Posted by 3 Beer Effect on December 30, 2001, at 14:14:51
I am growing continually frustrated with psychiatry & psychiatrists in general. Psychiatrists all seem to be threatened by patients who have any knowledge of psychopharmacology, I guess because it threatens their inflated, insecure egos.
I was in a Mental Hospital Outpatient Program for Depression & Chemical Dependency since I overdosed on Soma muscle relaxer/pain pills and ended up in a hospital. The program was an intensive outpatient one with an assigned psychiatrist and group therapy, about a month in length, 3 hours per day.
Anyways, the psychiatrist prescribed Asendin (Amoxapine) and not only could I not find this old tricyclic drug at 3 different pharmacies, it is also associated with tardive diskeneysia because of its neuroleptic (anti-psychotic) action.
I told the pharmacist that I have seen people with tardive diskenysia on the bus before, & that it is very disturbing & that additionally IRREVERSIBLE tardive diskeneysia has been seen in a few patients taking Asendin at small doses for short periods of time.He became angry & said there is only a 1 in 250,000 chance of that happening. I don't care if it is one in a million, I don't want that disorder, & I thought this was especially ridiculous since there are many safer alternatives than Asendin with similar action.
My pharmacist recommended Sinequan (Doxepin) as a safer alternative with similar therapeutic effects. I sent the doctor a fax telling him that I am still not willing to take the ascendin and that Sinequan or Remeron (which i've taken before with no problems besides somnolence/excessive sleep) would be better choices.
Apparently, my fax, even though it was written in a nice & civil tone (according to my Dad who read it to make sure), enraged this doctor who is the head psychiatrist of a large private mental hosptial. He immediately declared me a non-compliant patient (which means my insurance probably won't pay for the 3 days of group therapy I recieved) and TOTALLY DISCHARGED ME FROM THE PROGRAM, even the group therapy, which I thought was helping me.
I thought about reporting him to one of the state medical boards but am afraid that no psychiatrist would want to take me if I did that. Luckily, I have only depression and social phobia (which I used to self medicate with binge drinking at college parties)- What if I had been a suicidal patient or something (like many of the other people in this program)? I should probably sue this guy, but that would be a real pain.
Anyways, I talked to my former psychiatrist who I don't see anymore because he is in the college town where I went to college (until side effects from SSRIs & Effexor made me unable to go to class, let alone do my homework or study). He thinks I may have Bipolar Depression, and I am going to see him on Monday. The thing is is that I am pretty fed up with psychiatry & don't know if I want to continue taking anything, because they all see to be just mind numbing drugs that dull you intellect & your experience of life. I passed all my classes at a rigourously academic college even though I binged drank every thursday, friday, & saturday night & had the time of my life. But, as soon as I resorted to psychiatry & SSRI anti-depressants to cut down on my drinking, I turned into a blibbering idiot- kind of like in the new movie "A Beautiful Mind" where the lead character is brilliant until the psychiatry quacks load him up with mind-numbing drugs. I think I am going to try 2 months with no psychiatric drugs whatsoever, especially considering that it sounds like the drugs to treat bipolar make you as dumb as a brick- I can't finish college in the fall like that (Also, the only manic episodes I have had were from Zoloft, Celexa, & Effexor XR. Never had mania when I was on no drugs whatsoever.) I have just started an amino acid therapy plan (5-htp, l-tyrosine, & a multivitamin) which i'm hoping will restore the serotonin, norepinephrine, & dopamine to normal non-depressed levels, & just purchased a home gym and am going to start an exercise program. I think a "six pack of ripped abs" would probably do more for my social phobia & lack of self confidence around women than klonopin, anti-depressants or anything else.
poster:3 Beer Effect
thread:88246
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20011222/msgs/88246.html