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> surgery on my right ankle. Though I faithfully reported all the PD drugs > I was taking before the surgery, no one seemed to know that Eldepryl and > Demerol, taken together, can have serious consequences. Nor did I know that > at the time, either, becasue I hadn't discovered this list. In retrospect, > I think I was lucky that I had no bad reaction, because I certainly scarfed > down the Demerol!! > If my surgeon, anaesthesiologist, nurses and everyone else involved could > have dropped these drug names into a computer and checked for interactions > first (assuming that info could be compiled from the many sources), I would > think they would have kept me on morphine instead for safety's sake. > Am I wrong here? > Remember, this is from the Queen of Computer Illiteracy.....sorry, I got on > a roll. > Marti Eiermann > Wow!! Queen of Computer Illiteracy--I thought that was me! But I will defer to you, your majesty (can I be a lady-in-waiting?). We already have a computer-based list of drug interactions. The problem is that patients with chronic diseases take so many meds, that no one pushes the buttons on the computer unless there is a deadly medication involved. That is why I have been adamant about the folks who take Eldepryl listing Demerol as a med they are allergic to when medical assessements are done. It saves time, and possibly lives, and insures that Demerol will not be given. Incidently, I have had experience with doctors trying to give me beta blockers as anti-hypertensives. I am pre-asthmatic, and have no wish to develop full blown asthma (somethings that has been associated with beta blockers). Now, this side effect is CLEARly listed in the PDR, yet inevitably, I get a discussion about how that MIGHT not happen. Of course, if it does happen I'm the one who has to live with the asthma, so I just tell them to come up with another agent. That's the point--there are many other equally good meds that can be given in place of the drug of choice. ---- Peace Mary Ann