Phenobarbital: An Inside Look
A True Story
(However the names have been changed to protect the persons involved.)
Phenobarbital: An Inside Look!
I have been helping an elderly woman for quite some time now. I don't
often like to pat myself on the back, but I do like to help people out
when they're in need- when I can, and yes- even sometimes when I can't.
This woman when I met her was fifty nine years old; however she doesn't have very many grey hairs at all. She is very wrinkly, and dark skinned and has many stories to share about her past, and some of them will in fact give you drop jaw, and make you wonder. But she doesn't care what you think; she is stuck in her ways and very stubborn. But! That is of course her right, I guess. Live and let live, I always say.
Through her problems, I have driven her to doctors' appointments, and food banks, and even had to buy a trailer to save her from being taken away by the Police-whether it was to a shelter or to be *Baker acted no one is certain. All I do know, is the woman gave me a look when they were putting her into the cruiser, a tear in the corner; and I just knew I had to help. My husband was at work, and I said to the Police to let her out, I would take her in. After all, I've brought home stray cats and dogs, what would my husband do when I brought home a "person"?!
The woman who I will name "Rose"-had many medical conditions. She had been on Phenobarbital for many years prior. But because it has now been linked to many cases of liver disease and failure, many doctors have since quit prescribing it. Rose's doctor was one of them. Her doctor was a firm believer that Phenobarbital, (which is the generic name, the name brand name for this drug is: Luminal) has more adverse side effects then what it does well. Those were the very words from her doctors' mouth!
The side effects the drug advises, Rose had several of, including: aggressiveness, depressed, shakes, dizziness, and more. She was also experiencing blackouts and frequent seizures, more so then before she started taking it. Rose said the reason it had initially been prescribed to her, in another town, by another doctor was because she was having seizures constantly. They didn't know why, and no matter what they gave her, nothing worked. So then they gave her this, and she said at first it slowed them down, and then they almost stopped, and then they were sporadic.
Now they have taken her off of it, and she is still having black outs, and now her kidneys are starting to release black speckled particles when she urinates. She has been having it tested, she has had a kidney infection once, a urinary tract infection, and the testing is still ongoing.
We are having a lot of problems, because through this, Rose has lost her identification. Her sister lives in another town, and refuses to give or send her a real birth certificate so that she can even get a real ID of any kind. Because throughout all of this, Rose has a problem where she sits things down, talks to someone and because she hangs around the homeless people-they tend to walk off with her belongings, or sometimes she just might forget where she sat it. And doctors are pretty particular and require an ID to prove you are you, for insurance purposes. The Doctor Rose was seeing, has since refused to treat Rose because Rose told them off. I told you, she was and is-aggressive. I tried to repair the damage she caused, but Rose was in the background while I was on the phone with them cussing, and they heard her. So there I was- nothing that they could do.
Rose is extremely violent and hateful lately, and she is getting worse. She has some people fooled. She can be really nice one minute, and pull the puppy dog eyed- I am sweet and innocent trick and get what she wants out of anyone.
Trust me; I learned she is good at what she does. Allow me to explain, I learned a lot from this woman.
She has a talent, and I managed to get the phone number of her sister out of her to learn what her sister had to say. The sister explained she lives in another city not far from where we live. She can live with her sister, rent free, and have her widows' check and her social security check to do with as she wants, no problem. And her sister lives in a nice big, paid for home, with a nice yard, and a pool and everything! When Rose lived with her, she would still go to the shelters, take showers and pretend to be homeless there too, and beg for food, and bring home food to her sister and be proud of herself, "Here Daisy! I brought us home food! I did my part!" Her part, taking from the poor. Her sister would yell at her just like a child, telling her she didn't need to do that and it was wrong. It didn't matter, she did it anyway.
Day after day, week after week.
We have given her a home, a roof over her head, we pay her electric, all she is paying is the lot rent, we are buying the trailer, and she isn't even paying us the extra money to pay for the payment of the trailer! The lot rent is now $291.00 plus water, it just went up this September! And she whines and cries to everyone in the trailer park that we are ripping her off and stealing from her, and that all we do is take from her! I do her laundry; all she does is supply the laundry soap, sometimes, not always. She doesn't pay me to do it! Sometimes I drive her places; she doesn't even pay me to take her! She uses my phone, and passes out my phone number as a call back number and for an emergency contact number!
