"The doctor prescribed tablets that landed me in hospital"

I saw a doctor at the NHS Rotherham walk in centre, because I had cold and flu symptoms but I was also experiencing numbness all down one side of my face. The doctor said it could be muscular, and prescribed some tablets. Before they prescribed them, I asked about potential side effects because I already have a chronic stomach condition and was taking antibiotics. The doctor said the only possible side effect was feeling groggy. I was finishing my last does of antibiotics that day, so I took the first tablet from the doctor that night. On my third tablet, which I took at work I started to feel dizzy, I felt sick, and my blood pressure dropped. I asked my collegue for help, because I felt awful and could hardly speak. My heart was pounding.

My collegue got hold of the work’s nurse, who said I needed to go back to the walk in centre with hr. In the lift, I dropped to the floor, I couldn’t breate, I was panicking and they had to get a wheelchair for me. They checked my blood pressure and it had dropped to 50. The nurse phoned the doctor, the same doctor I’d seen who came out to see me at work, checked my head and wrote a letter to the hospital saying that I needed to be admitted immediately. I could barely talk.

I think taking those tablets nearly killed me, I was so frightened. The doctor apparently phoned the ward to see how I was but I didn’t want to talk to them, because I felt like they’d caused me to have this episode.

If the doctor had spoken to me about the possibility of feeling dizzy and sick from the tablets, and certainly about the potential for lowered blood pressure, I’d have thought twice, especially as I have low blood pressure to start with. I feel it was hugely irresponsible of the doctor, no one should take medication that can have that serious an effect and not be informed.