When I told my coworker today which medications I take she flipped out. She’s on her last semester of nursing school and knows a bit about medications. I told her my med list and she said it was criminal negligence what my psychiatrist is doing to me with that much medication.
I don’t know what to think myself. I’ve been plagued with TD and Dystonia. I have such bad sedation in the mornings that I have to take a medication to wake me up as coffee alone doesn’t do that. My fine motor skills are practically gone, my hand writing is illegible and I used to have great hand writing.
If only it was as simple as “I’m making everything up I don’t need any medication” which is what my parents think. They think I can come off all my meds and function as well as I did as a 18 year old pre-psychotic break.
My meds are
Ambien 5mg
Modafinil 200mg
Geodon 40mg am and pm
Welbutrin XL 150mg
Lithium 1200mg
Loxapine 50mg
Ingrezza 80mg
Benztropine 2mg
Klonopin 0.25mg
My physical health meds are
Topamax 100mg
Butabital
Pantroprozle 40mg
some of ur medicines do seem to interact and cancel each other out. like a medicine to wake u up and a medicine to put u to sleep.
benztropine also raises dopamine and the others lower it. it might be the case that taking more meds mean that u need more meds to cancel the others out.
like i tried wellbutrin and it made me paranoid. if i had kept taking it i woulda needed more APs. same with modafinil. it also increases dopamine i think. then the doctor cancels that out with more APs. then u cant wake up so she gives u a medicine for that. which could make it hard to sleep so another medicine for that. it does seem strange
A nursing student does not have the proper knowledge, education or experience to say your psychiatrist is wrong in the meds they’ve prescribed you. I’m sure she means well.
That’s a lot of medication. I was on 6-9 meds one time and got NMS. I seem to do better with less meds. I’m only on two now. Zyprexa 15 mg and Trintellix 20 mg.
I don’t like taking mood stabilizers, but did okay on Lamictal before. I have sza-bipolar.
You seem to be higher functioning than me in a lot of areas.
@Hanna_Foxx can you ask your pdoc and primary care doctor to go over your list of medications with you including why they were prescribed, side effects and drug interactions, and so forth. I think it’s a good idea to periodically review meds with the prescribing physician, especially if one is on a lot of different meds. Also, maybe you could ask your doctor if you could consult a clinical pharmacist to review your meds (if your medical insurance/medical group have clinical pharmacists available).
does seem like alot of meds also some being controlled substances but if it works for you and your pdoc agrees than its ok. ive seen posts here a person was on 60 mg olanzapine, for me thatd probably be instant death as i was on 15 mg but every body works different
I have horrible insomnia as it is hence the Ambien. But Loxapine has a long sedation side effect that lasts till morning hence the Modafinil to wake me up.
Bro I am no doctor but I often told people that the more medicine you take, they treat one symptoms and give rise to three side effects…so the more side effects you are going to get…
I don’t know why you think by taking more and more medicine, you are going to become healthier lol, the fact remains that medicine like it’s name suggested is for people who are sick but it doesn’t cure you, it’s your bodys own immune system that fights off infection and other things that cures you
I would take matters into my own hand and read up onto each kind of medicine I am currently taking and decide for myself whether to take them or not…I am 5 months into my job and counting and my salary is around 4000 usd, I have plans to upskill myself further
All of what I have achieved is ONLY POSSIBLE with a healthy diet and lifestyle that is set out to minmax my health and on the lowest dose of just the antipsychotic , I USED TO HAVE high blood pressure, fatty liver, high cholesterol from taking the antipsychotics but I have since then kept them under control with a HEALTHY LIFESTYLE
Ffs, I shall repeat again, medicine DOES NOT CURE YOU, they only treats you, if you want your life back, it’s time to take accountability
I have no medical training but I would trust the psychiatric nurse.
It seems like a lot of drugs to me. Even half that amount is still quite a lot of pills.
Yea I’d trust your psychiatrist more, but that being said it does seem like a lot. No offense to your friend but I don’t think a nurse has the same experience… Also you’ve probably been working with your doctor for years right?
I’m not sure about the amounts but the real shocked I guess is the number of meds… But the amounts may not be that much if you eat what I mean.
You can eat a little but of apple, a little bit of orange, a little bit of pineapple etc. and still come in as less fruit than if you, say, ate a whole bag of apples or something. Hope you get what I mean lol. The list is long but maybe the amounts are reasonable and your doc is just trying to balance it all out.
I think you should talk to her about coming off some of them if possible tho?
It’s easy for someone who doesn’t have any health conditions to be arrogant about not needing so much medicine, I think that’s all you’re seeing here is someone who has no idea what it’s like to need medicine being arrogant.
As for what you need or not I have no way of knowing that at all.