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.
The first thing I would do is to research the MD and verify just what his specialty is!
That is very good that she is open to having you help her because at the very least, she could might be open to the suggestion of many here for her to be seen by a psychiatrist if her MD is not one.
As another FReeper suggested, an MD can only prescribe based on information that he/she has and ofter the patient appears to be normal in the MDs office, but is bonkers as soon as they leave the office.
In my wife's family it has taken me two decades to finally get her and her sister first to see a psychiatrist (they denied there was anything wrong) and once I got them to go to the psychiatrist, they only complained of depression, not mania. But antidepressants without mood stabilizers can trigger mania! So if the MD doesn't know of manic symptoms in addition to depression, they may inadvertently trigger mania by prescribing only antidepressants.
Ofter it is only the family members and friends who can report mania to the MD. The patient tends to LIKE mania and can get away with at lot of HYPO-mania (lower grade mania) which doesn't require hospitalization, but qualifies for a bipolar dianosis and the need for a trial of mood stabilizers.
Long-winded way of saying that I have a lot of compassion for the frustrated psychiatrists that have tried to treat my wife's family. Perhaps your friend's MD just needs more information. That is all I am suggesting.