Posted by Denise190466 on July 19, 2006, at 15:30:10
In reply to Re: Sick and tired of medications, posted by Karen44 on July 18, 2006, at 20:40:16
Karen,
I'm sorry to hear you have physical problems on top of this awful depression.
I know what you mean about this whole medication merry go round thing, what's the saying "if at first you don't succeed, try, try, try again but don't be a bloody fool about it" That's how I feel at times why don't I just give up and if it wasn't for Zyprexa I probably would have done that. Thing is I'm even worse without medication so have to keep trying.
They give you a med, expect you to stick it out for at least five weeks even if it makes you more suicidal, sick, zoned out, apathetic, zombified, excruciatingly agitated, sweat like a pig etc etc, then after five weeks if it still istn't working and you still feel horrible, try increasing the dose! Then if this doesn't work they switch you to another drug and then another then another and so it goes.
You ring the psychiatrist to get through to his secretary telling her that you feel suicidal and she tells you "he's busy" and to try again later!
I'm also sick of NHS psychiatrists in the UK and their lack of urgency and cautiousness. Most of them can't speak English very well (and I'm not prejudiced at all) but I think it pretty important to be able to communicate well about how you're feeling. Half of the NHS psychiatrists here in England seem to have less get up and go than I do! And they are so worried about covering their own backs (I guess I would be too though in their shoes).
Another thing I hate is the fact that when the drugs don't seem to work and you don't get a response they try to pin Bipolar Disorder or Personality Disorder on you even though the drugs have worked for you in the past!
And if all else fails then they palm you off to a Cognitive Behavioural Therapist! And to be honest I don't have much faith in this therapy for me(although it does help to talk and I'd love to be able to do it once a week just to get all this off my chest). But all in all I'm pretty certain I think the way I think because of the way I feel (which is sh*t) and not vice versa. I don't want somebody patronising me and telling me to do and think this that and the other when I already do this! I Probably do more and try a lot more than many Cognitive Behavioural Therapists do themselves. For instance when I get PMT my moods go down even more, they go down because of hormonal changes and not because of the way I am thinking!
Sorry, I just wanted to rant so entirely understand if you don't respond to my note.
By the way I'm not an expert but I think it would be safe to start at 50mg of Lamictal, I took 50mg for a week and didn't develop a rash but then we're all different. To be honest sometimes when I took it I felt I couldn't care less if I got one or not but then I guess if push came to shove I probably would.
I hope the St John's Wort and fish oil helps but again I'm very cynical about trying these things when you're standard drugs don't work. It's worth a try though.
Kind Regards....Denise
poster:Denise190466
thread:667662
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20060717/msgs/668314.html