What IS it with these psychiatrists???

[flutterby]

difficult child 2's mom took difficult child 2 to the psychiatrist today to *try* to get him on a mood stabilizer. He is currently taking 5mg Zyprexa and Welbutrin (don't remember the dosage). This is a different psychiatrist than he's seen, but at the same facility.

The last psychiatrist (in the same facility) put him on Welbutrin because the kid can't wake up. Period. No exaggeration.

So, difficult child 2's mom talks to the psychiatrist about Lamictal and he doesn't really like that medication. Apparently, he's seen the SJ rash in one case and so now he doesn't like it for anyone. What does he do? He prescribes Seroquel 100mg. In addition the Zyprexa.



The kid is never going to wake up. And the doctors TELL the parents that these medications are mood stabilizers. Ummmm....NO. It's an AP. Why do they do that???

And why do they insist on using only AP's (and AD's) when he has bipolar??? The side effect profiles are ugly and they haven't even tried a mood stabilizer on this kid yet.

I had an IEP meeting at the exact same time of his appointment or I would have gone, too.

When this medication doesn't work (cause I have no hopes that he's going to be able to function on it), I'm going to go to the next one.

 

[GoingNorth]

Oy...and a low dose of Seroquel like that is very often used as a sleeping aid. I take 800mg of the stuff (200AM and 600PM) and believe me, it sure helps put me to sleep.

Seroquel is weird in that it often is MORE sedating in small doses than in high doses.

SJ rash can be extremely dangerous, but believe it or not, you can also get it from all sorts of other medications including common antibiotics. It's actually a severe allergic reaction though in most cases it isn't.

husband had it while in the Army. He was setting up a 'stovepipe' style oil heater and it flashed over. He was in the hospital being treated for burns on his upper torso and got SJ from an antibiotic he was given.

It was a real mess on top of the burns.

Thing is, with any medication, you have to weigh the potential positives against the negatives.

I wish I could take Lamictal, it doesn't have the nasty side effects that Depakote does. I tried it and unfortunately for me it made me climb the walls and hallucinate. VERY rare reaction.

 

[crazymama30]

Oh man, that is nuts. Zyprexa and Seroquel??? That sounds like a pretty good recipe for sedation.

on the other hand, husband is not sedated by his monster dose of neurontin or his large dose of Tegretol. What helped husband quite a bit was a very strong sleeping pill to knock his hiney out to sleep. Is difficult child laying there not sleeping and then falling asleep in the wee hours of the morning? husband used to be impossible to wake up, he would sleep through alarms and even I could barely roust him. Now that he is a. more stable on Tegretol b. taking a strong sleeper (ambien and lunesta did not touch him) he is able to get up by 8 or 10am (this is amazing for him).

We have been fortunate with psychiatrists for difficult child and husband, some of the ones I hear about are scarey. I hope something gives at some point.

 

[GoingNorth]

(need to update my sig)

I just got put on a whopping dose of an older benzodiazepam sleeping medication called temazepam.

Ambien worked for about a couple of hours and Lunesta just makes me "fuzzy" for a few hours.

I get the same thing where I can't get to sleep during the night and then the dog drags me out of bed within an hour so of my finally falling asleep.

I take the new sleeper for the first time tonight and I'm really hoping it works. Sleep is ESSENTIAL for me to be able to function. It really effects mood stability in my case.

 

[crazymama30]

GN--that is the same thing they give husband. I am really thinking it will help you, husband and sleep are the same way but the dog would not be able to get him out of bed.

 

[GoingNorth]

Crazymama, Gryphon is a 90lb German Shepherd. He weighs half what I do and is considerably stronger than I am.

He's literally DRAGGED me out of the bed a few times. Now, for the most part, he takes advantage of my over-vigilant startle reflex, sticks his nose in my ear (literally), and YAPS at the top of his lungs.

It's a miracle I haven't had to peel my fingernails out of the ceiling, but it's come a bit close several times.

I don't like the idea of taking a benzo on a regular basis, but I have taken Ativan in the past and didn't have problems discontinuing that. According to my psychiatrist, so long as you don't abuse the temazepam, you shouldn't have trouble D/Cing it beyond sleeplessness. I am hoping he is right.

It's pretty funny as I've gotten to the point where I can take him out in my sleep. It's fine in the warm season, but I've woken up to find myself standing in the yard when it's 20 below...wearing nothing but a t-shirt and PJ bottoms. Also walked into a foot of snow in slippers once.

Talk about a rude awakening.

Sleep disturbances are taken into consideration when deciding disability cases for bipolar people. They can be a major cause of absenteeism from work and school.

 

[timer lady]

H, psychiatrists get into a rut when it comes to medications & their various forms & combos.

Seriously, I had to point out to our psychiatrist for kt & wm about his prescribing technique. Saying that, I had to do this very diplomatically; very carefully. He's the man with the degree ~ the man who knows the medications better than I do.

 

[flutterby]

difficult child 2 will literally sleep for days - waking only to eat or pee, or when we wake him to give him his medications. I've seen his mom physically sit him up in bed, then stand him up, to get him up. easy child has carried him from the couch to a bed made up for him on the floor.

We'll see how this goes....