Posted by katekite on April 12, 2002, at 22:06:58
In reply to I need help..fast, effexor and zyprexa, posted by mom on April 12, 2002, at 21:10:13
I can not really comment on the meds. I have taken some of them but response to meds is an individual thing. All of these drugs can interfere with how you think and what you feel, can even make it hard to understand what people are saying or what is going on.
I will say that hospitals often can be overzealous in quick changes, trying to make someone better quickly and in doing so create just the opposite effect. I have heard many many horror stories.
The fact that she seems to be doing worse in the hospital is important. Of course almost everyone will do a little worse, because it can in itself be a very stressful experience.
It doesn't seem altogether wise to bring her home. Which you most likely could do, given that she is there voluntarily.
So, barring bringing her home, there are two main options. Find a different hospital and have her discharged from this one and take her to the other. I would at least educate yourself about the particular hospital she is in (look up on the internet if there have been complaints, legal issues etc), and also find out what the alternatives are. There isn't any law saying she has to be in the closest one. There are many more facilities around than you are aware of. Some are expensive private places, others are simply well run small (small is good) wings of regular hospitals.
You may want to visit and try to ask her whether she would rather be in a different hospital. If she feels scared in this place, for example. If nurses are not nice, etc. That matters a lot, especially when you are 15.
Or, go in and talk to this hospital's doctor (whichever person is in charge of her case, not a nurse or nurse practitioner or a social worker etc. The doctor in charge of her case) in person. Make an appointment to discuss her case and say it will take at least 20 minutes. Find out what is going on and what their plan is. Not "work on making her better" but the names of the drugs and the doses and write it all down even if you don't know what you're writing. She is certainly in withdrawal from some of the drugs and it seems changes are being made quickly. Not the fastest I've ever heard of, but certainly quickly. No one can know for sure how she would be if X drug had not been given.
Also, call her doctor from before. If she saw a psychiatrist from before its unlikely that person is having any input at all and they may know her better than the doctors at the hospital. Try to ask them what they think is the best thing for her, drug wise and hospital wise.
Lastly, find a therapist or psychologist that you can schedule an appointment for yourself. If you have a plan by the time you see them then just to talk to a professional in the field who is on your side to talk about, for example, what things should be like when she comes home, or, if you are still formulating a plan, to ask them all about the drugs and what their opinions are of various doctors. So someone local to the hospital would be good. A therapist will often let you know if there are bad things to say about a particular hospital or doctor.
Ok, now I will my own personal recommendation (an unknown person out of millions of internet users, so take it with a grain of salt) is that given that she was taken off wellbutrin and risperdal one week before cracking (though cutting is pretty common and may just reflect anxiety or need for attention), I would ask her doctors to stop all the antipsychotics and either give her wellbutrin and ativan only or effexor and ativan only. At least on wellbutrin she wasn't doing this bad. But she's been on effexor long enough that she might have withdrawal if they just stop it, its like heroin withdrawal. They can ativan her up so that she sleeps all day if they want. Let her body get rid of the multitude of drugs that are still waiting to be excreted. She is most likely still withdrawing from the wellbutrin AND from the zoloft (well at least when she was admitted, probably through the worst now) still. The antipsychotics like risperdal and xyprexa are heavy duty things and it all depends on whether she reports seeing and hearing things if she should have them or not. If she is only angry at this point, only aggressive, then ativan is safer. I wouldn't start with them ever unless a court order forced me.
Your main goal should be to get her stable and out of the hospital, since the hospital is only concerned with making her not a risk to herself and they will use heavy doses of drugs that would stun a horse to do it. For many people these very drugs make them worse.
Please keep in mind I'm only speaking from my own experience taking some and research on others.
You need an advocate. You need someone to talk to that knows drugs, knows the hospital, knows doctors, can communicate what's going on. I would guess a social worker or a psychologist would be the best person.
Make a timeline of what drugs she was given and when, and for the ssris (effexor and zoloft) look at how she was 4 weeks later. For the wellbutrin look at 3 weeks later. For antipsychotics look a couple days later. That's the impression I get on timing of response. In addition, on the time line, look at the same amount of time after a drug was discontinued for it to stop having an effect. Benzodiazepines like ativan are harmless short term.
Ok I hope this helps a little. Please get yourself an advocate. Start calling everyone. Her psychiatrist that saw her before the hospital is a good start. Do not trust that a hospital will be doing what is best for her LONG TERM. They are only interested in short term, ie two days from now. But you and she need to be interested in long term and the drugs she is on now may only be making getting better further away.
kate
poster:katekite
thread:102912
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20020408/msgs/102914.html