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Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
bob@dr-bob.orgShown: posts 1 to 17 of 17. This is the beginning of the thread.
Posted by Squiggles on June 17, 2007, at 12:44:43
So here's a medical dilemma: I would be interested to hear from those who have medical experience or background, what would you do?
The patient suffering from major clinical depression, has been bounced around from drug to drug for 25 years. The drugs have left the patient exhausted, cognitively confused and burned out from withdrawals and switches from one psychiatric drug to another. Add to that, a very stressful life and job, and the patient has been driven to near-suicide from a tortuous medical experience.
Nevertheless, the dutiful doctor keeps tinkering with one drug after another, to no avail, and to greater harm.
Finally, the patient decides to drop all drugs, and take up exercise and art therapy for serious mental illness. The therapist promises to change the frustration behaviour which has accumulated over the years, by showing different ways of expressing frustration. The doctor thinks that might help. The patient loses about 80 lbs, develops hypomania, thinks Alzheimer's has struck, cardiac problems, and develops jaundice (a gall bladder operation occured some years before).
What would you do?
Squiggles
Posted by Jeroen on June 17, 2007, at 13:39:45
In reply to Chronic med failure, posted by Squiggles on June 17, 2007, at 12:44:43
hi there,
my situation is simular, 10 years has passed and in that time there were 2 months of real mental happyness
and that was by accident, i ordered a drug from the internet called seroquel... 100 mg at night did the trick, psychosis gone, happyness, social withdrawal gone...
but then after 2 months it stopped working, and now 3 years later not 1 day the same cure happened
what i would do is, sigh i dont know
when i look into a mirror each day, i say boy, when does it end or stop?i think in my situation it never does.. geodon caused my hell into a dark hell...
all i wanted is to feel good and listen to the music, smoke a cigarette, make friends, enjoy the weekends, but hey, life is not like that anymore....
at years 10 till 14 you can expect the best thing in this natural fucing life...i had a good life then, also before, can't complain, but i feel like my young adultlife has been destroyed...
now that i'm 23 and got therapy for 4 years...
2 months i've been well, they simply dont care.. doctors is much easyer to throw some pills into your mouth...
when i was 10 or maybe 11, i felt so good natural, i looked at an adult, and had a taught of wow, this guy looks really f*cked up, i hope i dont get it too, few years later BANG, .......
i saw a incompetent psychiatrist few years later , he shove me up with Risperdal, and that made me sicko.after i went off, he didnt even discuss another drug
so conclusive things mean, in your case
i have read an older woman taking 100 mg of seroquel at night after few weeks she came happy down the stairs singing
now i know why.....
Posted by Squiggles on June 17, 2007, at 13:52:41
In reply to Re: Chronic med failure, posted by Jeroen on June 17, 2007, at 13:39:45
> and that was by accident, i ordered a drug from the internet called seroquel... 100 mg at night did the trick, psychosis gone, happyness, social withdrawal gone...
>
>thank you for your reply jeroen; i am truly amazed that the it is so difficult to train the "black dog"; it does look like hit and miss, and that may very well depend on how lucky you are with the right doctor. The fact that seroquel worked, at least for a while, should indicate that it is possible for meds to work-- the dose, the type, the combo, the dx -- it's very challenging work and required extremely insightful and dedicated monitoring.
I'm really sorry you haven't got the right treatment yet. Years are wasted for many people even on the best med just by side effects.
Best wishes,
Squiggles
Posted by Jeroen on June 17, 2007, at 14:05:11
In reply to Re: Chronic med failure, posted by Squiggles on June 17, 2007, at 13:52:41
hi, i came up with a new theory..
its only been 60 years after world war 2
what if we would live 300 years later, then some dude come up with psychosis insta cure. they hand it out like aspirin, (they do test you first, and they inform the general public also, they dont do this now
they only advertise schizophrenia attacks in JAIL and not on CNN, cuz that's where people belong they think who's in trouble.. i think that's demonic..)
i think it's possible, but do we really need to wait... if that's history, then we're living it the hard ways, in 1800 i saw movie on psychiatry, they put peoples head into a machine and then drown them every 30 seconds up and down... for half an hour as treatment for their behavior..
now this was true, and all them were catholic priests in charge of the institution..
if this is your faith... life.. that's the way i feel it..
Posted by Squiggles on June 17, 2007, at 14:15:23
In reply to new theory, posted by Jeroen on June 17, 2007, at 14:05:11
jeroen,
mental illness is treatable NOW. You've bad
luck. I hope you go to another hospital or
doctor. Drugs are available for severe psychosis
and they can take you out of hell, though you
may get Montazuma's revenge for it. :-)Really, there are treatments. I don't know where
you live, but clinics and hospitals can be a good start. It's such a myth that mental illness is not treatable. I'd like to ******* the perpetrators of it.Squiggles
Posted by Sigismund on June 17, 2007, at 15:09:20
In reply to Re: Chronic med failure, posted by Squiggles on June 17, 2007, at 13:52:41
Opiates. Free the market up.
