Gaining

My doctor prescribed Megace as an appetite stimulant. When I went to research this medicine after receiving the prescription, though, it looks like it is a heavy duty drug which is mostly used in cancer patients and has some scary looking side effects listed, so I’m not sure I want to take it.

Has anyone here ever taken Megace? Did you get side effects from it, and was it effective as an appetite stimulant? Was it overall worth it? I’ve set up another appointment to ask the doctor questions, too, but I always like to hear firsthand testimony from people who have taken a medicine when possible, and all the testimonies I find online are from people using it for palliative care while on hospice or chemo, which is not my situation.

Just because a drug is most commonly used in certain situations does not mean it is intended only for those situations. Sometimes you will be prescribed something that seems way out of left field but has a specific purpose. It's an appetite stimulant—you need to eat to survive, this is not an option, and generally when something is prescribed to positively affect a vital function (food intake) the benefits outweigh the risks. It would make reasonable sense that it's prescribed most commonly to patients who constantly undergo treatments that eliminate their drive to eat, heal, and combat their illness.

If Megace is similar to those other Rx televised during daytime tv hours, I'd personally look extra hard at those side effects. Some side effects are worse than the actual ailment.