Posted on 06/05/2012 4:48:53 PM PDT by Auntie Mame
A friend of mine is becoming crazier and crazier, it's almost impossible to talk with her anymore. Today I asked and she freely gave me a list of her medications. I am very scared for her. Here's what she is being prescribed:
Latuda 80 mg
Paroxetine (Paxil) 40 mg
Lamotrigine 200 mg
Topiramate 200 mg 2x/day
Her doctor is not a psychiatrist, just a general practitioner. She says she speaks with him once a week over the telephone, and then comes to his office to pick up her prescriptions which are held for her at the desk.
What do I mean when I say she's getting crazier and crazier?
She talks 90 miles an hour, she can't stay on topic, she's all over the place in her conversation. She's verbally and actively obsessive about certain things, things that because of her bad decisions (probably brought on by all these meds) she's caused herself.
I looked up the meds and it appears the dosages are really high.
I called the Medical licensing board and spoke to someone but they are of no help whatsoever. I'm thinking of calling up the doctor and putting the fear of God into him. I'm not sure what else I can do. She has been getting a lot of moving violation tickets lately, and recently totaled her car but she says it was not her fault. She is in no shape to help herself and has no family looking out for her.
She's very open to hearing me tell her how worried I am about her. I think if I could find some kind of treatment program she would be amendable to checking it out.
A lot depends on what is meant by crazy. Side effects of over medication? Failure of medication to achieve its intended goal? Something entirely unrelated? Mere personality conflict? Neighbor trying to horn in on relative’s business? Legally competent or not, or questionable?
If she’s willing to talk with you, suggest she see a neurologist with a psychiatry degree (neurologist may sound less threatening than psychiatrist).
If she’s not, then MAYBE social workers could be of help. It depends on locale. Sometimes they are crazier than the relative.
According to our good friend who is a pharmacist, 9/10 psychiatrists are drug pushers who pose as doctors. Lithium(lithobid) is the most useful and theraputic antipsychotic medication.
She needs to meet with a Psychiatrist ASAP or if it's an emergency situation go to the emergency room and they will probably send her to their Psych floor and start her on a mood stabilizer such as Lithium, Depakote or an atypical antipsychotic like Risperdol or Seroquel for faster relief.
I think her doctor may recognize she is bipolar in that he gave her Paxil to keep the depression at bay, and also gave her some lesser known mood stabilizers in an attempt to keep her from switching to Mania, but it didn't work.
Mania will resolve itself but who knows how long, and she may have ruined her life at that point. It will most certainly be followed by a crushing depression if not treated correctly.
I am not a doctor but have had to deal with Bipolar disease in a loved one my whole life. In my case the person always refused care until something horrible would happen and she would be taken to the hospital either forcibly or convinced by the Police to check herself in.
I was sworn at, lied to, threatened, etc by this person. But it's worth it when they get the care they need and are back to normal.
http://www.dmh.ca.gov/docs/24_Hour_MH_Crisis_Hotline_List.pdf
Let me speak plainly - they DON'T know what they are doing.
My mother was given every drug on the planet, and then some. Then more combinations of drugs, more "therapy" that bankrupted our family to point of financial ruin. Then the "doctors" sent us even more bills after she had committed suicide.
I am convinced that many, many people who are diagnosed with the faux "syndromes" are actually demonically possessed or oppressed. The human soul is not an arm or a spleen. You can't treat it as such, but the "Mental Health" profession does. It is all a rigged game.
Let me repeat: they attempt to fool you that they know what is wrong, and when they are found out, they switch tactics.
It is all the same.
Trust me on this.
“If you do not have a guardianship it is potentially illegal as well.”
uh no
She is already on an atypical antipsychotic, Latuda.
Everyone needs God.
God gave us doctors, she needs to use another one of ‘em.
Dualing circumstances here.
Sounds like your friend is having a manic episode.
My wife's shrink is also her sister's shrink. He's told us that he can't say anything about her sister to us but we can say anything about her sister to him.
I would not assume that anything your friend tells you about her meds or MDs is correct and sometimes people who are manic are delusional (psychotic) as well.
I would go on the web and find her MD’s fax number and fax a letter to him stating the symptoms you observed (speeding, etc...that is in the DSM-IV TR as a diagnostic symptom) and alleged meds that she says she is taking without making any judgmental comments directed at the MD.
Just say this is what she appears to be taking and this is how she is behaving.
At the top of the fax state “RE Jane Doe, DOB (date of birth) MM-DD-YYYY so they have a specific medical record identifier.
Good luck to you and your friend!
That’s true. Psychoanalysis take “too long” and insurers stopped covering it so, yes, take a pill and howl at the moon.