Do I complain? Do I ask for more money? No, I believe in helping, and that I am doing what is right.
Everyone used to love the woman, and think of her as the nicest person on the face of the Earth, and they would all defend her honor. And they were all glad, when I stuck up for her, and took her under my wing when the other people threw her into the street.
Now she has turned our entire mobile home community against her. She has called CODE on several trailers in the park, including the one she is in, rather than call her landlord (us) when the hot water tank went out- she reported us! She didn't even tell us it went out! And the woman calls me 24/7 to tell me her sugar levels! I just don't get it! She has reported people in the park for walking around late at night, to the Police, and she has called the Dog pound on people, called child services on people, and then made numerous reports to the Police about other things, including reporting other Police officers! She has the Police agitated, she has threatened several residents lives, to the point that a resident called the Police and made a report and tried to Baker Act her.
There were several residents that came to us, including the one who had been threatened, and because we are the management, we called the Police and had all of the witnesses there and the Police didn't write down a thing, and of course did nothing. They simply went to see Rose, and she put on her innocent act and cried and smiled, and they went on their merry way, believing her. Rose's threat was to cut the balls off the one male tenant with her loppers. After the Police left, she went outside and sold the loppers to the neighbor for six dollars, because she even told the Police she didn't own a pair!
Every time something goes wrong in Roses life, she blames the fact that she is not on Phenobarbital. She says that if she was on it, these kinds of things wouldn't be happening. I explain to her over and over again, that the medication is not good for her, it is addictive-it even states this in "the Pill Book" it is also a barbiturate. I've also told her it is good to change medications from time to time, because the body will build a tolerance to it, and then it might not even be helping, so change is good.
Rose also claims to be diabetic, she may have been diabetic at one time in her life, but I am certain she cannot be now. She can eat an entire box of donuts, a candy bar, and a soda pop and be just fine. When we went to the doctor they checked her sugar and it was 199, and they didn't say anything to her, and I asked if she was diabetic, and they laughed at me. When I asked what was so funny, they told me:
"She says she is. But every time we've tested her, our tests say she isn't. But she says our tests are wrong!"
I ask them, if maybe she could've been diabetic in the past, and it went away, but they wouldn't answer, as I am technically not a relative. I am guessing that was the reason, anyway.
Rose has diabetic strips, and is a member of some association that sends her diabetic things in the mail, and what not. She told me she has been a member for many years, since she was very little, and it had gotten so bad that she had to quit drinking alcohol, or she would be dead by the next drink. That was what her other doctor long ago had told her, so she had no choice but to stop drinking. They had told her, her diabetes was getting out of control and killing her, and they also told her the liquor had too many sugars in it, and so she had to stop right then and there. She told me it really made her mad, because she was making good money then, she was in her twenties, looking darn good, bar tending, prostituting herself, dancing, and the money was everywhere she was. But one night, she fell flat on her face, ended up in an ambulance and in the hospital, and the doctor said-"the liquors gotta go if you wanna live pretty lady!" and she said she had a whole lot of living left to do, so she quit drinking right then and there, except for a few slip ups now and again.
This woman is old fashioned, and very stubborn and stuck in her ways. We keep trying to change her, and help her. But it seems like an endless battle. She keeps going to the shelters, bringing home head lice, athletes' feet, and even crabs. I've taken her to the doctor, for 2 out of 3 of those, the doctor and I both explained how and where she's getting them, and yet she continues. We've bombed the house three different times, with over the counter things and even had a company come out and do it professionally.
To make life easier on her this last month, we found her a roommate, another woman, and the woman has a young child. Rose knows the woman. The two of them agreed, and we thought it would be fine, after all, they both even like to go to the one food bank every Monday and get food, and Chrissie even has a car. Maybe they might benefit one another. Maybe they can become good friends too, our intentions were good!
With the hatred, the violent attitude, the depression, the rudeness Rose was going through, it wasn't helping. It was making the little boy confused, because like everyone else in the World, he too was taught to respect his elders, but this one-just seemed downright too out of control to deserve respect, and one day, in front of his Mother, listening to the woman rant and rave and slam on every person in our community, the little boy just opened up his mouth and said, "Shut up old lady, no one wants to hear it!" His mother in couldn't believe it, knew right then and there, the woman had pushed her son over the edge. She had been tuning her out as best as she could, trying to help her son with his homework, but that was the last straw, and she and her son came to us to explain what they were going through first hand too.
