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.
I actually know that feeling. I think antidepressants can do wonders in some cases, but it’s such an agonizing process to find the right meds and dosage. They are way overprescribed, and that’s the main problem.
“and then comes to his office to pick up her prescriptions which are held for her at the desk.”
She is probably doing what my mother in law does which is pick up the “paper” script and take it to the drug store for her arthritis pain medicine, which can’t be phoned in and has to be physically delivered to the pharmacist.
You nailed it!
Topiramate and lamotrigine are both seizure meds.
Topiramate and lamotrigine are both seizure meds.
To all of you who have responded, thank you.
The second opinion, try to get her to see a psychiatrist, is a what I’m going to do and something I hadn’t considered. She told me in slight wonderment that her doctor was a GP, not a psychiatrist and that she wasn’t seeing one but it never occurred to me that that might be the way to go.
The reason I’m really concerned about this doctor is I looked him up and he’s been chastized because of a situation where he was medicating himself and the police had to come to his house in 2009 because they found him in the back yard howling at the moon. He was taken away by the police on a 5150 (??). Apparently now all is well and he got his license back and is practicing medicine again.
When I first met her in the early 2000s, she was perfectly fine. It was only about five years ago where she went to the doctor, was told she was probably bipolar, that the meds began. She’s only been this bad for about five months.
Anyway, thank you all for your thoughts. There’s some good stuff you’ve all come up with and I appreciate your kindness.
It’s also used for bipolar disorder.
He didn’t post her name, for crying out loud!
How could listing med’s and dosages be illegal?
Thank you. Good idea but I want to wait until there is no other choice. I hate getting getting government involved, it always turns into a mess. But I have put it on the bottom of my list. I hadn't considered social services, so .. thank you!
In MA, for example, a minor using a cellphone in a parked car is illegal.
Again, just being cautious.
He isn't prohibited from listening though. While I agree a second opinion may be the best, as others have pointed out, the present doctor may not know what's going on.
He wouldn't have to talk to you, but you could tell them what's going on and your concerns.
Actually, I did see her prescriptions today, saw them with my own eyes when she opened a sealed envelope and took them out to show me and that’s where I got the list of meds. She wrote them down for me herself and wrote her doctor’s phone number down when I told her I wanted to call him because I was very angry at him for making her crazy. She actually wants me to help her. I personally saw the prescriptions and her doctor’s name on them. She commented how he always spells her name wrong.
You know something strange? As nuts as she appears to be, she RARELY forgets to take her meds. We discussed this phenomenon today, as much as anyone can discuss anything with her, and she agreed it was interesting. She says if she does forget, which is extremely rare, she can tell within a day.
Oh, and I saw several of her prescriptions in the bottles; she carries them around with her in her purse.
It sounds like your wife has good doctors. My friend is not the only person I’ve known whose doctor never (or rarely) sees them and just talks to them over the phone and precribes psych meds.
HIPAA only applies to “covered entities”, i.e. health care providers, a health plan or a health care clearing house (third party administrators who process enrollments or claims) or employers particularly if their health plans are “self insured”.
http://www.hhs.gov/ocr/privacy/hipaa/understanding/coveredentities/index.html
It would not be illegal under HIPAA for a concerned family member or friend to tell her doctor that they are concerned, but it would most likely be a violation of HIPAA for the doctor to discuss her condition, care plan or medications with anyone other than other medical professionals or covered entities if necessary to providing care and only with the patient having signed a HIPAA release form or someone like a family member or friend with a medical power of attorney.
Listing her meds here is not a violation of her privacy and not in violation of any law because no identifying information about the person was provided.
Auntie Mame: I concur with what some others have said. You are right to be concerned but don’t necessarily have all the facts. If a GP is truly proscribing those drugs in those doses to your friend as you described and she seems to be getting worse (without knowing if it is the drugs or her underlying condition) probably the best you can do under the circumstances is encourage your friend to get a second opinion from a competent physiatrist. IMO, GP’s have no business proscribing those sorts of meds and only monitoring the patient via telephone calls if that indeed is what’s going on, any more than a podiatrist should be proscribing cardiac medications.
No. The entire mental health scam is a game. The circumstances change.....but the truth always stands firm.
No one who goes to a psychiatrist should believe that they are seeking help akin to a bodily injury treated by a surgeon. The two are polar opposites.
All you will ever get from a secular counselor or therapist is bad advice and harmful perscriptions.
No. The entire mental health scam is a game. The circumstances change.....but the truth always stands firm.
No one who goes to a psychiatrist should believe that they are seeking help akin to a bodily injury treated by a surgeon. The two are polar opposites.
All you will ever get from a secular counselor or therapist is bad advice and harmful perscriptions.
Thanks, sarasmom, that is a really good suggestion. I think I’ll go to the pharmacist tonight by myself and see what they say and then bring her with me another time.
OK, that makes sense (must be my own ME/CFS brain fog again). Controlled RXs can't even be mailed and must be picked up in person.
My point to all is that you can't rely on what folks say if they appear to have “bipolar mania with psychotic features” or perhaps schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder (a mash-up of schizophrenia and either bipolar or depressive disorders). That last one is my wife's latest diagnosis.
When she is having a relapse, I can't rely on anything she says as she confuses times, dates, places and persons as well as names of things. Yesterday she was talking about a blue penguin at the beach when she meant a blue heron, for example. The friend under discussion in the thread may actually have a psychiatrist prescribing those meds, but may be confused and say the MD was "only" a GP, for example.
No, until she was diagnosed bipolar she was basically normal, as normal as we all are as individuals. It was only once she was given meds that she started to go sideways and it was gradual over time.
Thank you for your thoughts. I appreciate your comments. It's really helpful, food for thought, and has given me direction.
If that's the case then she definitely needs to see a psychiatrist.
Is she on drugs like cocaine or amphetamine?
Does she have family? Will she go with you to an ER or a mental health clinic.she may need an hospital.
The drugs are not dangerous in these doses but they are not working and that is dangerous. Good luck!
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