I had an understanding with her that I would give her my accord to use my medical information for a case report regarding pregnant women on Aripiprazole. She gave me her cell number and said we’d keep in touch. A few weeks after that, I gave her an sms to remind her of it. Then I realized she doesn’t have the habit of keeping a promise or answering her cell, so I decided to take the matter into my hands. I talked to my gynaecologist who explained to me that the pdoc already contacted him regarding this and that he will share the info he gives to her with me.
Now, what bugged me is that I was not allowed by my pdoc to participate in the decision-making process or at least understand what data she and her tutor would collect from me. That seemed like an infringement of my liberties as a human being, a mother and a patient. So I called the producer of Abilify, explained to them that I really want to give back, that I’m doing well on this medication and that I want other pregnant women to benefit from this info which is lacking right now: what to expect if taking Abilifyaripiprazole) during pregnancy and lactation. They asked for my Gynaecologist’s number and, if I could, my pdoc’s. I called both to let them know I intended to give Otsuka their contact details and to ask for permission to do so. The Gynaecologist was, again, very happy about the idea and communicative, while the pdoc started babbling and was visibly angry I did that. She called again after she hung up and told me to come to the hospital to talk it over with her.
So I went to the hospital and she was , again, visibly angry on me, told me I was decompensating and threatened me to get my dose higher if I didn’t stop doing things that she found weird. She said that no one she knows would call the producer to give them info about themselves, so I am probably in a manic phase to do so. I asked her why it was impossible to have both her case report and Otsuka’s in this situation, she refused to answer, I kindly insisted that she gave me an argument regarding that and she almost jumped off her seat in rage, making weird gestures in the air with her hands. She was irate!
WHen she calmed down she said we should see each other more often and stop talking about this situation with the report. Right after she said that she paused and asked me again what I had decided regarding the same situation she just said we should no longer discuss…
I told her I am glad that she wants to see me more often until I give birth (one month from now) and that this is the correct thing to do. She said not to be mad at her for saying I’m probably decompensating, and I said of course not, it’s her duty to tell me if she finds something bizarre about me, that I wish she had done that with my first pregnancy too (at the end of that pregnancy I was off pills at her advice and really in a psychosis, and she was not answering neither my husband nor my gynaecologist’s phone calls). She took it like a pro, with absolutely no reaction.
I’m not afraid that she might raise my dose - I am doing really well on Abilify, sleeping well and using my brain correctly and having normal social interactions etc. I’m just annoyed that she implies that I’m very sick when she disagrees with my choices. Also, I’m annoyed at not being able to understand correctly why she is behaving like that - I’m really ok now by all standards possible, she never said a word when I was really in psychosis and my son’s life was in danger. So what gives?
Sorry about the unintelligible rant, there is so much more to say about this so you could properly understand the situation. But I guess the main question is - why would a psychiatrist be so intent on being the only person who gets the information regarding my pregnancy on aripiprazole? Why is she so afraid that I contact Otsuka? Maybe I’m overthinking this and I do take into account the possibility of decompensating as she says I might be, so I’m making everybodyy aware it’s a possibility, checking my sleep schedule etc. . But that just doesn’t sound good when told by a person who jumps off her sit in anger and refuses to tell you what their arguments are for not allowing you to contact the producer of the drug. It just doesn’t seem right. Also, it’s not credible when her concern level were raised by me calling Otsuka but not the last time, when I was in full-blown psychosis in front of her (I even got diagnosed for the first time after that psychosis, so it was truly visible, but not to her).
Aaaanyway, any thoughts on why she might behave like that? My gynaecologist seems to place himself on the opposite side of the spectrum, he is very supportive and glad that I did all of thet.