People around here are more often concerned that Rose has been doing or trying drugs lately. Because of her actions. She wobbles, shakes, and gets tongue tied. She is of course, on a new seizure medication, and having adverse reactions to starting it, and coming off of the Phenobarbital that she has been on for many years.
I've asked others their experiences with Phenobarbital, to see if there are any similarities to link my "Rose" case study.
I've had one woman who says she was only on it for two days and it gave her the worst nightmares ever. They had given her the drug to lower her blood pressure after having a baby. Her blood pressure had gone through the roof, and pain medications weren't working either. This very same woman has an ex-husband, who was also on Phenobarbital, and he has liver damage from it, and was hospitalized due to the medication, and since had to be taken off of it because of all the damage the medication caused. He had been on it for many years. He had to attend a seizure disorder clinic, and couldn't get out of bed himself, and one time to get him weaned off of the Phenobarbital. So this is a married couple, but two case studies.
Another case study is a man who was prescribed it and took it wrong, and then kept taking it wrong. He had a learning disorder the doctor said, and should have had some kind of nurse or someone to help him with his medications, but didn't have such a person. He took the medicines and took them wrong, had seizures before the medications and during. He was staying in the woods in a tent or something the doctor told me. He walked around screaming at people, and at nothing. He was seeing things that weren't there. The Police picked him up, and took him into the station thinking he was drunk and disorderly. He had the bottle on him, which he had just had filled, it had been a thirty day supply and it had twelve left in it. She said he didn't have hallucinations beforehand. Now he has a live in nurse in a nursing home, under adult supervision at all times. Now he sees things all the time that aren't there. He screams for no reason, and is in fear for his life that someone is trying to kill him. He is no longer taking Phenobarbital. After ninety days, they changed his medications. Because of his over dose, he has permanent brain damage, no one is permitted to say it is because of Phenobarbital, but you are however, allowed to come to your own conclusions- that is of course, your right. And you of course can say, you don't have all of the facts. This case study was given to me by a doctor, and without a name. The doctor wants me to share it with you, because she doesn't want Phenobarbital on the market, she feels it isn't safe for anyone. Again, this is her opinion. And she stated to me, she wishes to remain nameless as well, but she says, she is not alone, there are other doctors who agree, you just have to find them.
So after my own research and personal experiences, I believe that Phenobarbital could turn even the nicest people into someone different, but so can many other medications. But, I don't understand how a pill can change a persons' life as drastically as Phenobarbital seems to do. All the side effects and wrong actions Rose has, that she assumes are not bad and the lady who kept getting nightmares, none of that happened until they started taking that medication! I've came to the conclusion that the medication was meant for a good reason, but became very hazardous. With my own opinion, I think that they should change or further their research on Phenobarbital.
I still haven't found a person yet who hasn't had a bad side effect from that medication. It ruins lives more than helping, and they can't even see it because of the addiction.
*Baker Act: A Baker Act is a means of providing individuals with emergency services and temporary detention for mental health evaluation and treatment when required, either on a voluntary or an involuntary basis.
You may report side effects from this drug to: FDA at 1-800-FDA-1088.
Something I found very important that others might not know about Phenobarbital: Do not stop using Phenobarbital without first talking to your doctor, even if you feel better. You may have increased seizures if you stop using Phenobarbital suddenly. You will need to use less and less before you stop the medication completely.
And here is another fact I didn't personally know about Phenobarbital, after all, it is not something I have never been prescribed. And if you know someone who takes it, you might want or need to know this to, in case they take it wrong: Take Phenobarbital only when you are getting ready for several hours of sleep. You may fall asleep very quickly after taking the medicine.
This is why it is best to educate yourself about the medicines you are taking, before you start taking them. And if you are taking care of someone, whether be a child, or an elderly person, you still need to educate yourself on the medication. This way you know, and can explain what is happening to the Doctors, to a Paramedic, or anyone else who might need to know. It is always best to be safe, rather than sorry.
I wanted to share my knowledge and experiences with Phenobarbital, because I feel that it might benefit others, and maybe enlighten you the reader. Because together- we can make a difference. We need to make it mandatory that people learn about their medications, and that they know how to take them, and that they get the help they need AND deserve. People matter. We matter. Together we can make a difference.
