[MrPeab]

I am concerned for my 68 year old mother. She has a back problem & takes pain meds Norco 5/325 two every 6 hours. She began having sleeping problems and dr. added Ambien 10mg at bedtime. She than complained of leg cramps they put her on requip and she takes one 2mg tablet 1 to 1 1/2 hours before bedtime. Now there have been issues in the family and she has seen her doctor for anxiety, stress, and depression. He prescribed her Oxazepam 30mg one capsule every 6 hours as needed. Basically she is taking them every 6 hours. When she wakes up in morning from what my father describes as a very deep sleep. (one position the entire night) she claims to have extreme pain and stiff joints where it takes her a while to actually get moving. She takes her Norco, Oxazepam,potassium,lasix,diovan, 6 hours later norco & Oxazepam, than again at dinner and when bedtime comes she takes norco,Oxazepam,requip,ambien. Is this safe? especially the bedtime dose? sometimes she is so out of it she slumps over and nods out. Last night we went out to dinner she took her pills and when we got to the restaurant about 15 minutes later she was worse than I have ever seen. She almost fell forward and I had to stop her from putting her hand in her coffee. My wife had to take her to the bathroom and splash cold water on her face which didnt really help. This has us very concerned. Especially the bedtime dose which includes 3 drugs which if only one of the 3 was taken with her norco at bedtime she should sleep like a baby right?

[tabascochontal4u]

Awesome post.
Very interesting article. Thanks for sharing. Can you provide some article related to drug rehab mate..

[mpvt]

Your mom is headed for trouble and her doctor needs to be notified.Nodding out like that could be a sign of abuse.At the very least her drug regime needs to be adjusted.Good luck and I hope you can get through to her as there is a drug problem here.........Dave

[erinkj]

Originally Posted by MrPeab

I am concerned for my 68 year old mother. She has a back problem & takes pain meds Norco 5/325 two every 6 hours. She began having sleeping problems and dr. added Ambien 10mg at bedtime. She than complained of leg cramps they put her on requip and she takes one 2mg tablet 1 to 1 1/2 hours before bedtime. Now there have been issues in the family and she has seen her doctor for anxiety, stress, and depression. He prescribed her Oxazepam 30mg one capsule every 6 hours as needed. Basically she is taking them every 6 hours. When she wakes up in morning from what my father describes as a very deep sleep. (one position the entire night) she claims to have extreme pain and stiff joints where it takes her a while to actually get moving. She takes her Norco, Oxazepam,potassium,lasix,diovan, 6 hours later norco & Oxazepam, than again at dinner and when bedtime comes she takes norco,Oxazepam,requip,ambien. Is this safe? especially the bedtime dose? sometimes she is so out of it she slumps over and nods out. Last night we went out to dinner she took her pills and when we got to the restaurant about 15 minutes later she was worse than I have ever seen. She almost fell forward and I had to stop her from putting her hand in her coffee. My wife had to take her to the bathroom and splash cold water on her face which didnt really help. This has us very concerned. Especially the bedtime dose which includes 3 drugs which if only one of the 3 was taken with her norco at bedtime she should sleep like a baby right?

WOW! First, you ABSOLUTELY need to notify her doctor. I highly reccomend that you go in and talk to the pharmacist who fills your mom's prescription. Hopefully, she get's them all from the same pharmacy. If she uses more than one pharmacy then you should do your best to get ALL of her prescriptions transfered to one, this way they can moniter interactions, etc. I am NOT a doctor but, in my personal oppinion this sounds like a case of treating side effects of med's with more med's....Ambien can cause muscle cramping...My husband had horrible cramps in his legs and lower back while he was on ambien. (Not everyone reacts the same way to all med's) So, the Ambien could be causing her cramps! Taking requip for cramps is not the best idea (again, my oppinion) unless your mom has seriouse problems with restless leg syndrome then, she does NOT need the requip...If your dad sais that she doesnt move all night while sleeping then, I don't think she needs the Requip. Also, Requip will add to the effects of her other med's. Light headedness, loss of balance, feeling faint and even passing out are some of the side effects of requip. If this were me, I would taper off the Requip and STOP the ambien. ( Anxiety is also a side effect of Requip and some folks get that with Ambien to) If she takes the oxazepam at bedtime that should help with the sleep issues enough that she should not need any other sleep med's. Also, it is important that she not take narco's at the same time as the oxazepam! doing so will make her VERY spacy, etc. You get the point. If she is going to stay on pain med's and oxazepam then she should take them 4 hours apart. I hope that helps some. Let me know if I can help further...Good luck....Peace...ERin