Medical Lesson Learned: Ladies Only!

You know, I never thought I'd say it, but at this point I'd almost WELCOME menopause (or, the "pause", as I like to refer to it). Why? Because I am so tired of painful periods and cramps. Nothing works for me anymore. There is no over-the-counter medicine that works. My doctor doesn't seem to be phased by it and kind of looks at me like I am a big baby. Sometimes I am.

So with Frank being in his migraine mode and seeing that the Excedrin Migraine works wonders for him, I saw that Excedrin makes a Menstrual Complete medicine. In my line of thinking I figure that if this stuff is strong enough to tackle his migraines and succeed where no other medicine can, then surely this stuff - in the menstrual formula - can possibly help me.

I went, I bought, I took. The first two certainly took care of the cramps but I felt a little buzzy. I had just gotten home from going out for dessert with a friend and while I know this medicine has caffeine in it, I thought it was just a combination of that and the sweet dessert. Six hours later I wake at 4 a.m. with heinous cramps - the kind where I can barely unravel from the ball I'm in to walk to the kitchen to take something. But I do - two more. The bottle says that you can take up to 8 of these in a 24 hour time span so I feel okay in taking these two. Well, this began a horrific experience that I will not soon forget.

I took them at 4:16 a.m. I went back to bed and within 15 minutes my cramps were almost gone but my heart was beating erratically - I could FEEL it. I tried for over two hours to go back to sleep but could not. I got up and went about my morning but felt really weird, very shaky, kind of queasy and still my heart rate was not right. I had a bowl of oatmeal, hoping that food would level things out but it didn't. Five hours later my cramps are almost unbearable but I am afraid to take anything at this point.

We had a small Christmas party to deal with and so I stayed away from the sweets and chose some chips, popcorn, water, etc. to eat and while my stomach felt a little better, my heart did not. We ate a late, protein-laden lunch, still didn't feel better. At 4:00 p.m. I took a nap. I woke up at 5:00 p.m and STILL did not feel right. Frank got home at 5:30 and wanted to take me to the ER because he is convinced that this cannot be from the Excedrin. I told him I had gone on-line and researched this and all of these side effects are what can happen with this stuff but no time frame was given. I was still very weak and shaky and my heart was still beating weird and so he made me just sit quietly and rest. I did and by 8:00 pm I was tired but didn't feel quite so shaky.

I'm writing this on Wednesday morning, more than 31 hours after taking the last dose of this stuff and I am STILL not feeling right. I may have to call a doctor. I don't want to, but I may have to. The lesson here, be very, very, VERY careful when you take this stuff. Seriously, it scares the heck out of me right now.

*Today's Examiner.com article is on Christmas Cookie Math. You can read it HERE. Thanks!*