Vanetta Fenton, an MG patient advocate, shares why speaking up about medication interactions is critical when seeking urgent care and how advocating for yourself can help protect your health.
Transcript
I remember I had a respiratory infection at one point, and I went to urgent care. They were recommending medication for me.
And I was telling them, you know, “I need to know what medication you’re going to prescribe, because I do have a neuromuscular disorder. And sometimes the medications that, you know, some providers prescribe, it may interact with the current medications that I’m on, or it could just overall have a bad effect on my disease.”
And I remember the doctor just saying, you know, “Oh, it’s fine. This medication works for everyone because I have a good relationship with my doctor.”
And in that moment, I was able to call my provider and reach the emergency service and say, “Hey, can you please just call the urgent care provider and just make sure that you know it’s OK and it doesn’t interact with my disease or the medications that I’m on?”
I have to advocate for myself, and I had to make sure that I wasn’t leaving that office and trusting that a medication that was given to me was actually safe for me.