(no subject)
Dec. 1st, 2015 12:31 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
the_rckDamn it. I can’t believe I did that. I also can’t believe I put off doing any about for an hour and a half. Anxiety really sucks when it stops me from doing something urgent.
I take ranitidine (Xantac), 300 mg, every night at bedtime. Last night, I noticed I was running out and picked up the bottle to take it to the living room so that it would remind me to call for a refill in the morning. It was my intention to take the bottle of hydrocodone with me to my bedroom so that I could take some in the middle of the night when the pain woke me. Guess which bottle I actually took with me? Yeah, that’s right. And I didn’t notice until after I took some this morning, right on getting up. So I’ve taken four times the dose I should have— my regular one tablet at about 10:30 last night, two tablets at 3 a.m., and one tablet at 10 a.m.
I looked online, and there’s not a lot information about ranitidine overdoses. None of the links I looked at defined what threshold constitutes a dangerous overdose. One of the sites gave some symptoms of overdose, and I don’t have those. The another site said that animal testing had shown that amounts measured in grams could be given without lasting ill effects. Even Medline isn’t very informative.
I feel okay. My stomach is a little upset, but that could very easily just be anxiety or the fact that I haven’t eaten much at all so far today. Medline lists a lot of side effects of overdose, including nausea, but that particular page covers overdoses for all H2 receptor antagonists, not just ranitidine. I called my doctor’s office about 11:30 (an hour ago). Someone is supposed to call me back soon. The person I talked to was a receptionist, but she did go away for a while, and I think it was to make sure that I wasn’t going to die if I waited until my doctor or one of the nurses could spare ten minutes to talk to me.
I think that the reason it took me so long to work myself up to making the phone call is that I feel very stupid. I know better than to do this. I really do. And I’ve been taking medications daily most of my adult life, say twenty-five years, and I’ve never made this sort of mistake before. I’ve occasionally forgotten a dose (but not very often) or not been sure whether or not I took a dose (which, generally speaking, means that I just risk skipping rather than risking doubling up). I tie most of my meds to specific daily events— Scott’s morning alarm, getting up, eating meals, getting ready for bed. Things I can’t schedule that way are a lot harder, and weekends are challenging because I’m likely to sleep later.
There are medications I take where I would be a lot more concerned if this happened, but, as it happens, the ranitidine is the only thing I take that is shaped like the hydrocodone, so this mix up couldn’t have happened with any of my other meds. I suppose I should be glad for that.
I thought my pain levels were unusually high an hour after I took my 3 a.m. dose.
Scott and Cordelia have to go this evening to get a replacement for a string on Cordelia’s viola that broke about 5:00 yesterday. Fortunately, that’s something we can just go to the rental place and get taken care of. I’m pretty sure it’s covered under our rental agreement, and when I emailed them about it, they said that’s a walk-in sort of thing. Cordelia, fortunately, doesn’t have orchestra on Tuesdays, so this isn’t as bad as it could be. She really wanted to practice a lot last night because of the concert on Thursday, but I don’t think that not doing it will be horrible. She can practice tonight and tomorrow. Practicing last night would have been helpful, but it won’t make or break the concert.
The woman who’s been making us meals on Mondays doesn’t seem to put salt in anything she cooks. It was especially noticeable in the bread she gave us last night. I don’t think we use salt excessively, but limiting it has never been one of our dietary concerns. We don’t add more than what the recipe calls for or anything, and there are a lot of things we cook without adding salt, including, at least half of the time, whatever meat we’re cooking. It’s just very noticeable when bread or soup doesn’t have salt in it, and I don’t think it tastes quite as good. I mean, I can add salt to soup pretty easily. It’s just inconvenient because our salt shakers (we have two or three) have all vanished which means pouring salt from the large container and trying very hard not to overdo.
I am really hoping that I’ll be able to start cooking again next week. I have a lot more energy than they said I would, so right now, it’s mainly a matter of not moving in ways that hurt and of not letting anything touch my breast.
Scott had to go into work at 3 this morning, and he’s expecting to have to go in early on Saturday, too. Volunteering for Saturday is the best way to avoid having to go in early on Friday which I told him to avoid since we don’t know how late the school concert will run and since his parents are coming. I don’t think that they’ll want to do anything after the concert, but who knows? It is apparently just the seventh graders performing, so I’m hopeful it won’t be more than half an hour to forty five minutes once it starts. Neither band nor orchestra are likely to do long sets, not when they’ve only had since September to learn the music. The kids have to be there forty minutes early, however, which makes the whole thing a lot longer. We’ll have to go that early, too, in order to be sure to get chairs. Not getting one won’t matter for Scott, but I really need to sit.
I take ranitidine (Xantac), 300 mg, every night at bedtime. Last night, I noticed I was running out and picked up the bottle to take it to the living room so that it would remind me to call for a refill in the morning. It was my intention to take the bottle of hydrocodone with me to my bedroom so that I could take some in the middle of the night when the pain woke me. Guess which bottle I actually took with me? Yeah, that’s right. And I didn’t notice until after I took some this morning, right on getting up. So I’ve taken four times the dose I should have— my regular one tablet at about 10:30 last night, two tablets at 3 a.m., and one tablet at 10 a.m.
I looked online, and there’s not a lot information about ranitidine overdoses. None of the links I looked at defined what threshold constitutes a dangerous overdose. One of the sites gave some symptoms of overdose, and I don’t have those. The another site said that animal testing had shown that amounts measured in grams could be given without lasting ill effects. Even Medline isn’t very informative.