This woman when I met her was fifty nine years old; however she doesn't have very many grey hairs at all. She is very wrinkly, and dark skinned and has many stories to share about her past, and some of them will in fact give you drop jaw, and make you wonder. But she doesn't care what you think; she is stuck in her ways and very stubborn. But! That is of course her right, I guess. Live and let live, I always say.
Through her problems, I have driven her to doctors' appointments, and food banks, and even had to buy a trailer to save her from being taken away by the Police-whether it was to a shelter or to be *Baker acted no one is certain. All I do know, is the woman gave me a look when they were putting her into the cruiser, a tear in the corner; and I just knew I had to help. My husband was at work, and I said to the Police to let her out, I would take her in. After all, I've brought home stray cats and dogs, what would my husband do when I brought home a "person"?!
The woman who I will name "Rose"-had many medical conditions. She had been on Phenobarbital for many years prior. But because it has now been linked to many cases of liver disease and failure, many doctors have since quit prescribing it. Rose's doctor was one of them. Her doctor was a firm believer that Phenobarbital, (which is the generic name, the name brand name for this drug is: Luminal) has more adverse side effects then what it does well. Those were the very words from her doctors' mouth!
The side effects the drug advises, Rose had several of, including: aggressiveness, depressed, shakes, dizziness, and more. She was also experiencing blackouts and frequent seizures, more so then before she started taking it. Rose said the reason it had initially been prescribed to her, in another town, by another doctor was because she was having seizures constantly. They didn't know why, and no matter what they gave her, nothing worked. So then they gave her this, and she said at first it slowed them down, and then they almost stopped, and then they were sporadic.
Now they have taken her off of it, and she is still having black outs, and now her kidneys are starting to release black speckled particles when she urinates. She has been having it tested, she has had a kidney infection once, a urinary tract infection, and the testing is still ongoing.
We are having a lot of problems, because through this, Rose has lost her identification. Her sister lives in another town, and refuses to give or send her a real birth certificate so that she can even get a real ID of any kind. Because throughout all of this, Rose has a problem where she sits things down, talks to someone and because she hangs around the homeless people-they tend to walk off with her belongings, or sometimes she just might forget where she sat it. And doctors are pretty particular and require an ID to prove you are you, for insurance purposes. The Doctor Rose was seeing, has since refused to treat Rose because Rose told them off. I told you, she was and is-aggressive. I tried to repair the damage she caused, but Rose was in the background while I was on the phone with them cussing, and they heard her. So there I was- nothing that they could do.
Rose is extremely violent and hateful lately, and she is getting worse. She has some people fooled. She can be really nice one minute, and pull the puppy dog eyed- I am sweet and innocent trick and get what she wants out of anyone.
Trust me; I learned she is good at what she does. Allow me to explain, I learned a lot from this woman.
She has a talent, and I managed to get the phone number of her sister out of her to learn what her sister had to say. The sister explained she lives in another city not far from where we live. She can live with her sister, rent free, and have her widows' check and her social security check to do with as she wants, no problem. And her sister lives in a nice big, paid for home, with a nice yard, and a pool and everything! When Rose lived with her, she would still go to the shelters, take showers and pretend to be homeless there too, and beg for food, and bring home food to her sister and be proud of herself, "Here Daisy! I brought us home food! I did my part!" Her part, taking from the poor. Her sister would yell at her just like a child, telling her she didn't need to do that and it was wrong. It didn't matter, she did it anyway.
Day after day, week after week.
We have given her a home, a roof over her head, we pay her electric, all she is paying is the lot rent, we are buying the trailer, and she isn't even paying us the extra money to pay for the payment of the trailer! The lot rent is now $291.00 plus water, it just went up this September! And she whines and cries to everyone in the trailer park that we are ripping her off and stealing from her, and that all we do is take from her! I do her laundry; all she does is supply the laundry soap, sometimes, not always. She doesn't pay me to do it! Sometimes I drive her places; she doesn't even pay me to take her! She uses my phone, and passes out my phone number as a call back number and for an emergency contact number!
Do I complain? Do I ask for more money? No, I believe in helping, and that I am doing what is right.
