Quote:
Originally Posted by Sometimes psychotic
With all due respect my statement was based on Newtus's previous experience with this clinic. She was taking meds/injections for 6 months but they just kept increasing the dose despite the fact that she did not want to. If the drugs were going to work they would have...Once you are on an injection there is no way to safely decrease the dose yourself and rapid withdrawal tends to promote psychosis. The highest dose of haldol injection is 100mg....and Newtus was still symptomatic so they decided they would just ignore the dosing and give it to her multiple times a month at the full dose. Then additional APs were prescribed on top of the haldol increasing the dose further. Some people cannot become fully non-psychotic even having tried every anti-psychotic...this treatment resistant population is around 30%. If the meds are only partially effective an individual should have the right to choose when the benefits of decreased psychosis outweigh the risk of sleeping 18 hours a day and feeling suicidal. Meds are not a miracle cure for everyone...it's not always so simple as taking them consistently. However the contract puts this decision of the best dose entirely into the hands of her pdoc.
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I apologize Sometimes... I didn't mean to offend. Newtus has been suffering so much for such a long time, that I want to believe that they will have her best interests at heart. And for sure, there are no perfect meds or treatment for sz. But if she sticks with it and presents herself cooperatively over time, then maybe if what they first come up with doesn't give her enough relief, then they will try other things. And Newtus has been so inconsistent with meds, and mixing them with alcohol, that I think it's really hard to know whether what's been tried before is truly ineffective for her. And I don't think the contract doesn't make her lose her voice. I think if she's having trouble with what she's taking, and she's been taking it long enough for her body to adjust and for it to be therapeutic, then I can't imagine why they wouldn't want to try something else. And although there are issues with the meds... how long it takes to work, sometimes getting worse before you get better, and side effects like weight gain... I still think that the pain, anguish, paranoia and loneliness she's suffering from now are much worse.
It may be selfish of me, but I just didn't want her paranoia to get triggered and for her to believe that the people on the other side of that contract are going to harm her. I want to see her give it a very good chance.. and she can always back out of the deal if it genuinely doesn't help.
So please know that although I may have been insensitive in how I wrote my remark, my heart is in the right place...