October 25, 2005

Psych Meds Can be So Damn Cruel--What to Do?

A couple of years ago, I hit the wall with psych meds when I had a very bad reaction--racing heart, massive kidney output--to Lexapro and Risperdal. After that, I fired my doc, got a new one, and have worked to take as few meds as I can justify getting away with. It's worked fairly well since then--or at least things have been no worse than they were before.

Now, I've been watching a friend of mine go through a very nasty reaction to Seroquel, which said friend has been taking for two years. The friend is on 800 mgs., plus some other meds, and last night the friend started having tremors, was seeing spots, lost all sense of where she was and puked all over the place. What's more, the friend couldn't get the doc to respond to the situation. Hopefully, my friend will fire the doc involved, who kept loading my friend up on more and more meds even when they weren't working well.

I mention this because my friend's experience isn't that unusual. A good 50 percent of us have problems with meds, have docs who think the solution is more meds at higher doses, and still we have problems. I've about had it with this approach--especially given that psych meds work about 50 percent of the time, cost us hundreds of dollars a month and come with a host of nasty side effects.

I am really feeling cheated by the whole psychopharmacology revolution--and I know that I am far from alone in my feeling. The question is what can we do to make this situation better. Stopping meds outright is never a workable answer--we all know what happens there. Taking more meds doesn't seem to work so well in the long-term either. But no matter how many of us out here are good kids and take our meds and do the best we can with what we've got, it just doesn't seem to improve the situation.

So what can we do to level the playing field a bit? We can demand that pharma companies radically cut the prices on their not-so-wonderful meds. We can demand that they speed better ones to market. We can demand that policymakers and docs stop basing their pronouncements and findings on patients in the public mental health system--typically, the most worst-off patients and the most common research and training subjects--and start paying attention to how things work for the 75 percent or so of all patients who aren't in the public system. We can demand a voice and a seat at the table. We can demand answers.

I think it is about time the pharma companies sat down with us patients and--for a change--actually listened to us. Things aren't so good out here--and they need a good dose of the truth. So do policymakers. So if anyone at NMHA, DBSA and NAMI is listening, could you guys help us make this little summit happen?

Posted by Philip Dawdy at October 25, 2005 09:58 PM
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Comments

I am sorry to hear about your friend. I know how tough that can be. I have been having a lot of trouble this month as well. It never fails, every October and every July, I have an episode. This year in particular seems to be worse. I think I am falling into the same pattern as your friend. My doc keeps piling on the meds, and more often than not, it doesn't help.

Which makes me wonder, How many of us out there go through these same cycles? Does anyone else out there have episodes during the season change? What are you experiences with your shrink? Do they pile more meds on you or do they make an effort to ensure you are well without the major cocktail of meds?

Which brings me to my next question for readers. My shrink is really against prescribing anything addictive. Klonipin, Xanax, Ativan etc. Ativan and Klonipin work well for me with minimal side effects. Though these drugs are addictive, when other forms of medication do not work. Is it better to possibly be "addicted" to something and be functional or be on some massive dose of a "non-addicting" drug and be miserable?

These supposed non-addicting drugs is a total farse anyway. In my mind, "non-addicting" means you can go off it anytime and your fine. I have forgotten doses of my psych meds in the past and I feel it. I feel it in my head, my body and my nerves. So much for non-addictive drugs. They are not "non-addictive". The truth is you can't stop them all the sudden without suffering major side effects.

Mr. Dawdy, maybe we can do a poll and find out how many people are out there and have shrinks who mask the problems with higher doses of dangerous medications? I am interested in the experiences of others.....

Posted by: CrazyGirl at October 26, 2005 07:58 AM

I too am sorry about your friend. I was recently diagnosed as bipolar2/ADHD. I am currently testing out the meds and I liked the heads up approach in regards to Seroquel. Has anyone else taken this drug? If so, what were your experiences?

Posted by: lawdawg67014 at October 26, 2005 06:11 PM

these drugs can be a nightmare. seroquel gave me facial ticks on a low dose of 25mg. i swore off it but then got desperate.. tried it again. it's better to use other ways to heal. be an aunt. learn how to give and receive love in a million ways. be a cousin. be a sister. be a brother. be an uncle. i'm not joking. my job with children has helped revive my faith in humanity.

Posted by: andrea at September 10, 2006 12:06 AM

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