If you suspect a side effect or drug interaction, call the prescribing physician immediately to discuss the problem. If you can't reach the doctor, call a pharmacist or go to an emergency room if the situation is urgent. Make friends with a pharmacist. Many experts foresee a time when pharmacists will accompany physicians on hospital rounds and computer devices will double-check drug interactions and patient allergies for every prescription a doctor writes. Until that happens, make the connection yourself.
Many pharmacists are remarkably astute and eager to share their knowledge.
If you belong to a large HMO with a busy pharmacy, find a neighborhood pharmacist willing to talk to you. A good pharmacist will probably be able to say if a new symptom could be drug-related. Above all, trust your intuition. Good medicine, writes Jerome Groopman, MD, a professor at Harvard Medical School, is based on good communication between patients and doctors. Groopman, a writer for The New Yorker, says in his new book, Second Opinions, that doctors must learn to tap into a patient's intuition and not rely on just their own medical knowledge.