself "Powdered Oral Horse
Electrolytes." The container had a warning that the product was "not
for human consumption." Right next to it was an empty glass of water
and a little plastic scoop that had come in the container. And on the
surface of the powder itself, a perfect little concavity where the
scoop of powder had been removed, and poured into the glass.

Neither aunt had a horse. There are some pretty sharp jokes in my
family about Powdered Oral Aunt Electrolytes.

I'm not interested in starting a war with my FML friends who use
suppliments and herbal remedies responsibly. I.e. they take the time to
*read* all the tiny little words that come in the package inserts and
they take the time to educate themselves. Me, I am fortunate. A lot of
the drugs that I take come with warning stickers, someone has done the
work for me. That's why I know to avoid anything "anticholonergic", and
grapefruit products, just for examples. My pharmacist figured these
things out for me. If you are going to *be* an animal pharmacist,
please take the time to be a good one. Your little friends don't get
any say in the matter, and they are relying on you to do the heavy
lifting.

Alexandra in MA
Getting Down From Soap Box

[Posted in FML 6268]