Comments: A Disturbing Trend
I walked out with bags of samples of Zyprexa from the general doc, not even a psych.
No questions asked. Three days later and horrible side effects later, I went back and told him to report it. His reason was for stress.
As an add on to Prozac. For stress.
Didn't turn out to be a fun time.
The typical cocktail Ive noticed is 1-2 mood stabilizers and a antipsychotic.
Posted by Stephany at July 10, 2006 01:16 AM
As you well know, I was once placed on 800mg of Seroquel. Essentially poisioned for a short period of time. Low and behold when I went off that dose, I was totally stable. I would love to have those months of my life back where I was overmedicated and didn't know what real life felt like. These docs. I swear sometimes.
Posted by Angie at July 10, 2006 10:38 PM
I don't know about this one, Philip.
Your basic stance is that antipsychotic medication is inherently "worse" for bipolars than mood stablizers. And your primary premise has to do with side effects -- in this case the diabetes relation to Zyprexa.
But doesn't ALL psychiatric medication have side effects? Including mood stabilizers?
Who's to say that one type of psych med is better or worse, or, in your words, more "aggresive" than another? Really. For instance, I know lithium and prozac cause birth defects. Risperdal causes restlesness. Lamictal causes weight gain. Who's to state that one one type of med is so much more severe, so much more dangerous than another?
Anyway, I know you are of the strong opinion that antipsychotics should be used with great reservation for people with bipolar. And I guess you're very much entitled to have that opinion.
I just wonder sometimes -- since psych meds are all trial and error anyway, since one thing is not going to work for everyone, since side effects and their severity will differ greatly from person to person -- whether a little bit of aggression is, in fact OK... when it's a choice between someone being able to live normally... or suffer.
Anyone have anything to say or add?
(But of course, in this particular case, I COMPLETELY agree that the doctor was incompotent and should have done a thorough backround medical history before prescribing Zyprexa.)
Posted by Gwen at July 10, 2006 11:36 PM