[panda692]

Hi,
New to this forum and would be interested to hear from anyone else who has similar issues. Here is our story.

My husband for whom I am the carer was diagnosed with type 11 Diabetes in April 2005 aged 60. He maintained good control of his sugar levels with diet.

He was diagnosed with Parkinson's Disease in June 2006 and after some months of adjusting to medication his motor symptoms settled well although he has non motor problems with insomnia ,daytime sleepiness and balance difficulties.

In January 2007, following his 6 month review he was given Metformin by the Diabetes nurse 500mg x2 daily. He began to feel very ill so we contacted the surgery and were told to cut down to one. Eventually following further review with D Nurse he got back on to full dose. In April, another D nurse prescribed aspirin and he was so ill that he went back to her and it was changed to Enteric Coated aspirin. Things got worse so he visited his GP who prescribed Omeprazole which he admitted to my husband should have been given at the outset with the Metformin.
This settled things a little but in June another D nurse increased the Metformin again to 850mg x2 daily.

Last Monday, after 24 hours of violent Diarrhroea &, Vomiting and acute abdominal pain my husband was admitted to hospital via A&E. Tests so far have failed to indicate any other cause that an adverse drug reaction. I have seen this written on his hospital notes with a ? as further tests are pending. The metformin has been stopped and his blood sugars have remained within acceptable limits.

I am a retired chartered Physiotherapist and have been concerned about his medication for some time. Discussion with one of the GP's on Monday ended in a consensus that aspirin was uneccessary, especially as my husband is already protected against high BP by Ace inhibitors and statins.

I know that nurse colleagues who specialise have good training but they are not doctors and we have suffered a loss of confidence over this. Failure to take on board the whole medication picture could potentially have very serious results.

My poor husband has been extrememly ill, needed Morphine for the pain and suffered the indignity of catheterisation and all the other necessary procedures needed in such a situation.

I am hoping that once it is established that the drugs are the cause, which seems highly likely, that some sort of investigation will take place.

This has been a frightening and distressing experience. Fortunately I am a HPC and knew to get swift help. We have always received such wonderful treatment in the past and I hope that the equilibrium will be restored.