I feel okay. My stomach is a little upset, but that could very easily just be anxiety or the fact that I haven’t eaten much at all so far today. Medline lists a lot of side effects of overdose, including nausea, but that particular page covers overdoses for all H2 receptor antagonists, not just ranitidine. I called my doctor’s office about 11:30 (an hour ago). Someone is supposed to call me back soon. The person I talked to was a receptionist, but she did go away for a while, and I think it was to make sure that I wasn’t going to die if I waited until my doctor or one of the nurses could spare ten minutes to talk to me.
I think that the reason it took me so long to work myself up to making the phone call is that I feel very stupid. I know better than to do this. I really do. And I’ve been taking medications daily most of my adult life, say twenty-five years, and I’ve never made this sort of mistake before. I’ve occasionally forgotten a dose (but not very often) or not been sure whether or not I took a dose (which, generally speaking, means that I just risk skipping rather than risking doubling up). I tie most of my meds to specific daily events— Scott’s morning alarm, getting up, eating meals, getting ready for bed. Things I can’t schedule that way are a lot harder, and weekends are challenging because I’m likely to sleep later.
There are medications I take where I would be a lot more concerned if this happened, but, as it happens, the ranitidine is the only thing I take that is shaped like the hydrocodone, so this mix up couldn’t have happened with any of my other meds. I suppose I should be glad for that.
I thought my pain levels were unusually high an hour after I took my 3 a.m. dose.
Scott and Cordelia have to go this evening to get a replacement for a string on Cordelia’s viola that broke about 5:00 yesterday. Fortunately, that’s something we can just go to the rental place and get taken care of. I’m pretty sure it’s covered under our rental agreement, and when I emailed them about it, they said that’s a walk-in sort of thing. Cordelia, fortunately, doesn’t have orchestra on Tuesdays, so this isn’t as bad as it could be. She really wanted to practice a lot last night because of the concert on Thursday, but I don’t think that not doing it will be horrible. She can practice tonight and tomorrow. Practicing last night would have been helpful, but it won’t make or break the concert.
The woman who’s been making us meals on Mondays doesn’t seem to put salt in anything she cooks. It was especially noticeable in the bread she gave us last night. I don’t think we use salt excessively, but limiting it has never been one of our dietary concerns. We don’t add more than what the recipe calls for or anything, and there are a lot of things we cook without adding salt, including, at least half of the time, whatever meat we’re cooking. It’s just very noticeable when bread or soup doesn’t have salt in it, and I don’t think it tastes quite as good. I mean, I can add salt to soup pretty easily. It’s just inconvenient because our salt shakers (we have two or three) have all vanished which means pouring salt from the large container and trying very hard not to overdo.
I am really hoping that I’ll be able to start cooking again next week. I have a lot more energy than they said I would, so right now, it’s mainly a matter of not moving in ways that hurt and of not letting anything touch my breast.
Scott had to go into work at 3 this morning, and he’s expecting to have to go in early on Saturday, too. Volunteering for Saturday is the best way to avoid having to go in early on Friday which I told him to avoid since we don’t know how late the school concert will run and since his parents are coming. I don’t think that they’ll want to do anything after the concert, but who knows? It is apparently just the seventh graders performing, so I’m hopeful it won’t be more than half an hour to forty five minutes once it starts. Neither band nor orchestra are likely to do long sets, not when they’ve only had since September to learn the music. The kids have to be there forty minutes early, however, which makes the whole thing a lot longer. We’ll have to go that early, too, in order to be sure to get chairs. Not getting one won’t matter for Scott, but I really need to sit.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2015-12-01 05:52 pm (UTC)"There has been limited experience with overdosage. Reported acute ingestions of up to 18 g
orally have been associated with transient adverse effects similar to those encountered in normal
clinical experience (see ADVERSE REACTIONS). In addition, abnormalities of gait and
hypotension have been reported."
It might reduce your absorption of hydrocodone; not sure whether it affects the formulation you're using, but the H2 antagonists often have this effect on meds.
But hey, if you were going to make a gaffe like this (and trust me, we all do sometimes, despite years of taking meds), better to do it with the ranitidine than something else. (I keep having moments of "Oh crap, did I take an extra dose of my BP med?")
no subject
Date: 2015-12-01 06:03 pm (UTC)The other oblong pills I take daily are a multivitamin and a calcium supplement, and both of those are in huge bottles, so I'd definitely notice if I picked one of those up instead of a prescription bottle.
no subject
Date: 2015-12-01 06:28 pm (UTC)I'm sorry that the medicine is so tricky right now, and I'm glad someone else gave you the relevant information (above.)
*hugs*
no subject
Date: 2015-12-02 12:27 am (UTC)Cordelia still doesn't clearly distinguish between food that she dislikes because it's spicy and food she just dislikes. 'Spicy' is her all purpose word for 'I'm not going to eat this.'
no subject
Date: 2015-12-02 02:04 am (UTC)I'm glad you seem okay despite taking more meds than you meant to.
no subject
Date: 2015-12-02 03:21 am (UTC)She did say that the drug has a half life of two to three hours, so the gaps between when I took the doses helped.
I know a lot of people who avoid adding salt because they think it's healthier. There are some people who need to be very careful about salt, but not all health problems require it. At any rate, I'm not sure if this woman habitually cooks that way for whatever reason or if she's thinking that I need low salt.
no subject
Date: 2015-12-04 01:50 am (UTC)I've heard that people who stop cooking with salt altogether often start experiencing even small amounts of saltiness as really, really salty, so she probably doesn't even notice it anymore.
no subject
Date: 2015-12-02 06:12 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2015-12-02 06:14 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2015-12-02 06:36 pm (UTC)wow that's one good rental agreement. :)
no subject
Date: 2015-12-02 01:34 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2015-12-02 04:42 pm (UTC)Over all, though, I'm doing pretty well.
no subject
Date: 2015-12-02 04:51 pm (UTC)