Thread: Roll Call 18
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Old Mar 06, 2014, 01:02 PM
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Sometimes psychotic Sometimes psychotic is offline
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Originally Posted by punkybrewster6k View Post
I talked to her pDoc today he is very sympathetic. He is going to make some phone calls and try to find out how he can help with a CBT. There are some big major problems going on at the mental health clinic that she goes to through our hospital. Very understaffed. Doctors and therapists are quitting. He is looking into another place where she may be able to get what she needs he also said there is a place here in upstate New York but its in Syracuse!
There is no way that I can drive her one and a half to 2 hours each way for an hour long appointment every week.
Another subject he brought up was Clozaril? He is thinking of putting her on it even though he has tried to avoid it in the past.

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That's excellent---sounds like you have great pdoc although I hope you can find a T that's closer. For the one in Syracuse could you do it once a month(in addition to seeing another non-cbt more often)? I know its not ideal for therapy but if she could learn cbt skills she could start applying them as she learns them and will slowly get better.

Clozaril---honestly she sounds sick enough that it might be worth considering---the key issue is it can kill you but it won't if you get the blood tests done every couple of weeks. Clozaril is the only AP that will work in some cases they aren't entirely sure how but it seems to block sz that is driven through NMDA and not just dopamine because it works in ketamine treated mice. There is often a lot of weight gain as well so that will have to be monitored. I know Elyn Saks is now on Clozaril and describes it as fantastic. On the plus side its one of the weakest D2 blockers so a lot of the side effects from the typicals don't happen. So honesly if I were that sick I would at this point consider it---still the weight gain for me when I was sick honestly I preferred being sick to being fat and people can gain like 80 pounds on this stuff. Not saying it will happen certainly Elyn Saks is not fat at all. The only way to find out if she can handle that med is to try it because it's possible it might be all upside can you imagine if she just didn't hallucinate anymore and went back to how she was before? I would discuss the possibilities with her so she can make and informed choice.
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Atypical_Disaster, punkybrewster6k