Blood pressure pills mistaken for thyroid pills.jpg

Shared on X, formerly Twitter, by Zucker Doctor @DoctorLFC

"Last month, a lady in her late 60s with a history of Hypothyroidism had come to see me. Her thyroid reports were out if range (TSH was 25). She said she had been on an early morning 50 power (mcg) thyroid pill for the past 10 years. Same dose, doesn't miss her meds, takes it on on empty stomach and maintains a 45 minutes gap between her thyorid pill and her tea/breakfast. Her 2022 Thyroid reports were bang normal. Something was amiss. She hadn't carried her medicines along so I asked her to bring the bottle (she stayed close by). She came back with a bottle of a dual combination antihypertensive drug (see pic). She did not have a history of high BP and her BP reading in clinic was 100/60. She insisted this was her thyorid pill. When I explained that this is a drug for high blood pressure management, something struck her, she said she will return in 10 minutes and rushed back home. She returned with her thyroid pill bottle (see pic again). Her husband has a history of hypertension and for the past one year, due to some confusion, she was taking her husband's BP pill and her husband was taking her thyroid pill. Their son would routinely take the respective bottles to the chemist as and when the pills were about to get over and the chemist would give a new one without a fresh prescription. Probably a year ago, the two bottles got exchanged and ever since they were taking each other's medicines. She came for a follow-up today. Her husband and she are doing well now that they're back to their own medicines."