Posted by yxibow on July 26, 2008, at 16:35:20
In reply to meds and next psychiatrist, posted by garcia cortez on July 25, 2008, at 21:15:40
> My daily medications: Risperdal 8mg; Seroquel 100mg; Klonopin 10 mg; Xanax 4mg; Ambien 10mg; Remeron 30mg. My present psychiatrist is also an addiction counselor and says my meds are fine for my condition (Schizophrenia--paranoid type, OCD, and temperal lobe epilepsy). What are the chances that my next psychiatrist will renew these meds as there is an ideological bias against benzodiazapines? I am in relative remission with these medications and can function socially ect.
Whether there's an ideological bias against benzodiazepines, if you have epilepsy, you are warranted to be taking that dose of Klonopin.Its just there may be several questions -- typically combining APs is not the best thing because there is no way of predicting what it will do.
The same applies for combining benzodiazepines -- the doctor may question the reason for having an extra 4mg of Xanax on board when you are already soaked (pardon the term) in Klonopin. Again some doctors don't like combining benzodiazepines.
I'm not too clear though in the above comments as to why there would be a new doctor -- are you moving to a different area, or is your doctor retiring or something?If you're stabilized and in "relative remission" which is what we all can expect from medication I also would concur with your psychiatrist that he is practicing evidence based psychiatry.
If you are in a new situation for a psychiatrist, if he feels that the benzodiazepines are too much for you he may want you to consult with a doctor to use a present generation AED such as Depakote or the like for your epilepsy, this may also help anxiety.But there is also evidence (I am not schizophrenic but I have some symptoms that could be described very loosely as a psychosis -- remembering that a psychosis doesn't mean what people think of the word.) that high dose Valium can be just as effective for treating Schizophreniform disorders. So you may be able to keep your benzodiazepines on board.
Also psychiatrists really tend to not like to tinker or interfere with things out of their scope of practice -- and if the Klonopin you have been taking for a while is for epilepsy, I don't think he/she.....
....provided they're providing good medical practice would want to move it unless you're experiencing say, complete memory loss, accidents, tripping and falling all the time, from benzodiazepines, because it could cause an epileptic episode.
I hope that helps
-- tidingsJay
poster:yxibow
thread:842060
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20080718/msgs/842159.html