Are there any treatment programs for people hooked on meds like these? These are not the kind of drugs you can just stop taking.
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?
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...
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
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
My mother went through the same thing. We made an appointment with a Psychiatrist and I talked to him first explaining that I was extremely concerned about the medication she was taking.
He weeded her off all unnecessary meds and got her back under control. Once she stopped seeing him though, the doctors started loading her up again. Doctors push drugs, psychiatrists seem to be more concerned that the drugs you are taking are not affecting your brain. See if you can talk her into it seeing one just for that simple fact.
Topiramate is for migraines
Are you certain she isn’t an alcoholic or drug addict?
They often get involved with prescription meds, thinking that will help straighten them out (ie. not yet willing to admit to alcoholism, drug addiction).
Many medical professionals don’t have the expertise to spot alcoholism/drug addiction—even though those conditions can produce symptoms of mental illness, and indications for more drugs.
Viscious circle. Denial by patient. Lying by patient.
Does your friend need all those drugs?
Have you researched the side effects of each?
Chances are she is getting medicated based on the drug side effects and not what her original problem was.
I’ve noticed that doctors add drugs on top of drugs and rarely eliminate those which cause a problem or have no more effect. It’s as if “that” side effect is the problem which must be taken care of by another pill.
You’re a good friend.
Have you considered taping her (with her permission of course)to show her how she behaves under the influence? It could be an eye opener for her.
Are you certain she isn’t an alcoholic or drug addict?
They often get involved with prescription meds, thinking that will help straighten them out (ie. not yet willing to admit to alcoholism, drug addiction).
Many medical professionals don’t have the expertise to spot alcoholism/drug addiction—even though those conditions can produce symptoms of mental illness, and indications for more drugs.
Viscious circle. Denial by patient. Lying by patient.
If your friend will listen, get her into see another physician for an evaluation. Other than getting her in for a second opinion, there isn’t anything you can or should do. You’re certainly not qualified to evaluate her physical health, mental health, or the effect that her medications are having on either.
You should very plainly and diplomatically tell her just what you say here, that you are concerned her medications are not helping her and urge her just to see another doctor and get a second opinion.
She should really see an actual psychiatrist (an MD not a psychologist or psychotherapist).
You might want to get a few referrals, maybe from doctors or other people you know and whose judgment you trust. Perhaps you could speak with them yourself before hand, but that might not be possible/necessary.
You could give her a choice of 3 or 4 to chose from, that should prevent her from thinking you are trying to micro-manage her life.
Of course when she goes she needs to bring all the medication with her, so the doctor can see what’s going on.
If she needs to take any psychotropic meds at all, and if she is making bad/careless life decisions for whatever reasons she probably needs to get some therapy too. I doubt a GP doc is really qualified to provide that.
I’m almost 100% sure that her current doctor will not, under any circumstances, discuss her treatment with you. Unless you are a close relative, and maybe even then, he/she just isn’t going to do it due to confidentiality issues.
She can probably find a Psychiatrist who can supervise her meds who can then recommend a less expensive therapist to see her weekly, or however frequently, for some “talking” therapy.
Good luck, mental problems are the worst, over medicating can be a big problem.
General practitioners need to suck it up and admit when they are practicing beyond their scope of expertise. Your friend needs a referral to a psychiatrist or a psychiatric hospital, to get the medications straightened out. It may require a few days of being in the hospital for a proper evaluation and diagnosis.
Several years ago, my GP diagnosed me with depression and put me on antidepressants, but I was actually severely anemic. I needed a blood transfusion, not antidepressants!
I pray that your friend finally gets the proper diagnosis and treatment. You’re a good friend!
You need to get your friends to a serious psyche. She has one on that list that conflicts with another and maybe two that conflictsare not necessary.
To expand on my comment #31, please understand that your friend's statements CANNOT be relied on if she is manic and/or delusional...starting with “her doctor is not a psychiatrist”! I find if hard to believe that a GP would prescribe these meds. I also don't even believe that she would be going “to his office” to pick up what appear to be several “controlled drugs”.
My wife has been taking piles of psych meds from a dozen doctors in five states and NEVER has she been told to pick up drug prescriptions from the MD’s office. Doctors are always being watched as they are frequent pill abusers, so they must carefully comply with controls such as having prescriptions get filled by a third party pharmacy.
If you could suggest that she show you her pill containers so you can see which MD actually prescribed the pills without setting her off in some way, it would help prevent you from jumping to wrong conclusions based just on what she is saying. Again, I strongly recommend that you refrain from concluding that her GP has done anything wrong based only on her statements.
It's possible that her current doctor could refer her to a psychiatrist. There are all kinds of laws now about medical privacy but you may be able to express your concerns to her doctor, especially if she gives permission for you to come to a doctor appointment
Sounds like she’s in the throes of a full blown mania despite the meds typically prescribed for manic-depressive disorder.
Take away her car keys and credit cards if you can. If it veers into sexual encounters that can get pretty unsavory, too.
But, as bad as that sounds, it won’t be as bad as the crash that inevitably follows.
She needs help. Try to get it for her with as few permanent repercussions as possible. Psych eval maybe, that would be an opportunity to get her meds straightened out.
Has she ever been diagnosed with any type of disorder or mental illness. I’d find out because that might help in finding a treatment center where they can deal with both her addiction problem(if there is one) and the actual underlying mental illness.
I fail to understand someone receiving that many drugs for something that hasn’t even been diagnosed.
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.