Posted by Racer on May 3, 2005, at 14:07:35
In reply to Overwhelmed by # of Meds Prescribed/Combos, posted by stargazer on May 2, 2005, at 23:06:23
> I don't know if I'm the only one who feels this way but I'm having trouble reading through all the postings and getting a handle on the meds, due to the number of choices, how to know what meds might be effective for me, how to sort through the side effects vs symptoms, etc.
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> Frankly, since I am so drug phobic(sensitive) the thought of being on more than a couple of meds makes me nervous. How do you know that the combination of meds isn't causing you to feel like sh*t rather than the depression or whatever dignosis you are treating.
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> Help me see how all of this information can be useful rather than overwhelming.
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> SGWell, it can be helpful in a lot of ways, just like the drugs themselves. For me, what was initially most helpful was just the idea of educating myself about what the meds did. You know, all those things like "this med affects this neurotransmitter, that neurotransmitter is associated with those side effects," etc. Just the idea of looking into that information, rather than just taking what the doctor prescribed without question was worth all the confusion involved in trying to learn about it. For that alone, I am very grateful to the people here.
As for the multi-drug combinations, that's a bit harder, and much more individual. For one thing, there are almost as many ways of dealing with drug cocktails as there are doctors prescribing them. My current Dr CattleProd, for example, won't change more than one thing at a time, and wants to wait at least four to six weeks between changes, so that there's rarely any question about what drug is causing what effect. My prior doctor, Dr EyeCandy (who recently changed his name to Dr SomeoneHasToGraduateAtTheBottomOfTheClass, which is so hard to type I'll still refer to him by his original name), on the other hand, had a habit of stopping everything and starting a bunch of other meds, all at the same time -- bad science, since you've got so many uncontrolled variables.
Of course you're absolutely correct that too many drugs can mess someone up -- too much of anything can, just ask me about the time I drank too much water on a hot day. The key, I think, is to make changes slowly, and consider what effects each med has at every dose. While many meds will behave differently at different dosages, they will rarely change from, say, overly sedating to wickedly agitating in one small increase. There are generally indications from the getgo that something like that might happen, so you can usually avoid those things.
As for the bottom line, if there is one that generally applies, I guess it would be to be able to trust the doctor prescribing the meds, and to be able to communicate with that doctor. Everyone will react differently to the various meds out there, so there's no way to say what will work for any one person without trying. Or, at least, there's no way to advise someone about what med *will* work without a lot of qualifications. We can tell others about how something has affected us, and we can tell each other what we think *might* help based on symptoms.
I also keep in mind that most of us here have proven difficult to treat over time, so a lot of the very negative things that I see written here about a specific med I take with a grain of salt. If it didn't work for someone, even if it caused severe side effects, that doesn't mean that it won't be great for me. I'll only know if I try it.
Hope that helps, at least by offering you another perspective on it all.
poster:Racer
thread:492932
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20050428/msgs/493158.html