Re: Premier Mental Health Mutual Support Thread
Posted: Fri Aug 23, 2024 5:03 am
Out of curiosity what country are you in? The UK?A_Man_Who_Tries wrote: Fri Aug 23, 2024 4:42 am Faced with a tricky one here, or maybe it isn't and I'm just wavering because it's an added load of bullshit I don't have the bandwidth for. Regardless, some wider opinions would be handy.
After a particularly rough spell I've decided that not only are my current medications no longer helping, but they're actively accelerating a downward spiral. To this end I went to the doctor to express a desire to come off them and to try something else. There's one particular medication I refuse to try again as I had such a bad experience with it last time around, but I'm open to any alternative family.
I should say, at this point, that this is a new doctor and my first time in with him, and I'm not confident with his manner. I suppose I should appreciate what looks like thoroughness when your doctor is literally Googling things in front of you as you talk, but I'd feel better with a sense that the knowledge was already there. Either way, I'm not feeling that confident about him.
He suggests a medication after some Googling. It's something I've never heard of and I'm good with giving that a go. He prescribes it and I ask him about the timings and general procedure for responsibly tapering off what I'm on, before starting this. He tells me he doesn't want me to taper off the other drugs at all, but to take this on top and come back in some four-to-six weeks 'to see how you are feeling then'. This gives me a little pause because it's a lot of medication on top of each other, and he doesn't seem to have acknowledged, even if not immediately, my desire to come off the current meds.
When I get home, I Google the new medication. I should say I'm not the sort that trawls through WebMD and becomes hysterical at every last listed side-effect, but I haven't felt good about the experience with the doctor and thought I'd at least Google and read what he had read in the surgery. Down the page there is a particular paragraph dedicated to this new medication not always playing well with one of the families I'm currently on.
Today, at the suggestion of my housemate, I call the national hotline just to get a second opinion. They put you through to a working pharmacist where you can explain yourself and get an opinion from them. We speak and the pharmacist is literally, "He said WHAT?!"
I am urged in no uncertain terms to not take this medication atop of my current load, under any circumstances.
On the one hand this is straightforward - I will taper off the current regimen before adopting the new one; on the other hand I should surely do something about this, right? I really don't want to expend even more energy and stress on another ballache, but it's at best negligent and at worse malpractice.
Has anybody here any experience in handling something like this?