Everyone used to love the woman, and think of her as the nicest person on the face of the Earth, and they would all defend her honor. And they were all glad, when I stuck up for her, and took her under my wing when the other people threw her into the street.
Now she has turned our entire mobile home community against her. She has called CODE on several trailers in the park, including the one she is in, rather than call her landlord (us) when the hot water tank went out- she reported us! She didn't even tell us it went out! And the woman calls me 24/7 to tell me her sugar levels! I just don't get it! She has reported people in the park for walking around late at night, to the Police, and she has called the Dog pound on people, called child services on people, and then made numerous reports to the Police about other things, including reporting other Police officers! She has the Police agitated, she has threatened several residents lives, to the point that a resident called the Police and made a report and tried to Baker Act her.
There were several residents that came to us, including the one who had been threatened, and because we are the management, we called the Police and had all of the witnesses there and the Police didn't write down a thing, and of course did nothing. They simply went to see Rose, and she put on her innocent act and cried and smiled, and they went on their merry way, believing her. Rose's threat was to cut the balls off the one male tenant with her loppers. After the Police left, she went outside and sold the loppers to the neighbor for six dollars, because she even told the Police she didn't own a pair!
Every time something goes wrong in Roses life, she blames the fact that she is not on Phenobarbital. She says that if she was on it, these kinds of things wouldn't be happening. I explain to her over and over again, that the medication is not good for her, it is addictive-it even states this in "the Pill Book" it is also a barbiturate. I've also told her it is good to change medications from time to time, because the body will build a tolerance to it, and then it might not even be helping, so change is good.
Rose also claims to be diabetic, she may have been diabetic at one time in her life, but I am certain she cannot be now. She can eat an entire box of donuts, a candy bar, and a soda pop and be just fine. When we went to the doctor they checked her sugar and it was 199, and they didn't say anything to her, and I asked if she was diabetic, and they laughed at me. When I asked what was so funny, they told me:
"She says she is. But every time we've tested her, our tests say she isn't. But she says our tests are wrong!"
I ask them, if maybe she could've been diabetic in the past, and it went away, but they wouldn't answer, as I am technically not a relative. I am guessing that was the reason, anyway.
Rose has diabetic strips, and is a member of some association that sends her diabetic things in the mail, and what not. She told me she has been a member for many years, since she was very little, and it had gotten so bad that she had to quit drinking alcohol, or she would be dead by the next drink. That was what her other doctor long ago had told her, so she had no choice but to stop drinking. They had told her, her diabetes was getting out of control and killing her, and they also told her the liquor had too many sugars in it, and so she had to stop right then and there. She told me it really made her mad, because she was making good money then, she was in her twenties, looking darn good, bar tending, prostituting herself, dancing, and the money was everywhere she was. But one night, she fell flat on her face, ended up in an ambulance and in the hospital, and the doctor said-"the liquors gotta go if you wanna live pretty lady!" and she said she had a whole lot of living left to do, so she quit drinking right then and there, except for a few slip ups now and again.
This woman is old fashioned, and very stubborn and stuck in her ways. We keep trying to change her, and help her. But it seems like an endless battle. She keeps going to the shelters, bringing home head lice, athletes' feet, and even crabs. I've taken her to the doctor, for 2 out of 3 of those, the doctor and I both explained how and where she's getting them, and yet she continues. We've bombed the house three different times, with over the counter things and even had a company come out and do it professionally.
To make life easier on her this last month, we found her a roommate, another woman, and the woman has a young child. Rose knows the woman. The two of them agreed, and we thought it would be fine, after all, they both even like to go to the one food bank every Monday and get food, and Chrissie even has a car. Maybe they might benefit one another. Maybe they can become good friends too, our intentions were good!
With the hatred, the violent attitude, the depression, the rudeness Rose was going through, it wasn't helping. It was making the little boy confused, because like everyone else in the World, he too was taught to respect his elders, but this one-just seemed downright too out of control to deserve respect, and one day, in front of his Mother, listening to the woman rant and rave and slam on every person in our community, the little boy just opened up his mouth and said, "Shut up old lady, no one wants to hear it!" His mother in couldn't believe it, knew right then and there, the woman had pushed her son over the edge. She had been tuning her out as best as she could, trying to help her son with his homework, but that was the last straw, and she and her son came to us to explain what they were going through first hand too.