Posted by Phillipa on June 17, 2007, at 16:20:35
In reply to Chronic med failure, posted by Squiggles on June 17, 2007, at 12:44:43
Squiggles whatever it took to get another doc even if you have to travel to do it. Love Phillipa
Posted by Squiggles on June 17, 2007, at 16:22:38
In reply to Re: Chronic med failure » Squiggles, posted by Phillipa on June 17, 2007, at 16:20:35
> Squiggles whatever it took to get another doc even if you have to travel to do it. Love Phillipa
Phillipa,
do you mean "whatever it takes" to get another doc?
Squiggles
Posted by Phillipa on June 17, 2007, at 21:26:12
In reply to Re: Chronic med failure, posted by Squiggles on June 17, 2007, at 16:22:38
Yes your friend is seeing a doc now right? Love Phillipa
Posted by Squiggles on June 17, 2007, at 21:33:49
In reply to Re: Chronic med failure » Squiggles, posted by Phillipa on June 17, 2007, at 21:26:12
> Yes your friend is seeing a doc now right? Love Phillipa
Yes. There is an attachment and gratitude for
many years of effort to treat "med resistant depression" but it has been resistant. I always thought that the dr. would give up and refer the patient to a psychiatrist, but there may just be too huge a file and history. Also, my friend is, like me very ambivalent about giving offense and knowing what is the best course.Squiggles
Posted by linkadge on June 19, 2007, at 10:35:47
In reply to Re: new theory » Jeroen, posted by Squiggles on June 17, 2007, at 14:15:23
>mental illness is treatable NOW
Treatable doesn't say much. Somebody can give you treatment. That doesn't mean something has to work.
Linkadge
Posted by Squiggles on June 19, 2007, at 10:43:59
In reply to Re: new theory » Squiggles, posted by linkadge on June 19, 2007, at 10:35:47
> >mental illness is treatable NOW
>
> Treatable doesn't say much. Somebody can give you treatment. That doesn't mean something has to work.
>
> LinkadgeSo what is the alternative to treatment in your view?
Squiggles
Posted by linkadge on June 19, 2007, at 15:15:39
In reply to Re: new theory » linkadge, posted by Squiggles on June 19, 2007, at 10:43:59
I'm not saying there is, I am just saying that the notion that mental illness has been magically abolished many years ago is kind of a destructive notion.
Linkadge
Posted by Squiggles on June 19, 2007, at 15:20:43
In reply to Re: new theory, posted by linkadge on June 19, 2007, at 15:15:39
> I'm not saying there is, I am just saying that the notion that mental illness has been magically abolished many years ago is kind of a destructive notion.
>
> LinkadgeNo doctor says it's been magically abolished;
they're still working on improving treatments.
Of course it's destructive if they do Houdini
tricks.Squiggles
Posted by elanor roosevelt on June 19, 2007, at 21:24:26
In reply to Re: new theory » linkadge, posted by Squiggles on June 19, 2007, at 15:20:43
i am constantly amazed at how intolerant the general public is when it comes to emotional disorders such as depression or bi-polar disorder
why isn't intolerance considered the product of an unacceptably twisted mind?
Posted by Squiggles on June 19, 2007, at 23:17:16
In reply to Re: new theory, posted by elanor roosevelt on June 19, 2007, at 21:24:26
Only as intolerant as they are to
cholera and cancer-- for those who
care.Squiggles
Posted by chiron on June 20, 2007, at 23:15:15
In reply to Chronic med failure, posted by Squiggles on June 17, 2007, at 12:44:43
Question- did you get jaundice after your gallbladder was removed?
I completely relate to you 25 years of misery and unsuccessful drug trials, that's about how long it has been for me. My latest psychiatrist has never seen someone with such paradoxical reactions to so many drugs and he is quite confused.
After my latest emsam trial, I decided I was going to just try no drugs & ect (the only thing that has really worked for me). But then I started having extreme anxiety & depersonalization out of the blue and the ect procedures were freaking me out too much.
Luckily the xanax that they gave me has really helped, I think with the mood too. 3 weeks ago I was disfunctional & in the hospital, and now I'm doing ok. They also added small doses of lamictal (3rd try, but at a low 12.5 dose), 1/2 celexa, and a 1/2 synthroid. We're keeping the doses low for know because it seems higher doses make me worse.
I've also been taking my b vitamins, and some extra zinc because after a urine test they found I have too much copper.
That's why I was wondering about your jaudice. How recently? What did they determine was the cause?
This is the end of the thread.
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