Scary Drug Side Effects- Read It to Believe It

Popping pills is easy but do you know about the possible side effects of the medicine and its consequence? Many of the side effects like fatigue and nausea are common but some could be serious and life threatening. Read on to find some of the major side effects.

Blindness: Drugs that contain sildenafil citrate, vardenafil or tadalafil as their active ingredient are used to cure erectile dysfunction in men. These drugs cause blindness in some cases and therefore the FDA mandated updated labeling of these drugs. Patients, particularly the elderly experienced impaired vision after taking these drugs as there was reduced blood flow to the eyes as these patients suffered diabetes and high blood pressure also. So people who experience sudden or decreased vision loss should see a physician.

Addictive behaviors: Parkinson’s disease is a disorder of the central nervous system that impairs the patient’s speech and movement among other conditions. It is seen that nearly 12% of patients suffering from Parkinson’s disease who take dopamine agonists (drug used for the treatment of Parkinson’s disease) suffer from sudden addictions like elevated sexual interest, gambling problems, compulsive eating habits or spending compulsively.

Strange sleep behaviors: sedative-hypnotic drug products commonly known as sleeping pills, are known to cause erratic sleep behaviors which include driving, bingeing on food and various other activities during sleep. The patient is not aware and has no recollection of any of these acts. So the FDA has made a request to all sedative-hypnotic drug manufacturers to include information about the possible risk of sleep behaviors on the pill.

Black tongue: Bismuth subsalicylate is a compound of the element bismuth and has antacid and antibacterial properties which are commonly found in antidiarrheal over the counter medications. When this compound combines with sulfur in the human saliva, it creates a black colored substance called bismuth sulfide in the gastrointestinal tract. This causes darkened stools and a misleading frightening black tongue which is harmless to the body.

Burning from the inside: a deadly skin disease known as Stevens – Johnson syndrome (SJS) is caused due to drug reactions.This allergic reaction has been compared to being burned from the inside of the system. It could be caused due to painkillers, antibiotics or even epilepsy drugs. The patients who are allergic to the particular drug first develop rash which could lead to blisters in the mouth and lungs.