People around here are more often concerned that Rose has been doing or trying drugs lately. Because of her actions. She wobbles, shakes, and gets tongue tied. She is of course, on a new seizure medication, and having adverse reactions to starting it, and coming off of the Phenobarbital that she has been on for many years.
I've asked others their experiences with Phenobarbital, to see if there are any similarities to link my "Rose" case study.
I've had one woman who says she was only on it for two days and it gave her the worst nightmares ever. They had given her the drug to lower her blood pressure after having a baby. Her blood pressure had gone through the roof, and pain medications weren't working either. This very same woman has an ex-husband, who was also on Phenobarbital, and he has liver damage from it, and was hospitalized due to the medication, and since had to be taken off of it because of all the damage the medication caused. He had been on it for many years. He had to attend a seizure disorder clinic, and couldn't get out of bed himself, and one time to get him weaned off of the Phenobarbital. So this is a married couple, but two case studies.
Another case study is a man who was prescribed it and took it wrong, and then kept taking it wrong. He had a learning disorder the doctor said, and should have had some kind of nurse or someone to help him with his medications, but didn't have such a person. He took the medicines and took them wrong, had seizures before the medications and during. He was staying in the woods in a tent or something the doctor told me. He walked around screaming at people, and at nothing. He was seeing things that weren't there. The Police picked him up, and took him into the station thinking he was drunk and disorderly. He had the bottle on him, which he had just had filled, it had been a thirty day supply and it had twelve left in it. She said he didn't have hallucinations beforehand. Now he has a live in nurse in a nursing home, under adult supervision at all times. Now he sees things all the time that aren't there. He screams for no reason, and is in fear for his life that someone is trying to kill him. He is no longer taking Phenobarbital. After ninety days, they changed his medications. Because of his over dose, he has permanent brain damage, no one is permitted to say it is because of Phenobarbital, but you are however, allowed to come to your own conclusions- that is of course, your right. And you of course can say, you don't have all of the facts. This case study was given to me by a doctor, and without a name. The doctor wants me to share it with you, because she doesn't want Phenobarbital on the market, she feels it isn't safe for anyone. Again, this is her opinion. And she stated to me, she wishes to remain nameless as well, but she says, she is not alone, there are other doctors who agree, you just have to find them.
So after my own research and personal experiences, I believe that Phenobarbital could turn even the nicest people into someone different, but so can many other medications. But, I don't understand how a pill can change a persons' life as drastically as Phenobarbital seems to do. All the side effects and wrong actions Rose has, that she assumes are not bad and the lady who kept getting nightmares, none of that happened until they started taking that medication! I've came to the conclusion that the medication was meant for a good reason, but became very hazardous. With my own opinion, I think that they should change or further their research on Phenobarbital.
I still haven't found a person yet who hasn't had a bad side effect from that medication. It ruins lives more than helping, and they can't even see it because of the addiction.
*Baker Act: A Baker Act is a means of providing individuals with emergency services and temporary detention for mental health evaluation and treatment when required, either on a voluntary or an involuntary basis.
You may report side effects from this drug to: FDA at 1-800-FDA-1088.
Something I found very important that others might not know about Phenobarbital: Do not stop using Phenobarbital without first talking to your doctor, even if you feel better. You may have increased seizures if you stop using Phenobarbital suddenly. You will need to use less and less before you stop the medication completely.
And here is another fact I didn't personally know about Phenobarbital, after all, it is not something I have never been prescribed. And if you know someone who takes it, you might want or need to know this to, in case they take it wrong: Take Phenobarbital only when you are getting ready for several hours of sleep. You may fall asleep very quickly after taking the medicine.
This is why it is best to educate yourself about the medicines you are taking, before you start taking them. And if you are taking care of someone, whether be a child, or an elderly person, you still need to educate yourself on the medication. This way you know, and can explain what is happening to the Doctors, to a Paramedic, or anyone else who might need to know. It is always best to be safe, rather than sorry.
I wanted to share my knowledge and experiences with Phenobarbital, because I feel that it might benefit others, and maybe enlighten you the reader. Because together- we can make a difference. We need to make it mandatory that people learn about their medications, and that they know how to take them, and that they get the help they need AND deserve. People matter. We matter. Together we can make a difference.
Published by Deneale K. Williams
No comments:
Post a Comment