My story is so weird, I don’t know where to begin. I suppose at the beginning, but the beginning was maybe 10 years ago, but I’ll start there.
Ten years ago, my ocular pressure was so high that my doctor in Guelph started me on eye drops. They made my lashes long and silky and grew hair on my face. I later learned the same drug was being tested to grow hair on bald men.
When I moved to British Columbia, my doctor put me on another eye drop which worked fine, and I lost the luscious lashes and the hair on my face.
When I moved back to Ontario, a new ophthalmologist put me on a combination eye drop of timolol and latanoprost. Everything was hunky dory up to about two years ago.
At this point, I’m closing in on 65 years of age. It’s expected that when I stand up, it takes a while for the joints to get lubricated and work smoothly. A certain amount of stiffness is common for women my age. Hell, around here, some women my age are on walkers. Anyway, joint stiffness and pain settle in to my left knee and hips. I can’t cross my legs. I feel as if cement has been poured into my left leg.
The thought crosses my mind that something is wrong. I look at my mother who was, at the time, 97, and she has no problem crossing her legs. She’s got ample hips, so I put it down to my having very narrow hips like my dad, who ended up having a hip replacement.
When I started working at the starch plant with John, my left elbow and right thumb became stiff and sore. I chalked it up to the repetitive action of bagging. However, even with a month’s rest, the stiffness and soreness never lessened. Strange.
So, I bought a brace for my knee, a brace for my elbow, a brace for my thumb and a brace for my wrist. Then, I developed a limp. I assumed it was the arthritis in my hip and knee getting worse. I assumed this was all the normal result of getting old, and the result of over doing athletics in my younger days. I assumed I was going to have a knee or hip replacement in the near future.
Then, my eye drops stopped working. My ocular pressure was rising and had been for about 18 months. My Spokane doctor puts me on new drops. Expensive drops. He tells me that the new drops have few side effects, not like Timolol which has the most side effects of all the eye drops. Hmmm!
When my optometrist, in trying to lower my pressure, had me put timolol in my eyes in the morning and latanoprost in the evening, I started having anxiety attacks, became depressed and lost my appetite. I thought it was because of the stress of immigrating here, but it wasn’t. I knew in my little heart of hearts it wasn’t.
One morning, after being on the new drops for a few days, I got out of bed and was shocked to feel no pain in my knee. Days went by and I lost my limp; I lost the soreness in my elbow and knee. I could get up from a chair and simply walk, not groan in pain and walk as if I had cement legs. I was blown away. Not old age! Not arthritis! I’m sure timolol was the culprit. When I stopped taking it, the joints got better. As well, the anxiety and depression lifted immediately.
Not quite believing my luck, I looked timolol up on the internet. It’s side effects included everything I had been suffering from. I wasn’t imaging getting better. I was better, and it was because I was no longer taking timolol. Thank God it stopped working.
What if it hadn’t stopped working, and I had hip and knee replacements earlier than I needed to? How many people my age think that their conditions are a result of old age and not the drugs they are taking? Don’t get me wrong. I still have arthritis in my knee and hip, but it’s very manageable. Maybe when I’m 75 I might have to get surgery, but no time soon.
When I told John my discovery, he said, “Welcome to the world of Western medicine!”
It’s a mine field!!
I always laugh when I see the drug ads on television; it’s all butterflies and glitter until they speed-read through the possible side-effects. My favourite part is always the “you may have thoughts of suicide while taking this drug or when you stop taking this drug. If you have these thoughts stop taking this drug immediately.” Quite a conundrum.
I am happy to hear that you are feeling better. Every once in awhile, whenever I have had a recent migraine, people start telling me I should be on this or that drug. I always have the same answer: I don’t want to put drugs into my body that will mess with my central nervous system. Back in grade 12 I think, Joe Dolezel put me on propanolol for my migraines which really only increased their frequency. If you look up propanolol you’ll find that it’s the same type of beta-blocker as timolol(!) and atenolol, which my mother was or maybe still is on.
Being close to 50 now I figure I’ll just keep toughing them out with gravol and painkillers until my body decides it has had enough of them. My dad “outgrew” them when he was in his 50s and I think my Oma was the same. Since I inherited the migraines I’m assuming I’ll inherit the ‘out’ as well.