Is "V" for Viagra?

I stared at the little pill I had taken. "Is 'V' for Viagra," I wondered.   

Back story:

It was a normal sickness in need of a normal antibiotic. I picked up my prescription from the pharmacy and trudged back to work, ready to feel better fast. I glanced at the info of how to take the medications and saw a little highlighted box which read “no allergies” in my patient profile. It was odd because I'm allergic to a few different things. The teeny tiniest red flag went up in my mind, but I ignored it. I had ingested these life savers before.

I popped it open and poured out a little white circled pill. The “antibiotic” didn't look like the ones I had taken before, but I figured they had just given me a different brand. Another larger red flag emerged and waved its banner about my mind. 

I wish I had listened to myself the first time. I'm apparently smarter than I give myself credit for sometimes. So I washed down one of the little white circles with some water and a McDonald's crispy chicken snack wrap with a side order of buffalo sauce that they charged me 15 cents for. But that's beside the point.

Let's fast forward 15 minutes.

My limbs felt heavy and my head spun around like a washing machine. I needed to go pick up some carpool kids from school, but I couldn't drive. A fog rolled over my mind as I sat and feebly fought to stay awake. My mom said my eyes looked like they were spinning circles. Apparently they don't do that all the time. From my neck up to the top of my head, it itched like someone had lit a California forest fire under my skin and had forgotten to plan evacuation routes for my darling little skin cells.

I had never had this reaction before to these antibiotics. The snarky little red flag waved at me.

I looked back over the info that came with my prescription. The name was wrong. “Suzanne C. Walters” was emblazoned across the top. I'm Susanna G. Walters. (I'm also dyslexic, so I didn't even catch the mix up at first). I won't give away the unknown lady's age, but her birth date was similar to mine as well. Fortunately, Suzanne C. Walters is blessed to be allergy free. Unfortunately, Susanna G. Walters is not.

I explained the mix up to the pharmacist. He apologized profusely and completely blamed himself. I read the antibiotic's name off the bottle. It was the correct prescription for me. Only the patient info was incorrect. The only explanation he could offer was that I had developed an allergy to the sulfa in the drug. Completely plausible. My dad developed this same allergy later in life as well.

The lone red flag manned his post.

Later in the day, I explained the situation to a nurse practitioner friend. She looked at the little white circle pills. “I've never seen (this antibiotic) look like that before.” She also noticed a “V” on the pill that didn't match the name on the bottle. First thought: they gave me Viagra. However, research lead to this pill. According to the nurse, it's the strongest muscle relaxer on the market you can get from a doctor. I'm not impressed.

I'm just thankful I did not end up like the bride in the movie Sixteen Candles after she took four muscle relaxers before walking down the aisle!

Everything was once again explained to the pharmacist with the internet evidence. He gave me my money back and completely took the blame on himself. His staff is supposed to ask my birthday to verify that I'm not an allergy free Suzanne C. Walters. They had failed, so a staff meeting was to be held in my honor. 

Thank you Mr. Pharmacists for livening up my day!

As a side note, if you're interested in the side effects of Viagra in women, check out this article. Apparently it doesn't do much unless she's on antidepressants.

It's the end of the day, and my face is still flushed from the reaction. Luckily I have some skin care products to soothe my skin. Now I'm going to take some Benedryl to take care of the hives all over my body and hopefully get some sleep.  Here is a before and after of when I used my skin care products. Look how red my face was!