“Unless and until you have your MD in Psychiatry, it is inappropriate for you to get involved with another person’s Rx regime. If you do not have a guardianship it is potentially illegal as well.”
Not even a guardian can interfere with medical orders, but it is not illegal to be involved such to find a second opinion or make reports to authorities.
She needs to get a second opinion from a qualified medical professional like a psychiatrist or nurse practitioner (overseen by a psychiatrist).
You don’t mention what her diagnosis is, what her history is, so your comments are rather out of context. It would be very inappropriate for you to call her doctor.
Has she ever talked to her pharmacist about drug drug interactions? Is she getting all her meds from the same pharmacy?
I’m sure these pharmacists meet in extensive counseling sessions with these patients?
Of course a pharmacist is going to be aware of doctors writing prescriptions, duh. The ones who do not will pass by his or her notice.
In most States if she is over 55 there are usually “at risk adult” laws, and along with those laws are county adult protective hotlines that go to Adult Protective Services. They are typically the county “crisis hotline” and can be found in the phone book, online, or by calling 411 information. If you can’t find that, call the local police department and they can direct your call appropriately. APS investigate all “abuse, neglect, and exploitation” issues with at risk persons, from mentally ill to elderly.
Go to med school and become a doctor...
I agree a second opinion is best.
When a friend of mine had a psychotic break, I basically tricked her into going to the dr telling her that even though she felt fine, the car accident she had been in (low speed no injures) could have caused injuries. She heard me on the phone with her husband explaining that she needed help and the ‘real’ reason I wanted her to go the dr., she said “I heard everything you said and there is absolutely nothing wrong with my mental health!” YET - she agreed to go to the Dr. and I drove her there. I believe she was going to ‘prove’ to me nothng was wrong.
A few days before I picked her up for the appointment, I called the office and asked to speak with the nurse. I explained my observations and said I had asked her to see the dr. with the excuse of the light car accident. This offended the nurse and she said the office doesn’t trick patients and I said no - but I wanted the dr. to know that she was hearing voices and paranoid and that is something patient would not be able to say for herself. We ended the call with her disgust.
I called back immediately and asked to speak to a different nurse. I explained specific examples of her hallucinations etc., that she had been in a car accident and because she heard me speaking to her husband re her mental status
she wouldn’t be likely to report these symptoms. The nurse wanted to help and was unsure what message I was asking her to give. I said “Tell him that between 2pm and 10pm on the day of the car accident, she reported hearing voices trying to kill her, seeing the Coca Cola truck parked on the side of the road meant ‘they were watching her’ and that she was markedly different (obsessive paranoia) from her normal condition.” THe nurse thanked me and said she’d tell the Dr.
On the ride home in the car my ill friend she kept praising the Dr. She finally said as we pulled into her driveway. “At first I wasn’t going to tell him anything (looked at me hard here), but he was so very kind and kept asking me questions. I told him how ‘they’ were hiding tape recorders in the trees outside my home and the light fixtures, how they want to kill me, I told him about the coca cola truck.” I was overjoyed with relief.
Note that the Dr. had a few days prior to this appointment to consult with friends or legal and that ‘we’ never discussed it. All the information flowed from me to them - they weren’t violating HIPPA by hearing me speak - even if they said ‘we can’t do anything’ they did hear it.
He was an excellent Dr. to get past her paranoia and she felt relieved to speak with him. A few days later she received a letter from his office carefully explaining that he believed that she needed medication to restore her quality of life. He believed that she was schizophrenic and that the good news was, there was a highly effective medication available etc...” She, of course, believed that ‘they’ got to him and now he was trying to kill her. Note that he didn’t render his diagnoses while she was in his office. I assume this was on advice he had received and that he may have consulted following the appointment. I felt grateful that he listened and investigated in his appointment with her and did a terrific job. I was crushed that she wouldn’t take medicine for her condition but felt I had done everything I could do to assist her and perhaps offered her some protection should she have legal or medical problems in the near future - which her behavior was indeed likely to provoke.
So I agree that she needs a second opinion and just assumed that the OP was dealing with schizoid behavior where they don’t want to comply with appointments. If she will go, perhaps the OP could attend the appointment with her.
First of all thank you for caring so much about your friend and you are willing to help her.....
I cannot stress the importance of her being evaluated by a psychiatrist and they should be prescribing her medication not a GP.......it is a delicate balance that can go south in a heart beat and it sounds like your friend is already there.....someone else suggested a call to social service which is a good idea.....if there is a mental health unit in your area, you could call them and ask them for suggestions.....
Maybe you could find a psychiatrist and offer to go with her......she sounds like she is not rational so that makes it even harder to deal with her.....
prayers for you and her......God bless
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